Awesome Music / Joseph Haydn

Joseph Haydn stands alongside Mozart and Beethoven as one of the three greatest composers of the Classical era, and left plenty of awesome music to cement his reputation.

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• The Creation. The oratorio begins with a musical representation of chaos, followed by a bass recitative, and then the choir singing, pianissimo: "Und Gott spracht: Es werde Licht" (And God said: Let there be light), "und es ward" — and then a sudden fortissimo — "LICHT!" Words can't describe it properly — listen to it here.
• There are also Haydn's masses, including his Creation Mass, which is very unusual, in that is contains probably the sweetest rendition of the Agnus Dei you will ever hear. Apparently, Haydn wanted to make the Lyrical Dissonance trope Older Than Steam.
• Haydn is often referred to as the "Father of the Symphony", having written over a hundred (the precise number is debated) to elevate the symphony to one of the most important musical forms of the next two centuries. Awesomeness isn't hard to find in the full collection.
  • The triptych of No.6 in D major (Le matin), No.7 in C major (Le midi), and No.8 in G major (Le soir) all show Haydn's mastery of writing for every section of the orchestra within the same piece, blending the "concerto grosso" form with the emerging form of the symphony by featuring solos for each of the major string and wind instruments. Standout moments include the radiant sunrise of the slow introduction to No.6, the musical depiction of a storm in the finale of No.8, and the trios from the symphonies' third movement minuets, all three of which give a rare moment in the spotlight to a solo double bass.^note  It has been suggested that Haydn wanted to earn goodwill with the members of the Esterházy family orchestra, which he had just started conducting when he composed these symphonies in 1761, by giving each of them - even the double bass, or violone as it was then known - something with which to show off their skill.
  • Haydn's sense of humour pervades many of his compositions, and No.11 in E-flat major is one of his earliest symphonies to feature a moment that must have left him smiling to himself as he composed and conducted it; in the strings-only trio of the third movement, the performers and listeners have their sense of rhythm knocked off balance as the second violins play half a beat behind the other sections (except for a few measures when the first violins are the ones "lagging behind") to create a startling early use of syncopation.
  • No.21 in A major shows that Beethoven wasn't the first composer to experiment with form and structure in a four-movement symphony. The slow first movement loosely follows the outline of a sonata allegro, but without a clear sense of where the exposition, development, and recapitulation begin or end; meanwhile, the second movement is a "mirror" sonata allegro in which the recapitulation re-visits the themes from the exposition in reverse order - common in the 20th century, almost unheard of in the 18th!
  • No.22 in E-flat major (Philosopher) stands out for a woodwind section solely comprising two English horns instead of the usual oboes, their dialogue with the two French horns (particularly in the first movement, which is anchored by a genial walking bassline) creating a texture unique among Classical-era symphonies.^note  As there weren't many people who knew how to play the English horn in Haydn's day, the symphony has an alternate arrangement which dropped the first movement, replaced the minuet with a new Andante, and replaced the English horns with flutes; how much input Haydn had in this arrangement is unclear, and it is rarely performed or recorded today.
  • No.26 in D minor (Lamentatione) is believed to have been written for Easter Week in 1768 or 1769, and cleverly uses the melody from a Gregorian chant about the Passion in both the first and second movements. Numerically (but not chronologically), it is the first of Haydn's symphonies in a minor key, and the first symphony of his "Sturm und Drang" ("Storm and Stress") period, when he began experimenting with more emotionally charged music in a way that laid the ground for the Romantic movement.
  • No.28 in A major opens and closes with typically merry fast movements, but the symphony really shines in the middle movements. The slow second movement sees muted strings alternate between a graceful legato theme and a playful, dotted rhythm staccato "answer", two disparate ideas that mesh beautifully with each other. The third movement minuet stands out for its prominent use of bariolage (playing the same note alternately on adjacent strings) that cuts through the air like a knife.
  • No.31 in D major (Hornsignal) calls for four horns at a time when most orchestral works featuring horns only included two. The first movement opens with a rousing call to order that establishes the horns as the stars of the show, and they remain prominent in the gentle second movement as they pair off to wind contrapuntal lines around a solo violin and solo cello, and in the third movement as they trade off with the two oboes in the trio. But Haydn saves the best for last with a theme and seven variations, each featuring a different instrument (or group of instruments) leading the way^note  In order: the two oboes, a solo cello, the flute, the four horns, a solo violin, the entire orchestra, and a solo double bass. to provide a masterclass of orchestration.
  • Chronologically, Haydn's first "fully" minor key symphony^note  No.34 in D minor was the earliest to feature a minor key designation, but it switches to D major after the first movement. was No.39 in G minor (Tempesta di Mare), which is scored for four horns, two tuned to B-flat and two tuned to G, thereby allowing the horns to play in passages in both keys.^note  Many G minor symphonies for several decades thereafter took this cue from Haydn; Mozart used two B-flat and two G horns in his Symphony No.25, although he changed his mind about using the same approach in his more famous Symphony No.40. While the slow movement and minuet look back to Haydn's earlier style, the first and especially last movements are full of the minor key storms that give the symphony its nickname.
  • No.43 in E-flat major (Mercury) is light on the orchestral forces, but heavy on the lyricism of its melodies, its tone set by the unusually long and graceful contours of the main theme of the first movement. After a lush slow movement (Haydn's only symphonic movement in A-flat major) and a minuet with a trio that upends the practice of the day by beginning in C minor and ending in E-flat major, the finale picks up the thread of the first movement with long, lyrical themes and a coda that seems to ebb away before a final full orchestral flourish.
  • No.44 in E minor (Trauer, or Mourning) is another "Sturm und Drang" symphony, its nickname coming from Haydn's expressed wish, in his old age, to have it performed at his funeral. All four movements feature some of Haydn's most elaborately contrapuntal writing, with three melodies and countermelodies going at once near the end of the first movement. Defying the usual convention for minor key symphonies at the time, Haydn keeps the music anchored in E minor to the bitter end of the finale.
  • By far the most famous movement of No.45 in F-sharp minor (Farewell)^note  A very unusual key for a Classical-era symphony; in fact, it is believed to be the only symphony in this key from the 18th century. is the last, in which the sections of the orchestra fall silent one by one until only two violinists are left.^note  In the original performance, they more than fell silent - they left the stage to send a subtle message to their employer, Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, that they were tired after a long summer away from their families and wanted to go home (fortunately, he got the message). Performances since have varied in their approach to "choreographing" the finale; the musicians may all but say Screw This, I'm Outta Here as they leave, the final two violinists may leave the stage as they play the final measures, the conductor may pretend not to be in on the joke, etc. But the three and a half movements that precede the exodus that gives the symphony its name are each outstanding, with the savage first movement providing plenty of "Sturm und Drang" angst, the second movement climaxing with some startling harmonic modulations, the third movement minuet (Haydn's only symphonic movement in F-sharp major) seeming to end mid-sentence, and the Presto first half of the finale picking up where the first movement left off.
  • Although No.46 in B major^note  A very unusual key for any piece before 1800, never mind a symphony. is not often performed or recorded, it stands out for a moment in the finale in which the music screeches to a stop and then picks up the theme from the third movement minuet before doubling back to the finale's main theme. Such an interruption was almost unprecedented, but against all reason, it works.^note  Whether Beethoven was familiar with this symphony when he included a similar look back in the finale of his Symphony No.5 is unknown.
  • Haydn's sense of humour reigns supreme in the third movement of No.47 in G major (Palindrome) - as the symphony's nickname suggests, the second half of both the minuet and the trio is simply the first half played in reverse! It takes a composer of Haydn's expertise to make a device like this work, and rise above mere novelty.
  • More "Sturm und Drang" darkness can be found in No.49 in F minor (La passione), in which, unusually for the time, all four movements are in the same key, with only a brief glimpse of the sunlight of F major in the trio of the third movement minuet piercing the clouds. The faster second and fourth movements dial up the minor key ferocity to full for one of Haydn's most exhilarating symphonies.
  • No.52 in C minor is believed to have inspired landmark compositions in the same key by Mozart and Beethoven, and is certainly the most dark and dramatic of Haydn's minor key "Sturm und Drang" symphonies. A clever twist in the first movement makes the second theme sound as though it is being presented twice, and while the slow movement and the trio of the third movement offer islands of major key calm amid the storms, there is no C major reprieve waiting at the end of the finale.
  • For sheer pomp and majesty, few of Haydn's symphonies can top No.53 in D major (Imperial), its dignified slow introduction instantly conjuring images of 18th century aristocrats in powdered wigs entering the ballroom at Eszterháza for an evening's entertainment. The sense of ceremony continues throughout the ensuing sonata allegro, double variation slow movement, minuet and trio, and concluding Capriccio.^note  Although Haydn wrote four different finales, the Capriccio is the most often performed and recorded.
  • No.59 in A major (Fire) opens with a Presto that crackles with energy from the driving string figures in its opening measures. The A minor slow movement hides a surprise by waiting until late in the recapitulation to introduce the woodwinds and horns, and several motifs spill over into the third movement minuet. The finale brings back the ferocity of the first movement with an opening horn call and answer from the oboes, setting up a lively dialogue that charges through to the exuberant final measures.
  • Another sterling example of Haydn's sense of humour shows up in the finale of No.60 in C major (Il distratto, originally written as incidental music for a play by that name). After the whole orchestra launches into the introduction, it suddenly cuts off... and is followed by a few measures for violins only, written to sound as though they are re-tuning (they are even instructed by Haydn to tune their G strings down to F and back again). Conductor tapping the baton on the music stand optional!
  • Haydn acknowledged the changing times in which he lived with his nickname for No.64 in A major (Tempora mutantur), and the slow movement in particular features forward-looking melodic contours, harmonic progressions, and orchestration (the winds remain silent until nearly halfway through the movement) that make it one of the most strikingly original movements Haydn ever composed.
  • The stars of No.65 in A major are the two inner movements. The rhythmic and melodic eccentricity of the slow movement have led to speculation that it was originally incidental music for a play, while the third movement is another showcase of Haydn's humour as he cheerfully scrambles the listener's sense of metre with passages in the minuet that sound as though they are written in 4/4 time instead of the expected 3/4 time, and liberal use of hemiolas in the trio to create a sense that the music is now in 2/4 or even 3/2 time.
  • The inventive No.67 in F major races out of the gate with a gigue-like first movement that wouldn't be out of place as a finale. In the slow movement, the strings are instructed to play with mutes and, in the coda, with the wood of the bow (col legno), a very unusual performance direction for the time. After a minuet whose trio features just two violins, the second with the G string tuned down to F for a bagpipe-like drone, the final Allegro has another surprise in the form of a delightful Adagio interlude.
  • The slow movement of No.70 in D major provides one of the best orchestral showcases of the "double variation" form, as the minor key theme that opens and closes the movement features liberal use of invertible counterpoint, in which the melody and countermelody are passed back and forth across the various string sections. The finale also stands out for unexpectedly opening in D minor, but its repeated note opening theme finally blossoms into major key joy just in time for the final measures.
  • No.72 in D major, like the Hornsignal, is scored for four horns instead of two, and includes concertante passages in all four movements.^note  Despite its high number, this symphony was composed contemporaneously with the Hornsignal, hence the similarities. The horns dominate the first movement, passing scalar and arpeggiated fragments back and forth, but they sit out the slow movement as a solo flute and violin take centre stage. The horns return for the third movement, pairing off to create an echo effect in the minuet and joining the oboes and bassoon in the trio. And as in the Hornsignal, Haydn saves the best for last with a theme and six variations, each one featuring different soloists,^note  In order: the flute, a solo cello, a solo violin, a solo double bass, oboe and two horns, and oboe, bassoon, and all four horns. before a Presto coda rounds things off.
  • No.73 in D major (La chasse) opens with a slow introduction in which the lower strings initially play pizzicato before giving way to a sonata allegro that sounds as though it begins in the middle of a sentence, allowing for a seamless repeat of the exposition. After a slow rondo based on a melody from Haydn's song "Gegenliebe" and a spry minuet and trio, the finale provides a vivid musical depiction of a hunt that gives the symphony its nickname, with wild string figures representing galloping horses and gunfire, horn calls whose melody quotes Jean-Baptiste Morin's La Chasse du cerf for chorus and orchestra,^note  Morin was in turn referencing the Sourcillade from a collection of hunting horn calls by André Danican Philidor père (father of the famous 18th century chess player and composer). and an unexpectedly quiet conclusion.
  • Symphonies 82-87 are nicknamed the "Paris" symphonies, as Haydn was staying in the French capital when he composed them. The cream of the crop includes No.82 in C major (The Bear), with a finale distinguished by an imitation bagpipe drone; No.83 in G minor (The Hen), the dotted rhythms in the first movement of which reminded contemporary listeners of the uneven gait of a hen; and the dignified No.85 in B-flat major (The Queen), a personal favourite of then-Queen Marie Antoinette.
  • No.88 in G major is perhaps Haydn's most popular symphony never to have gained a nickname, featuring a first movement that keeps finding new things to do with just one theme, a slow movement that features trumpets and timpani (ordinarily very unusual instruments for Classical-era slow movements), a minuet with surprising yet effective use of parallel fifths (intervals usually avoided by Haydn's contemporaries), and a perpetual motion rondo packed to overflowing with joy and merriment.
  • Haydn's musical sense of humour strikes again in No.90 in C major when the finale appears to stride toward a final, full orchestral resolution just after the beginning of the recapitulation... only for the orchestra to start over after a four-measure rest, in the surprisingly remote key of D-flat major. The music finds its way back to C major just in time for the real ending.
  • No.92 in G major (Oxford) gets its nickname not from where it was composed, but in honour of its performance when Haydn received an honorary doctorate from Oxford University in 1791. All four movements take cues from the main theme of the first movement, which makes the unusual move of starting with a phrase on the dominant seventh instead of the tonic; other highlights include a minuet with six-measure phrases (also unusual for the time) and a finale that cannily alternates harmonic tension and resolution to create a sense of urgency.
  • No.93 in D major provides one of Haydn's most celebrated moments of sly humour. As the slow second movement starts to wind down, the melody and orchestration gradually thin out, creating a sense that the other shoe must drop soon... and so it does, with a loud low C from the two bassoons in unison that is often likened to flatulence (and Haydn being Haydn, that's probably the idea). Bonus points if a live performance features the conductor giving the bassoonists a Disapproving Look!
  • No.94 in G major (Surprise) is unquestionably Haydn's most famous symphony, mostly because of the sudden BANG! about 30 seconds into the theme and variations in the second movement, specifically calculated to shock contemporary audiences (Haydn denied he wanted to wake them up; he just wanted to give them something they'd never heard before). But the first movement is even more ingeniously constructed on a harmonic level, and the last two movements round things off with a joyful flourish; the timpani used for surprise value in the slow movement really shine in the finale.^note  The first movement is especially notable for featuring one of the first instances of the timpanist being instructed to re-tune one of the drums in the middle of a movement rather than between movements.
  • No.96 in D major (Miracle) is somewhat overshadowed by the anecdote that the audience at its premiere had rushed the stage to applaud the end of the finale, and so managed to get out of the way of a chandelier that fell onto the seats they had occupied seconds earlier (this event actually happened at the premiere of No.102 in B-flat major). A shame, as the symphony itself is a fine example of Haydn's increasingly adventurous exploration of melodic and harmonic development within a traditional four-movement symphony.
  • Though Haydn often featured movements in highly contrasting keys in his string quartets, the only symphony where he does this is No.99 in E-flat major. He achieves this by using clarinets (making their first appearance in a Haydn symphony), horns, trumpets, and timpani tuned to different keys for the G major Adagio, and the almost seamless transition between the C major trio in the third movement and the return of the E-flat major minuet is a masterstroke.
  • By the time Haydn composed No.100 in G major (Military), orchestras were starting to include such "Turkish" percussion instruments as cymbals and triangles, which Haydn uses in the second movement (which also features imitation bugle calls in the trumpets and a drumroll in the timpani, giving the symphony its nickname) and the finale to memorable effect.
  • No.101 in D major (Clock) is another fine example of Haydn's musical sense of humour, with a second movement featuring pizzicato strings imitating a ticking clock and a third movement minuet that is very long by Classical-era standards and includes a trio section wryly imitating an unskilled village band.
  • No.103 in E-flat major (Drumroll) gets its nickname from the extended timpani roll that opens the first movement, a device never before used to open a Classical-era symphony. The second movement is also a fine example of Haydn's "double variations" musical form, which alternates between presenting variations on two different themes (often in contrasting keys, as in this case).
  • No.104 in D major is known as the London, a nickname also applied collectively to Nos.93-104, as Haydn composed them for visits to the English capital city.^note  Nos.93-98 were composed during his first visit to London in 1791-92, while some of Nos.99-104 were composed in Vienna in anticipation of his second visit in 1794-95, and the rest were composed after he arrived in London. The final symphony of the dozen is one of the most popular, and with good reason; from the stark minor key introduction followed by a buoyant sonata allegro in the first movement, to an ever modulating second movement, to a stately minuet and trio in the third movement, and finally to a fourth movement as vivacious as any finale the master ever composed, it is a work of art from start to finish.
• As if being regarded as the father of the symphony isn't enough, Haydn is also often viewed as the father of the string quartet, another musical form he elevated to such great heights that almost every major composer for a century and a half after his death composed at least one string quartet. Just to give a sample, there's the wryly humorous Op.33 No.2 in E-flat major (Joke) with a finale that features multiple false endings, the jaunty Op.33 No.5 in G major (How Do You Do) with a first movement that opens with a false ending, the buoyant Op.64 No.5 in D major (Lark) with its imitation birdsong in the first movement, and Op.76 No.3 in C major (Emperor), the second movement of which has been immortalised as "Das Deutschlandlied", Germany's national anthem.
• Haydn revolutionised the piano sonata as well as the symphony and the string quartet,^note  And then his sometime composition student, Beethoven, came along and re-revolutionised all three forms. and perhaps the finest examples of his skill with the form can be found in the last three sonatas in C major (with a finale in which the pianist appears to keep making mistakes, then backing up to correct them), D major (striking despite its brevity), and E-flat major, the last particularly noteworthy for being by far the longest and most harmonically adventurous of Haydn's piano sonatas, with a first movement that moves surprisingly far away from its home key during the development, a tranquil slow movement in the very contrasting key of E major (interrupted by a minor key centre section), and an effervescent finale.
• Though Haydn may not have transformed the concerto the way Mozart and Beethoven did, he still made several landmark contributions to the form.
  • The Trumpet Concerto in E-flat major was written at the request of Haydn's friend Anton Weidinger as a showcase for his design of a keyed, rather than natural, trumpet, and it remains one of the most popular trumpet concerti ever composed.^note  Johann Nepomuk Hummel's trumpet concerto was also commissioned by Weidinger for the same reason. The keyed trumpet didn't catch on, as the sound quality was poor compared to the natural trumpet; it wasn't until the advent of the valved trumpet in the 1830s that musicians were able to truly do justice to the Haydn and Hummel concerti. The flashy first movement and exuberant finale offer plenty of chances for the soloist to demonstrate technical virtuosity, while the serene second movement shows the usually brash instrument's sensitive side.
  • The cello concerti in C major and D major rose from obscurity in the second half of the 20th century to become two of the cornerstones of the cellist's standard concerto repertoire. The C major concerto is the more extroverted and virtuosic of the two, with a particularly dazzling finale, while the D major concerto is a much more lyrical piece that offers the soloist plenty of opportunities to show the instrument's expressive power.
  • Among Haydn's piano concerti, No.11 in D major is the most enduringly popular, boasting a sprightly first movement full of life and good humour, a second movement of quiet dignity, and a Hungarian-influenced finale sure to leave both performer and listener breathless from the exertion.

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