³ÉÈËÂÛ̳

This week I'm off to Eisenstadt, to visit the place where Haydn worked for so many years as court composer to the Esterhazy family. There, as in the UK, we'll be celebrating the great man's work and on Sunday 31st May, the big EBU Haydn Day will begin (and end) in this little town on the Austro- Hungarian border.

I'll be going with memories of Charles Hazlewood's ³ÉÈËÂÛ̳ 2 programme still fresh in my mind. It was a very personal film. One highlight was the time spent in the Haydn Saal in the Eisenstadt palace, where it emerged that the good acoustics only exist because Haydn insisted that the marble floor be replaced by a wooden one! So much for the popular idea of the composer as a deferential servant! It must have cost Prince Esterhazy a fortune! I'd be fascinated to know what other viewers thought.

It was noticeable that Hazlewood made no attempt to explain Haydn's relative obscurity today. Can fellow blogger kleines c really be right when he says that 'Haydn is the ultimate fashion victim. He used to be very fashionable, but tastes change, and modern audiences want to give him a hiding.'

Thinking about it makes me wonder which of our four Composers of the Year is the most fashionable today. My guess would be Handel. But why?

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