Haydn2032, the ambitious project of recording the complete symphonies of
Haydn, has been placed from the start under the artistic direction of
Giovanni Antonini, with two ensembles, Il Giardino Armonico, which made
the first four volumes, and the Kammerochester Basel, to which this
fifth volume and the next two are assigned. Another characteristic of
the edition is that each time Haydn is set in perspective with another
composer; here it is Joseph Martin Kraus (1756-92): ‘Kraus was the first
man of genius that I met. Why did he have to die? It is an irreparable
loss for our art. The Symphony in C minor he wrote in Vienna specially
for me is a work which will be considered a masterpiece in every
century’, said Haydn in 1797. Though he long remained forgotten after
his death, Kraus made an active contribution to the movement of poetic
renewal called ‘Sturm und Drang’ or ‘Geniezeit’ (time of genius) because
such artists as the young Goethe broke free of all tradition to follow
their hearts alone. When Haydn called Kraus homme de génie, in French,
he probably had this context in mind. The two composers had met in
Vienna in 1783.
