Haydn's Haus

[Gurn Blanston]

This weekend I've been watching Phil Grabsky's In Search of Mozart (the first of the three films, and for reasons I can detail later, IMO he got better with each successor).  The flick seems only actually to mention Haydn as a passing image (a cavalcade of portraits of the great older composers whom he got to meet on his youthful travels);  and even later on, when the narration discusses events in Mozart's life, but what we are seeing on the screen and listening to is a quartet playing one of the "Haydn" quartets (the d minor quartet, in particular, IIRC), no word on the matter at all.

Truth is, no Mozartian wants to take an sort of risk that anyone should have been a positive influence on Mozart or his muusic, since their credo is 'He Was SUI GENERIS'. Beethovenians re the same way. Haydnists are far more open-minded, if you are intelligent enough to appreciate Haydn then you are open-minded enough to realize that no composer exists in a vacuum.

And I say that as a big fan of all three... 0:)

[Gurn Blanston]

Haydn wrote for some strange instruments in his time (serpent, anyone?) but one of the oddest was this little whizbox played by the King of Naples. This week I checked it out, and you can too, right here!

Organ grinder sure, but where's the monkey?

Enjoy!
Thanks,

[Sergeant Rock]

I wish I could be in Ohio this weekend:

The Cleveland Orchestra performs:

HAYDN - Overture to L'isola disabitata
HAYDN - Concerto for Two Horns in E-flat major, Hob.VIId/6
HAYDN - Piano Concerto No. 11 in D major (Marc-André Hamelin)
HAYDN - Symphony No. 101 ("The Clock")

Matthew Halls, conducting http://schwalbeandpartners.com/project/matthew-halls-conductor/


Sarge

[Gurn Blanston]

I wish I could be in Ohio this weekend:

The Cleveland Orchestra performs:

HAYDN - Overture to L'isola disabitata
HAYDN - Concerto for Two Horns in E-flat major, Hob.VIId/6
HAYDN - Piano Concerto No. 11 in D major (Marc-André Hamelin)
HAYDN - Symphony No. 101 ("The Clock")

Matthew Halls, conducting http://schwalbeandpartners.com/project/matthew-halls-conductor/


Sarge

Hell, I would meet you there!   

[Florestan]

Organ grinder sure, but where's the monkey?

Quibble: the Kingdom of Naples was not that small: it encompassed all the south of the Italian peninsula, plus Sicily, where Ferdinand IV was actually Ferdinand II. 

[Wakefield]

Quibble: the Kingdom of Naples was not that small: it encompassed all the south of the Italian peninsula, plus Sicily, where Ferdinand IV was actually Ferdinand II. 

Quibble: the Kingdom of Naples never included Sicily. When in 1816 it was merged with Sicily, it was called the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. 

[Wakefield]

Haydn wrote for some strange instruments in his time (serpent, anyone?) but one of the oddest was this little whizbox played by the King of Naples. This week I checked it out, and you can too, right here!

Organ grinder sure, but where's the monkey?

Enjoy!
Thanks,

It's a very interesting essay, Gurn! I have enjoyed to see played an actual lyra-organizzata; nice video.   

[Wakefield]

Organ grinder sure, but where's the monkey?

As an aside, Gurn, I think you need to do some room in your essays to include your "alternative titles"; quite in the line of Haydn's sense of humor, if I'm asked. 

[Florestan]

Quibble: the Kingdom of Naples never included Sicily.

Quibble: Charles Duke of Parma conquered the two kingdoms in 1734 and in 1735 was crowned as Charles VII of Naples and Sicily. Upon succeeding to the Spanish throne as Charles III, he abdicated the thrones of the two kingdoms in favor of his son Ferdinand, who became Ferdinand IV of Naples and Ferdinand III of Sicily. So technically you are right, they were two separate kingdoms but being as they were in personal union, everybody counted them as one --- everybody except Napoleon, that is. 

Now, the reverse is true: the Kingdom of Sicily oftenly included Naples, but that´s quite another (hi)story... 

[Wakefield]

Quibble: Charles Duke of Parma conquered the two kingdoms in 1734 and in 1735 was crowned as Charles VII of Naples and Sicily. Upon succeeding to the Spanish throne as Charles III, he abdicated the thrones of the two kingdoms in favor of his son Ferdinand, who became Ferdinand IV of Naples and Ferdinand III of Sicily. So technically you are right, they were two separate kingdoms but being as they were in personal union, everybody counted them as one --- everybody except Napoleon, that is. 

Now, the reverse is true: the Kingdom of Sicily oftenly included Naples, but that´s quite another (hi)story... 

No doubt, the Kingdom of Naples was often united politically with Sicily, but officially were always (during a long period) independent kingdoms. It's even clear in the example you mention: the Duke of Parma (later also Charles III of Spain) wasn't Charles VII of Naples and Sicily, but Charles V of Sicily and Charles VII of Naples.

I haven't studied this particular case, but usually (in matter of autonomy and privileges) people defended fiercely this kind of technicalities.     

[Florestan]

No doubt, the Kingdom of Naples was often united politically with Sicily, but officially were always (during a long period) independent kingdoms. It's even clear in the example you mention: the Duke of Parma (later also Charles III of Spain) wasn't Charles VII of Naples and Sicily, but Charles V of Sicily and Charles VII of Naples.

I haven't studied this particular case, but usually (in matter of autonomy and privileges) people defended fiercely this kind of technicalities.     

That is true and nowhere more apparent than in Spain itself, where the Kingdom of Aragon (itself rather a federation of smaller units than a unified state) fiercely maintained its legislative and judicial autonomy from the Kingdom of Castille and Leon, to the point where a fugitive from the latter often found asylum in the former and could not be prosecuted further since the laws were different in the two realms (as per Don Quijote).  It is only from 1715 onwards that this autonomy was suppressed, and only because Aragon sided with the Austrians in the War of Spanish Succession. Had they supported the Bourbons, they might have continued to go their way. 

[Karl Henning]

No doubt, the Kingdom of Naples was often united politically with Sicily, but officially were always (during a long period) independent kingdoms. It's even clear in the example you mention: the Duke of Parma (later also Charles III of Spain) wasn't Charles VII of Naples and Sicily, but Charles V of Sicily and Charles VII of Naples.

I haven't studied this particular case, but usually (in matter of autonomy and privileges) people defended fiercely this kind of technicalities.     

In our day, we have to look to places like Texas for this kind of entertainment 

[Gurn Blanston]

Quibble: the Kingdom of Naples was not that small: it encompassed all the south of the Italian peninsula, plus Sicily, where Ferdinand IV was actually Ferdinand II. 

Only after 1816, when it became The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Ferdinand IV then became king of both Peninsular Sicily (Naples) and the Island.

As a Texan, I would classify even both of them put together as 'small'. Sorry.... 

[Gurn Blanston]

It's a very interesting essay, Gurn! I have enjoyed to see played an actual lyra-organizzata; nice video. 

Thanks, I really enjoyed the video too, I haven't seen any solo playing before and was curious how all of that came together.

[Karl Henning]

Only after 1816, when it became The Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Ferdinand IV then became king of both Peninsular Sicily (Naples) and the Island.

As a Texan, I would classify even both of them put together as 'small'. Sorry.... 

Though they be small they are fierce.

[Gurn Blanston]

Though they be small they are fierce.

Right... of course, we don't care, we don't have to. We're Texas!   

[Karl Henning]

Nobody's gonna tell Texas who they gotta care about!

[Gurn Blanston]

Nobody's gonna tell Texas who they gotta care about!

True enough. But to get away from being artificially snobby to irk Florestan, I might point out that where you're from makes a huge difference in your perception of what 'big' is.

All of Italy today, which includes the 'Two Sicilies' = 116,347 mi²

Texas = 268,820 mi²

I feel justified...  0:)

[Karl Henning]

How much olive oil does Texas produce? 

[Gurn Blanston]

How much olive oil does Texas produce? 

Hard to find any extra virgins around here, believe me!