A Master’s Touch

On his way to Vienna to study with the great composers of his time, the young Beethoven reads a message from his patron: “Receive from Haydn’s hands the spirit of Mozart.” Every musical legacy rests on a delicate balance between transmission and timelessness. Without ever being named, guiding figures often remain hidden within the works of their disciples. In orchestration, style, and compositional gesture, the imprint of a master can be discerned without overshadowing the voice of an emerging talent. This programme explores the artistic lineages that connect composers across the centuries. Both Mozart and Beethoven were shaped by Haydn’s teaching. Much later, Poulenc, too, seems almost to have emerged from the First Viennese School with his astonishing Sinfonietta—a work conceived as a playful homage inspired by Haydn’s musical language. Opening the OCL season, Mariano Chiacchiarini on the podium and Joseph Moog at the piano transcend the boundaries of time and gently bend the course of history itself—with a master’s touch.