Description
Accent: Michael Haydn — Kaiser Constantin I. Feldzug und Sieg — Purcell Choir, Orfeo Orchestra, Vashegyi (2 CD)
Brand new! Factory packaged! As pictured! Buy with confidence!
Product Details:
- Product Type: Audio CD (2-disc set)
- Brand / Label: Accent (Esterházy Music Collection, Vol. 4)
- Composer: Michael Haydn
- Work: Kaiser Constantin I. Feldzug und Sieg — Oratorio (1769)
- Soloists: Emőke Baráth (soprano, Theologie), Klára Kolonits (soprano, Kleinmütigkeit), Theodora Raftis (soprano, Philosophie), Chantal Santon Jeffery (soprano, Glaube), Katalin Szutrély (soprano, Tapferkeit)
- Choir: Purcell Choir
- Orchestra: Orfeo Orchestra
- Conductor: György Vashegyi
- Recording: Béla Bartók National Concert Hall, Müpa Budapest, 25–27 May 2016
- Release Year: 2022
- UPC: 4015023265042
- Catalogue Number: ACC 26504
- Genre: Classical / Oratorio / Sacred
Product Features
- Format: 2 CDs
- CD 1: 50:54 / CD 2: 40:45 (total approx. 91 minutes)
- Performance style: Period-instrument / historically informed
- Essay in English, French, German, Hungarian
- Recording engineered by Classic-Sound Studio Budapest
- Made in the Netherlands
- Condition: Brand New, Factory Sealed
Overview
This is a genuine rediscovery: Michael Haydn's oratorio Kaiser Constantin I. Feldzug und Sieg ("Emperor Constantine I: Campaign and Victory"), written in 1769 and rarely heard since. Michael was Joseph Haydn's younger brother, a major composer in his own right, and this recording — the fourth volume in Accent's Esterházy Music Collection — gives the work a serious modern hearing under György Vashegyi.
The oratorio takes Constantine's vision of the Cross and his victory at the Milvian Bridge as its subject, but Haydn treats the story allegorically. The cast isn't made up of soldiers and emperors so much as personifications — Theology, Faith, Philosophy, Bravery, and Faint-heartedness — five soprano roles that turn the historical episode into a meditation on conviction and courage. It's an unusual, intellectually ambitious structure for its time.
Vashegyi leads his Budapest forces, the Purcell Choir and Orfeo Orchestra, who have built a reputation for exactly this kind of recovery work. The soloists are a strong gathering of Hungarian and French sopranos, led by Emőke Baráth. Recorded in the fine acoustic of Müpa Budapest in 2016.
For collectors of the Haydn brothers, lovers of the Classical-era oratorio, and anyone interested in serious revivals of forgotten 18th-century repertoire.
Interesting Facts
- Michael Haydn (1737–1806) was Joseph Haydn's younger brother and spent most of his career in Salzburg, where he influenced the young Mozart.
- This oratorio dates from 1769, the period when Michael Haydn was producing some of his most ambitious sacred works in Salzburg.
- The libretto personifies abstract virtues — Theology, Faith, Philosophy, Bravery, and Faint-heartedness — rather than depicting historical characters directly.
- The subject draws on Constantine the Great's famous vision before the Battle of the Milvian Bridge (312 AD) and the motto "In this sign you will conquer."
- The recording is part of Accent's Esterházy Music Collection, a series dedicated to reviving music connected to the Esterházy court and its circle.
- György Vashegyi and his Budapest ensembles have become known internationally for first modern recordings of neglected 18th-century works.
Track Listing
The booklet's track-by-track breakdown with timings isn't legible in the photos provided (disc durations are CD 1: 50:54 and CD 2: 40:45). Send a clear image of the track list and I'll add the full tracklist with timings.
Publishers
Released by Accent (note 1 music gmbh), ℗ + © 2022. A production of the Orfeo Music Foundation with support from the Hungarian Ministry of Human Capacities, the National Cultural Fund of Hungary, the Hungarian Academy of Arts, and the Buda Castle District. Recorded at Müpa Budapest; engineered by Classic-Sound Studio Budapest. Made in the Netherlands.
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