The Swedish Mozart
From Professor John Poynton
Sir: Peter Phillips (Arts, 21 January) regrets that Mozart’s 250th anniversary will overshadow other anniversaries. Most regrettable of all, I would suggest, is the failure to mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Kraus (1756–92), sometimes called the Swedish Mozart but considered by C.P.E. Bach to be preferable to Mozart.
Acquaintance with Kraus’s engaging but little-known music will suggest that Bach’s assessment is sound. Thought to be an original genius by Haydn (one of Kraus’s symphonies was published under Haydn’s name), Kraus anticipates early 19th-century composition to a remarkable degree. Yet so far there is no recognition of him in concert programmes published for this year.
It would be hugely regrettable if the opportunity provided by 2006 to explore this adventurous composer’s work were passed over, and that celebrations of Mozart overshadowed his great contemporary. Kraus’s numerous and varied compositions are beginning to be recorded, notably by Naxos. A list of his works may be found at www.artaria.com/Composer/Kraus.asp.
John Poynton London NW1
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