Mozart arr. Johann Wendt: Overture to Le Nozze di Figaro
Johann Wendt: Parthia in Eb
Johann Nepomuk Hummel: Octet-Partita in Eb
This concert will be braodcast on OnJam on Saturday 17 July
The finale of the New Sounds for Old Winds series is a celebration of the Viennese wind octet. The Emperor Josef II’s ‘kaiserlich und königlich’ or k. k. Harmonie was made up of the eight exceptional wind players who played in the orchestra at Vienna’s Burgtheater. It is often credited with driving the ‘boom’ in Harmoniemusik around the turn of the 19th century, and was certainly imitated by other nobles in courts where Josef’s influence was felt.
Much of the k. k. Harmonie’s repertoire was created by second oboist Johann Wendt. This concert includes Wendt’s own charming Parthia in Eb for wind octet as well as his arrangement of the overture to Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro. Wendt and his colleagues played in the premiere of the opera at the Burgtheater in 1786, it is fascinating to hear the freedom with which he adapts Mozart’s textures.
A new edition of Hummel’s Octet-Partita in Eb completes the evening. Hummel’s tuneful work, completed in Vienna in 1803, is a late example of a ‘true’ octet without an obbligato double bass or contrabassoon part. It is heard here in a new edition based on rediscovered parts, which give far more detailed performance markings than the previously-available sources.
New Sounds for Old Winds is supported by Continuo Foundation
COVID information
Maximum of 6 people or two household bubbles per booking. We are required to collect the names and contact numbers of all audience members for NHS Test and Trace.
Social distancing will be in operation at the venue in accordance with government regulations. You will be required to wear a mask unless medically exempt. To view the venue COVID statement please click below:
Heath St Baptist Church COVID updates
DO NOT attend if you are experiencing COVID symptoms. Please contact us for a refund if you are ill or need to self-isolate.
In the event that Government regulations prohibit the presence of a live audience, you will be offered a full refund.