Australian Haydn Ensemble: Beethoven’s Eighth

Thu Nov 06 2025 at 09:00 am to 11:20 am UTC+11:00

Glasshouse Port Macquarie | Port Macquarie

Glasshouse Port Macquarie
Publisher/HostGlasshouse Port Macquarie
Australian Haydn Ensemble: Beethoven\u2019s Eighth
Advertisement
“It was a marvellous performance by the seven instrumentalists which did more than ample justice to Beethoven in this powerful rendition.” – Sounds Like Sydney 2024
Ah, those summer nights in Eastern Europe, 1812.
A week after Napoleon invades Russia, Ludwig van Beethoven almost certainly says “Yes, tonight Josephine” to the love of his life, the unhappily married and recently jilted but socially impossible match, Countess Jozefina Brunszvik. Three days later he pours forth - with the pencil (!) he souvenired from the tryst - the ten little pages of hopeless devotion that have spawned thousands of pages of academic speculation. He hastily concludes in order to make the next post, then scrunches them in his pocket for the rest of his life.
This superb program revolves around the tantalising enigma of the “Immortal Beloved” letters. Young Sydney composer Ella Macens, whose tender and expressive work with the Goldner and Flinders quartets has demonstrated a special affinity with chamber strings, embraces baroque tuning with a new commission inspired by Ludwig’s passionate declarations.
Exactly nine months after the clandestine Spa-town rendezvous, the countess bore a daughter that she christened Minona (hint: spell it backwards). No paternity mystery shrouds the other fruit of the encounter though, Beethoven’s Eighth Symphony, whose gestation period was considerably shorter. This utterly delightful homage to Haydn, so full of wit and musical slapstick, is light-years from the mindset of the letters, even though he started composing it then and there in the same hotel room.
Is that why he didn’t make it to the post office? Heard in the Ensemble’s by now familiar “unplugged” style, it’s guaranteed to banish frustration and consternation to your back pockets too.
Also on the bill, the remarkable chamber arrangement of Mozart’s G minor Symphony No. 40 by Vincenzo Cimador, which distils the symphony’s brooding drama into the intimacy of a septet, and one of the very first string sextets ever written, Boccherini’s Op. 24 No. 4 in F minor, a sumptuous masterpiece that deserves classic status.
Repertoire/Program
MOZART
Symphony No. 40 in G Minor arr. Cimador (1820)
BOCCHERINI
String Sextet in F Major, Op. 23 No. 6
ELLA MACENS
String Sextet (World Premiere - New Commission)
BEETHOVEN
Symphony No. 8 in F Major Op. 83
arr. F.W. Crouch (1821)
Advertisement

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Glasshouse Port Macquarie, 30-42 Clarence St, Port Macquarie NSW 2444, Australia, Port Macquarie

Tickets

Sharing is Caring:

More Events in Port Macquarie

Tough Guy Book Club - Port Macquarie Chapter
Wed, 05 Nov at 09:00 am Tough Guy Book Club - Port Macquarie Chapter

Finnian's Irish Tavern

The Self Love Tour - Port Macquarie
Thu, 06 Nov at 08:30 am The Self Love Tour - Port Macquarie

Rydges Port Macquarie

Crafty Treasures Trail
Thu, 06 Nov at 10:30 pm Crafty Treasures Trail

Mid North Coast NSW

Botanical Printmaking
Fri, 07 Nov at 08:00 am Botanical Printmaking

Arthouse Industries

Live Music on The Terrace w\/ Slingshot Duo
Fri, 07 Nov at 08:30 am Live Music on The Terrace w/ Slingshot Duo

159 Hastings River Drive, Port Macquarie, NSW, Australia, New South Wales 2444

Live Music on The Terrace w\/ Slingshot Duo
Fri, 07 Nov at 06:30 pm Live Music on The Terrace w/ Slingshot Duo

The Bowl Port Macquarie

Garage Sale Trail 2025
Fri, 07 Nov at 09:00 pm Garage Sale Trail 2025

Port Macquarie Hastings

Tom Gleeson - Out of Touch
Sat, 08 Nov at 07:00 am Tom Gleeson - Out of Touch

Glasshouse Port Macquarie

Port Macquarie is Happening!

Never miss your favorite happenings again!

Explore Port Macquarie Events