The Haydnsaal ("saal" means hall in German) is in
the Eszterházy Palace at Eisenstadt, Austria. It was build in mid 17th century and is the
very important hall in a music history since. As its name shows, the composer Jozef Haydn
had worked more than 30 years and many of his pieces were first played. Currently there is
a stage in front of the hall but during Haydn period did not exists. The balconies there
have not been made before 1797 (maybe even later) - therefor Haydn's orchestra didn''t
play up there. And afterwards (Haydn spent the summers in Eisenstadt till 1803) Haydn was
too famous that he would have went up there. So they did not play there. There are
three beautiful frescos on the ceiling. This hall does not have any air conditoning system
to protect the frescos. So, there is no concert in winter. The capacity of this hall is
600 and the acoustics is marvelous. The Accoustic Institut in Hannover has made researches
to different concert halls where Haydn performed and they compared the accoustics to the
Goldenen Saal in the Musikverein Vienna. For orchestras playing in the size of
Haydn-symphonies the Haydnhall has the best accoustics. It changes when the orchstras
become bigger for the romantic repertoire.
All CDs of Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra were recorded here in this hall.
(05/01/97)
Article corrected by Dr. Walter Reicher - Intendant of the
Haydnfestival, Eisenstadt
