West Virginia University Professor of Music William Haller, performing on harpsichord and fortepiano, will present a recital of music from 1770 at the WVU Creative Arts Center, Saturday, Oct. 30.

The program begins at 4 p.m. in the Bloch Learning and Performance Hall (Room 200A) and is free and open to the public.

Assisting him on the program will be faculty member Janis-Rozena Peri, soprano, who will join in the performance of two songs.

The year 1770 was a somewhat down time in the production of great musical works of art in Europe,Dr. Haller said.J.S. Bachs death in 1750 had left a void virtually irreplaceable by anyone but his students and they were not of the teachers caliber. Handel and Scarlatti died a few years after Bach, each with students left behind to continue or digress from his masters past. In 1770 Haydn was 38, Mozart was 14, and Beethoven was just born.

This keyboard recital is a selection from the many musical sources of the time. The program contains harpsichord works by Jacques Duphly (1715-1789), one of the last composers to write for harpsichord. There will also be three harpsichord sonatas by Antonio Soler (1729-1783), a student and colleague of Domenico Scarlatti.

Haller will play the John Lyon fortepiano for performances of sonatas by Carl Phillip Emmanuel Bach and Josef Haydn.

Peri will perform with Haller for two songs by Francis Hopkinson, Americas first native-born composer, and two songs by Haydn.

For more information, contact the College of Creative Arts at (304) 293-4841 ext. 3108.