MOZART & HAYDN

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Artists

Bernard Labadie

Conductor

San Francisco Symphony

program

Serenade No. 6, Serenata notturna
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Symphony No. 36, Linz
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Symphony No. 103, Drumroll

Franz Joseph Haydn

performances

Davies Symphony Hall

Fri, May 20, 2022 at 7:30PM

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Davies Symphony Hall

Sat, May 21, 2022 at 7:30PM

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Davies Symphony Hall

Sun, May 22, 2022 at 2:00PM

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If you would like assistance purchasing tickets for patrons with disabilities, please call the box office at 415-864-6000.

SUPPORT FOR THESE CONCERTS IS PROVIDED BY THE MARGARET KOSHLAND SLOSS TRIBUTE FUND

Event Description

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Joseph Haydn often crossed paths during their careers as composers and performers, and their creativity and genius changed history forever. Two of their late symphonies take center stage in this concert led by Bernard Labadie, as the grandeur of Mozart’s Linz Symphony meets the dynamic thrills of Haydn’s Symphony No. 103, aptly nicknamed the Drumroll.

For more information, including full program notes, visit the San Francisco Symphony’s digital program book platform at sfsymphony.encoreplus.app or text “SFS Concert” to 55741.

At A Glance

In Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s day, Carnival enlivened Austria’s winter months over a span of several weeks in January and February, reaching its end with the beginning of Lent. Although we have no record of its early performance history, it is logical to assume that Mozart produced the Serenade in D major, K.239 for festivities such as these. Mozart tosses his material back and forth between the orchestra and a solo group of two violins, viola, and double bass—a standard “Salzburg quartet.”

Written in just four days, Mozart’s Linz Symphony is a grandly inventive work. For the first time, he begins a symphony with a slow introduction, cannily creating suspense. The Allegro is energetic and festive, with a touch of march about it. The second movement is in a major key, but yearns always for minor harmonies. The Minuet is courtly, and the trio, with its delicious scoring for oboe, violins, and bassoon in particular, is demurely rustic. The finale brings back the first movement’s exuberance in heightened form.

Franz Joseph Haydn wrote his Symphony No. 103 during his second tour to England in 1794–5. He had been brought to London by the impresario Johann Peter Salomon after leaving his longtime service to the Esterházy princes. An extended roll on the timpani lends this symphony its Drumroll nickname.

—After notes by James M. Keller and Michael Steinberg

Concert Extras

Pre-Concert Talk: Join us for an informative “Inside Music” talk from the stage with Alexandra Amati. Free to all ticketholders, these talks begin one hour before the May 20-22 performances. Doors open 15 minutes before.

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