Joseph Haydn composed his Symphony No. 100 in G major on his second trip to London (1794-95). The second movement, Allegretto, is from time to time dashingly driven forward by various percussion effects ("Turkish” military instruments, in fact, which were fashionable at the time). This, together with the trumpet fanfare towards the end of the movement, earned the symphony its "Military” nickname. Composed at the same time as the symphony, and similarly linked to Haydn's second London trip, is the Scena di Berenice, which creates a dramatic atmosphere on the concert stage in the form of a concert aria - a popular genre of the era. The text comes from an excerpt of Antigono, an opera by Pietro Metastasio. Weeping for Demetrio, Berenice laments her bitter fate, yearning for her lover to become her companion in death. Schubert's two songs, Die junge Nonne ("The Young Nun”) and Gretchen am Spinnrade ("Gretchen at the Spinning Wheel”), both originally accompanied by piano, offer insight into the mysteries of the female soul from different perspectives. In another scena as dramatic as Hadyn's Berenice, Liszt's Jeanne d'Arc (1845-1874/75) features Alexandre Dumas's poetry set to music. Although the version of this composition written for piano accompaniment has also survived, this time the audience will get to know the so-far unpublished 1858 orchestral score. The programme will conclude with Liszt's symphonic poem Festklänge, which made its world premiere in 1854 as preliminary piece before a performance of Schiller's dramatic poem, Die Huldigung der Künste.

Presented by: Hungarian National Philharmonic