Search - Haydn, Traditional, Beethoven :: Celtic Caravans - Road to Romanticism

Traditional Celtic music has almost continually enlivened the world of formal classical music. While Celtic-speaking peoples lived through much of central Europe during the first millennium BCE -- including modern France, Austria, Switzerland and beyond -- during the following 2000 years leading up to our own time, their range has gradually narrowed to just the British Isles and western France. While 'Celtic' in America and Britain increasingly refers simply to 'Irish' music, in Europe 'Celtic' may refer broadly to the music of any of the far-flung branches of the ancient linguistic tree. Our program explores actual Scottish, Welsh and Irish music as well as arrangements conceived by Haydn and Beethoven to flatter the 'exotic' taste of art-music audiences. In addition, we present Haydn's canzonettas, which are essentially newly created works inspired by English folksong style. At this time, when music was beginning to overflow the banks of Classicism to become Romanticism, the term 'Celtic'had not truly emerged as a political and artistic term. Only in the late 19th century did the 'Celtic Twilight' movement associated with William Butler Yeats consciously attempt to revive ancient relationships between the various far-flung Celtic peoples.