“I am convinced that the oeuvre of Werner will be one of the biggest discoveries of all European Early Music in the coming decade.” This assertion was made recently by György Vashegyi, a central figure of Early Music performance and teaching in Hungary, founder and leader of Purcell Choir (1990) and Orfeo Orchestra (1991) performing at the closing event of the Haydneum Festival of Sacred Music. According to Vashegyi, Gregor Joseph Werner (1693–1766), who was Haydn’s predecessor in the service of the Esterházys, “was perhaps one of the most misunderstood composers of the late Baroque” (…), “who in essence was a composer of the same standing as Joseph Haydn, it is just that he worked in a completely different style”. The concert features church music by Werner, Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) and Johann Georg Albrechtsberger (1736–1809). Werner and Haydn knew each other from their service with the Esterházys, while the superb theoretician Albrechtsberger, master of counterpoint and choirmaster at the Stephansdom in Vienna, was a classmate of Michael Haydn (1737-1806) and friend of Joseph. Soloists Ágnes Kovács, Péter Bárány, Márton Komáromi and Ákos Borka are all former or current members of Purcell Choir, renowned soloists of the Early Music repertoire and artists regularly collaborating on Vashegyi productions.
