In the year 1787 Captain Arthur Philip set sail from Portsmouth with the eleven ships of the First Fleet bound for Australia, and a Charter of Justice was signed enabling the establishment of the first New South Wales Courts of Criminal and Civil Jurisdiction. The United States Constitution was drafted and adopted by the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, and already Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey ratified to become the first three of the United States of America. Mont Blanc in France was conquered for the first time, William Herschel discovered Titania and Oberon, two of the moons of Uranus, and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart premiered his Symphony No 38 and the opera Don Giovanni. In this global climate of discovery and dramatic geopolitical changes, classical music was thriving in all corners of Europe. It was in this year, in Madrid (Boccherini), Vienna (Mozart), and the swampy grounds of the Esterházy Palace in Hungary (Haydn), that three of the works on the Australian Haydn Ensemble’s upcoming program were composed. Despite his work not originating in 1787, that year also saw Paul Wranitzky become director...