From Bach Collegium San Diego: Our final Bach at Noon concert this season explores the baroque roots of the music of the "Father of the string quartet and symphony", Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809), mainly via works of composers he knew and admired. Gregor Werner (1693-1766) was Haydn's senior colleague at the musical establishment of the Esterhazy court, and despite significant conflict between the two men, late in life Haydn memorialized Werner with a string quartet version of Six Introductions and Fugues taken from Werner's oratorios. The centerpiece of this program is the suave and elegant Salve regina in F major of Nicola Porpora (1686-1768), who hired Haydn, then a struggling 20-something in Vienna, as a valet and accompanist. From Porpora, Haydn confided in his first biographer, he learned "the true fundamentals of composition". Social media: Facebook | Instagram | Twitter