Konzerthausorchester Berlin, Ton Koopman

The programme opens with Rossini’s cheerful overture to “The Italian Girl in Algiers”, after which the stage in the Great Hall is set for a real woman from music history: She took early piano lessons with Haydn, was mentored by the famous librettist Metastasio, performed as a singer and pianist at court and in Viennese salons, and by age 29 was a recognized composer and member of the Accademia Filarmonica di Bologna – Marianna von Martines (1744–1812) was undoubtedly a remarkable figure in the Vienna of Salieri, Mozart, and Haydn, whose work is now being rediscovered.

Mozart, for his part, composed his concert aria K. 505 in 1786 about (supposedly) lost love for a famous young soprano with whom he had fallen in love. She sang the aria accompanied by him—and left Vienna nonetheless. With this piece, Vera-Lotte Boecker bids you farewell as our artist in resicence. Following Mozart’s Divertimento K. 136, the programme concludes with Haydn’s Symphony No. 100, which later earned the nickname “Military Symphony” due to passages reminiscent of military music featuring the triangle, cymbals, bass drum, and trumpet signals.