Perspectives on Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, in honor of H. C. Robbins Landon Centenary (1926-2026)
Boston University and Berklee College of Music, 5-7 March 2026
Program
(Abstracts and presenter biographies can be see and downloaded here.)
Thursday, March 5
5-6 PM: Viewing of Landon Rare Book Exhibit
Boston University, Mugar Memorial Library
771 Commonwealth Ave., 5th Flr. Reading Room
***
Friday, March 6, 9-12:00
Boston University, Howard Thurman Center
808 Commonwealth Ave. Rm. 205
9:15 -9:30
Welcome by Victor Coelho (Professor & Director, Center for Early Music Studies)
9:30-11:00 Landon, Haydn, and Mozart
Pamela L. Poulin (Peabody Institute, Johns Hopkins University), Chair
Yuhan Tian (Central Conservatory of Music, Beijing) “Landon’s Salieri: Myth-Busting, Stereotype-Making, and the Narratives of Eighteenth-Century Music”
Kathryn Libin (Vassar College) “Haydn and Prince Lobkowitz: An Addendum to Landon’s Chronicle and Works”
Barbara Barry (University of London, School of Advanced Studies) “1791 Redux: Masonic Perspectives in The Magic Flute Reconsidered”
11:15-12:15 Keynote Address
Robert Winter (Distinguished Professor Emeritus, UCLA) “A Few Matters of Minor Importance”
Break
Friday, March 6, 1:30-5:00
1:30-2:15 – Keynote Address
Kenneth Slowik (Smithsonian) “The Smithsonian Haydn and Beethoven Academies: A Report from the Field” (with Isaiah Chapman, viola & Chelsea Bernstein, cello)
2:30-3:30 – Haydn Reception
Stephen Fisher (Independent Scholar), Chair
Yishai Rubin (Indiana University) “Johann Peter Salomon in Prussia, 1765-1780”
Roger Fisher (York University) “Too Bad to be True? Reassessing the Haydn-Hyde Contract”
4:00-5:00 –Lecture-Recital. Boston University College of Fine Arts, 855 Commonwealth Ave. Rm. 254 (Marshall Rm)
Grace Eunhye Lee (Independent Scholar) “Humor as Experiment: Reconsidering Haydn’s Piano Sonatas through Robbins Landon”
5:15-7:00 PM Reception, Cornwall’s Tavern, Kenmore Square, 644 Beacon Street (conference participants & guests).
8:00 PM – Boston Baroque Concert: Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass. Jordan Hall, New England Conservatory, 30 Gainsborough St. Boston, 02115.
*
Saturday, March 7, 9-4:30
Berklee College of Music
1140 Boylston St. Rm. 1A
9:15-10:15 – Beethoven and Haydn
Michael Goetjen (Boston Conservatory at Berklee; MIT), Chair
Stefan Romanó (Independent Scholar) “Haydn’s Creation Challenge: A New Hypothesis about the Genesis of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony”
Stephen Husarik (University of Arkansas, Fort Smith) “Humor in Eighteenth-CenturyDress: The Comic Form of Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge”
10:30-11:45 – Vocal Music
Jessica Waldoff (College of the Holy Cross), Chair
Michael Goetjen (Boston Conservatory at Berklee; MIT) “Cantata or Concert Aria: A Question of Genre in Haydn’s “‘Scena di Berenice’”
Carol Padgham Albrecht (University of Idaho) “Redrawing the Portrait of Theresia Saal”
1:30-2:30 – Landon and Mozart Roundtable
Laurel E. Zeiss (Baylor University), Moderator, with Paul Corneilson (Packard Humanities Institute), Jessica Waldoff (College of the Holy Cross) & Christoph Wolff (Adams University Professor, Emeritus, Harvard University)
2:45-3:45 – Topics in Music Theory
James MacKay(Loyola University, New Orleans), Chair
Michael Slattery (Northwestern University) “‘Heil, O Sonne, Heil!’”: The Meanings of the Do-Re-Mi in Haydn’s Oratorio Sunrises”
Roman Ivanovitch (Indiana University, Bloomington) “A Matter of Trust: The Finale of Symphony No. 90 in C major and Haydn’s Recomposed Recapitulations”
4:00 – Closing Remarks
Michael Ruhling (Rochester Institute of Technology)
***
Support for this conference was generously provided by—
BU Department of Musicology & BU School of Music
BU Center for the Humanities
Alex Ludwig / Berklee College of Music
The Haydn Society of North America
The Mozart Society of America
Rochester Institute of Technology School of Performing Arts
Ryan Hendrickson, Chris Gately & Holly Mockovak (Mugar Memorial Library)
Organizing Committee: Victor Coelho (Boston University), James MacKay (Loyola University, New Orleans) Michael Ruhling (Rochester Institute of Technology) & Laurel Zeiss (Baylor University)
Program Committee: Ashley Greathouse (University of South Carolina), Alexander Ludwig (Berklee College of Music), James MacKay (Loyola University, New Orleans) & Rena Roussin (Western University)