Grand Rapids Symphony Celebrates its Birthday With Music of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven

Officially organized on Jan. 11, 1930, the Grand Rapids Symphony will be on the job for its 89th birthday, performing the timeless music of Beethoven, Haydn and Mozart.

Music Director Marcelo Lehninger will lead the orchestra in The Classical Concert: Viennese Masters, featuring Haydn's Symphony No. 89 to commemorate the orchestra's 89th season. The PwC Great Eras series concert will take place at St. Cecilia Music Center's Royce Auditorium at 8 p.m.

The Grand Rapids Symphony also will perform Beethoven's Creatures of Prometheus and Mozart's Symphony No. 39together with Haydn's Symphony No. 89.

A one-hour version of the evening program will be performed earlier that day at 10 a.m. Doors open for The Classical Coffee Concert at St. Cecilia Music Center at 9 a.m. for an hour of complimentary coffee and pastries. The concert is part of the Porter Hills Coffee Classic series.

In the late 18th century, Vienna was the capital city of the music world. It held a special place in the hearts of composers such as Beethoven, who once wrote, "Perhaps heaven will permit me not to have to give up Vienna as my permanent abode."

Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven all lived and worked in Vienna during their careers. Haydn and Mozart, in particular, were friends for several years until Haydn's death. Both acknowledged they learned from each other's music.

The youthful Beethoven, who studied briefly under Haydn and almost certainly met Mozart, was influenced and inspired by both masters in his early works.

Though Ludwig van Beethoven isn't usually thought of as a composer for theater, one of the hits of the 1801 Vienna spring season was Creatures of Prometheus, the only full-length ballet he ever composed.

Mozart, who was 24 years younger than Haydn, learned a great deal from "Papa Haydn" and eventually dedicated six string quartets to him.

As both the young composer's mentor and contemporary, Haydn had a deep appreciation for Mozart's music. In a letter published in 1798, Haydn wrote, ". . . scarcely any man can brook comparison with the great Mozart. . . If I could only impress on the soul of every friend of music, and on high personages in particular, how inimitable are Mozart's works, how profound, how musically intelligent, how extraordinarily sensitive! (for this is how I understand them, how I feel them) - why, then the nations would vie with each other to possess such a jewel within their frontiers.''

As it turns out, both of the symphonies by Haydn and Mozart that are featured on this program were written almost at the same time. Mozart composed his Symphony No. 89 in 1787. Mozart completed his Symphony No. 39 months later in June 1788.

In March 1792, an all-Mozart concert took place in Hamburg where an eyewitness named Iwan Anderwitsch describes hearing Mozart's Symphony No. 39. He wrote, "The opening is so majestic that it so surprised even the coldest, most insensitive listener and non-expert, that even if he wanted to chat, it prevented him from being inattentive, and thus, so to speak, put him in a position to become all ears."

Highlights of the evening concert will be given at 10 a.m. that morning The Classical Coffee Concert, part of the Porter Hills Coffee Classic series, a one-hour program held without intermission. Doors open at 9 a.m. for complementary coffee and pastry.

The complete The Classical Concert: Viennese Masters program will be rebroadcast on Sunday, April 7, 2019, at 1 p.m. on Blue Lake Public Radio 88.9 FM or 90.3 FM.

Tickets start at $26 for the Great Eras series and $16 for Coffee Classics and are available at the Grand Rapids Symphony box office, weekdays 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. at 300 Ottawa Ave. NW, Suite 100, (located across the street from Calder Plaza). Call (616) 454-9451 x 4 to order by phone. (Phone orders will be charged a $2 per ticket service fee, with a $12 maximum).

Tickets are available at the DeVos Place ticket office, weekdays 10 am - 6 pm or on the day of the concert at the venue beginning two hours before the performance. Tickets also may be purchased online at GRSymphony.org.

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