7pm Thursday 18th March, 2027.
The Bournemouth Symphony Chorus will be performing Beethoven: Cantata on the Death of Emperor Josef II
Works and Composers:
Beethoven: Cantata on the Death of Emperor Josef II
Beethoven: Symphony No.3 ‘Eroica’
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Note: The two box offices have different seat allocations.
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Programme
Beethoven Cantata on the Death of Emperor Josef II
Beethoven Symphony No. 3, ‘Eroica’
Mark Wigglesworth Conductor
Nardus Williams Soprano
Kitty Whately Mezzo Soprano
Anthony Gregory Tenor
Andrew Foster Williams Bass
Bournemouth Symphony Orchestra
Beethoven was only nineteen years old when he was commissioned to write a cantata to mark the death of Josef II in 1790, but the work shows the embryonic marks of his greatness: the choral exhortations and intensity of expression show a knowledge of opera and dramatic oratorio. Whilst the music preserves the sense of a requiem, the cantata is notable for its unusual tone painting, dramatic writing for the orchestra, and significant solo writing for bass and soprano.
Although his earlier works had shown flashes of what was to come, the Third Symphony, by contrast, opens with two staggering chords that announce to the world the arrival of a new talent, a forceful personality, a man never to be forgotten. From that point on Beethoven was no mere composer – he was a creator of monuments.