In the eighteenth century pianos did not come in a cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-all template like those of today. Two very different schools of piano building arose in Vienna and London, and they each reflect very different aesthetics,  both in their sound and their construction. This program gives listeners the unique opportunity to hear an English piano built in 1806 by the firm of John Broadwood and Son, which we could say was the “Steinway” of its time in terms of name-brand recognition. All three of the composers on this program –  Haydn, Clementi, and Beethoven – had direct ties to these instruments in one way or another, and this program will celebrate these connections. We’ll hear Haydn’s beloved Sonata in E-flat (Hob. XVI:52), written during his second London visit for the London virtuoso and Clementi protégée Therese Jansen-Bartolozzi; Clementi’s fiery Sonata in G minor (Op. 34, No. 2); Beethoven’s gorgeous An die ferne Geliebte, considered the first true song cycle; and a number of Haydn’s English Canzonettas, which range from the raucous to the sublime.

A delightful program featuring Beethoven's sunny and humorous Sonata in G major, Op. 30, No. 3 (1802) and Mozart's grand and operatic Sonata in B-flat, "Strinasacchi", K. 454. (1784). While it is not known for whom Beethoven wrote his Op. 30 sonatas, we do know that Mozart wrote K. 454 for the Italian violin virtuosa Regina Strinasacchi, with whom he performed it at its premiere. Mozart praised her playing in a letter to his father Leopold, who had also heard her in concert. Leopold was the author of one of the most famous violin treatises of the day, and after hearing Strinasacchi he declared that "In general, I think that a woman who has talent plays with more expression than a man."