Haydn and Mozart symphony and a chorus, both probably from [the oratorio] "Il ritorno di Tobia"") and Mozart ("a new concert aria, probably 'Misero! o sogno!' [K. 431], and, on the first night, a piano concerto") At the time of this meeting, Haydn was the most celebrated composer in Europe. Mozart's own reputation was definitely on the rise. His opera "The Abduction from the Seraglio" had been premiered with great success in Vienna, and was being produced in several other cities. Haydn would have been about 52 at the time, Mozart about 28. Jens Peter Larsen suggests that "quartet playing was central to
Kurt Rydl "The Abduction from the Seraglio". He debuted in 1976 at the Vienna State Opera as Ferrando ("Il trovatore"). From there he went on to sing Colline ("La Bohème"), Pimen ("Boris Godunov"), Grand Inquisitor ("Don Carlo"), Commendatore ("Don Giovanni"), Osmin ("The Abduction from the Seraglio"), Rocco ("Fidelio"), Daland ("The Flying Dutchman"), Roger ("Jérusalem"), King Henry ("Lohengrin"), Raimondo ("Lucia di Lammermoor"), Geronte ("Manon Lescaut"), Talbot ("Maria Stuarda"), Veit Pogner ("Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg"), Bartolo ("Il Barbiere di Siviglia"), Titurel and Gurnemanz ("Parsifal"), Sparafucile ("Rigoletto"), Fasolt ("Das Rheingold"), Hunding ("Die Walküre"), Fafner ("Siegfried"), Hagen ("Götterdammerung"), Ochs ("Der Rosenkavalier") Morosus ("Die schweigsame Frau"), Landgraf