Haydn Ten Little Pieces

Some songwriters or composers just know how to produce a hit.

KEYPAD BEEPS

MUSIC: Trumpet Concerto in E Flat by Joseph Haydn

Those composers are just like superstar strikers

shooting for goal.

They just know how to write a piece of music

that's going to hit the back of the net every time.

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Joseph Haydn, 18th-century Austrian composer.

He used to have to write melodies for the orchestra

he managed that were memorable and bang on target.

Otherwise, he'd get the boot from the prince who employed him.

Luckily, Haydn had an ear for a catchy tune,

the kind that his boss could hum to for weeks and weeks

while wallowing in his posh bath.

And his record speaks for itself.

Take this concerto,

where the trumpeter takes the role of superstar striker

and plays a real crowd-pleaser of a melody all of their own.

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Haydn knows that's not enough,

so he opts for a rondo formation for this piece.

That's a musical structure where the main melody keeps returning -

like a chorus, but alternates with different musical interludes,

so the rest of the players aren't sitting about doing nothing.

They are providing the interludes, picking up the tempo

and creating variety - but, in the end, always passing the ball back

to the star striker,

who only has eyes for goal.

CONCERTO CONTINUES