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Artistic Temperaments: The World’s First Piano Concertos | Oxford 1769

THURSDAY 01 JANUARY - 12:00 AM



Persephone Gibbs & Sarah Moffatt violins
Sarah McMahon cello
David Owen Norris 1770 Beyer square piano

JC Bach Concerto in E flat, Op 7 No 5 (1770)
Abel Concerto in B flat, Op 11 No 2 (1774)
Mozart Concerto in D, K107 (1772 [arr from JC Bach’s Sonata, Op 5 No 2]
Hayes Concerto in A (1769) [The World’s First]
Hook Concerto in D, [Op 1] No 5 (1770)

The perfection of the Square Piano in London in the 1760s led to a remarkable flurry of charming music especially designed to exploit the possibilities of the most successful model of musical instrument known up to that time. The music is immediately attractive, with graceful melodies, lively rhythms, and beautiful harmonies. In tonight’s concert you will hear some of the works composed at the time. David Owen Norris will also explain the particular features and the unusual nature of the Square Piano during the concert.

FREE TICKETS FOR 8-25 YEAR OLDS TO SELECTED CHAMBER MUSIC CONCERTS
Through the generous support of the CAVATINA Chamber Music Trust, we are able to offer young people aged 8-25 the fantastic opportunity to experience selected concerts absolutely free.

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ARTISTIC TEMPERAMENTS 
FRIDAY 17 – MONDAY 20 FEBRUARY 2023

Most of the piano music we love best, we’ve never heard as its composer heard it.

Turner Sims, in association with the University of Southampton Music Department, presents a new four-day festival. Join us for a journey back in time to when the first pianos and keyboard instruments were made – and tuned – very differently. The University’s stunning collection of antique instruments – and one of their fine modern grands – will be tuned historically. David Owen Norris and guests help us to rediscover the classics as they would have sounded to those that composed them.

FIND OUT MORE

Artistic Temperaments thanks Lucy Coad for the loan of perfectly restored eighteenth-century square pianos.