A clever marketing coup: When London audiences were fighting over tickets for Joseph Haydn's concerts, a rival concert organizer hired Haydn's former student Ignaz Pleyel. Flanked by a newspaper campaign that conjured up a "bloody harmonic war" between teacher and student, the rival company's box office was also expected to ring. In this context, the Sinfonia concertante was created as a counterpart to a Sinfonia concertante by Pleyel, which was performed in London in February 1792. However, the composer competition never materialized. Pleyel and Haydn demonstratively cultivated their friendship and paid each other mutual respect. Despite Gustav Mahler's initial complaints that his "Fifth" was a "cursed work" because no one could understand it, it is now one of his most esteemed compositions. This is probably largely due to the moving "Adagietto", which became well known outside of the concert hall through its use in Luchino Visconti's film adaptation of Thomas Mann's "Death in Venice". The Munich Philharmonic is looking forward to welcoming its honorary conductor Zubin Mehta, who was awarded the Golden Medal of Honor of the City of Munich in January 2024.

Naoka Aoki

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21 - 22 May, 2025

Haydn Mahler · Munich Philharmonic

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