The Chamber Players of Palm Coast, under the direction of Paige Dashner Long, are in concert at the Palm Coast United Methodist Church Sunday (March 22), at 3:30 p.m. The event features a special appearance by the Flagler Youth Orchestra’s Harmony Chamber ensemble, the youth orchestra’s most advanced group, under the direction of Sue Cryan, with concertmaster Daniel Masbad.
Sunday’s concert will feature mostly pieces from the classical repertoire, including works by Tartini, Geminiani, Haydn and Mozart, and a piece by 20th century composer Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Violinists are Dorothy Barrett, Bonnie Biedermann, Penny Crouch, Sue Cryan, El Gervasio, Martha Hotz and Maggie Snively; violists: Karen Hacker and Jack Jeffe; cellists: Barbara Burton and Sandy Pearson. Directed by Paige Dashner Long from the flute and harpsichord.
The concert’s centerpiece is a performance of Haydn’s Symphony 104, his last, known as the “London” symphony (though he did not call it that himself, and his last dozen symphonies were all written in London), one of his more complex and rousing orchestral works. He wrote it in 1795, As with several of his late symphonies, the first movement begins with an almost somber introduction, full of foreboding and gray tones in minor key, like a London fog, only to open up brightly with the first theme and enchanting play between strings and wind instruments. The symphony then follows its Haydn norms: a slow movement, a minuet, and a spirited final movement.
Remarkably for a composer who’d spent the previous 35 years writing symphonies, with increasing acclaims, the 104th symphony was Haydn’s equivalent of the Beatles’ “Let It Be” album. He’d live another 14 years but not write a single other symphony. He arranged a lot of Scottish and Welsh folk songs, wrote string quartets and keyboard trios, and focused most of his waning energies on large-scale vocal works: six masses, “The Seasons” and “The Creation.” By then he’d moved back to Vienna, where the symphony was not in especially great demand: Mozart’s symphonic output suffered the same fate–sadly for us–after he moved to Vienna.
You can watch a performance of the first movement of the 104th below, by the Salzburg Mozart Orchestra, under the direction of Hubert Soudant.
The concert is free and open to all. Invite family and friends. For more details, call 386-445-1600.
Here’s the program:
Giuseppe Tartini
Sinfonia in D Major
Three movements
Francesco Geminiani
Concerto Grosso, Op. 2, No. 3, in D Minor
Three movements featuring violinist Maggie Snively
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Rhosymedre
(free will offering)
Franz Joseph Haydn
Symphony No 104 in D Major, “London”
Four movements
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Church Sonata No. 3 in D Major KV 69
Haydn’s Symphony No. 104, First Movement:
