Haydn 2032, Vol. 18: Il maestro di scuola

Joseph Haydn taught singing, keyboard instruments, music theory, and composition throughout his life. Among his students were Ignaz Pleyel, Sigismund Neukomm, and the Polish Franciszek (Franz) Lessel. In October 1805, the latter received the autograph score of his 1774 Symphony No. 56 from his teacher. This symphony forms a pair with Symphony No. 55, known as “The Schoolmaster,” which dates from the same year. Both are included in this eighteenth volume of the Haydn2032 series, together with Symphony No. 29 (1765), “whose Presto finale sounds as if a horde of unruly children has just escaped from a strict teacher,” writes Christian Moritz-Bauer. Giovanni Antonini and the Basel Chamber Orchestra also recorded the finale of Lessel’s Symphony No. 5 in G minor, the only movement from his entire orchestral output that has survived.