1762 - The Music Part 1 – Stretching out with some symphonies

Works attributed to 1762

                  Key         NAME                     Instruments
Hob I:36     Eb                              2 Oboes, 2 Horns & Strings
Hob I:33     C                                2 Oboes, 2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, Timpani & Strings
Hob I:09     C                                2 Flutes or Oboes, Bassoon, Horn & Strings
Hob I:108   Bb     “Symphony B”   2 Oboes, Bassoon, 2 Horns & Strings
Hob I:14     A                                 2 Oboes, 2 Horns & Strings
Hob 7d:3    D                                 Concerto for Horn & 2 Oboes
Hob 28:1                  “Acide”         Italian Opera

Even in this early stage of his career, by now we have become spoiled by both the quality and quantity of Haydn’s musical output. As were his contemporaries, calling him from early times a bottomless well of musical ideas. And so we look at 1762 and our first reaction might be ‘hmm, thin pickings’. Of course, we are still dealing with a lot of tentative dates here; there may have been twice as many works if we could pin them down. But let’s take a look at what we do have, which are some mighty fine pieces indeed.

Hob 9 & 33, through a series of ‘circa’s’ are both here, since the ‘New Chronology’ has called them #23 & 22 respectively. Hob 9 is represented by a dated autograph manuscript from 1762. It also uses two flutes in the slow movement to replace the two oboes, so it is a sure thing that it doesn’t predate the Esterházy years. It jumps right in with no slow introduction at all, and the first movement Allegro molto is highly entertaining. In the second movement Andante the flutes double the first violins an octave higher, but actually tend to dominate the entire movement, which is a good thing, as it sounds nicely balanced with the flute tone color there. The finale is not unusual by being a Minuetto, although it IS unusual for it to have a trio. In this case, the trio consists of a nice little solo oboe accompanied by wind band. All in all this is a very pleasant symphony, one that provides a nice contrast to the bigger drama works of the previous year.

Despite their shared key of C major, there are large differences between #9 and its key-mate, #33. Hob 33 is in a group of symphonies which span Haydn’s entire career, a Viennese phenomenon called ‘Festive C major’. There is scarcely a composer in the last half of the 18th century and even into the 19th who didn’t compose works in this genre. Notice the instrumentation (2 Oboes, 2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, Timpani & Strings). The trumpets and timpani are a dead giveaway that this will be ebullient, even triumphal sounding music. Although one can say generically that these works were used in association with feast days, and State visits or major weddings, one cannot say specifically what this symphony was used to celebrate. Without any evidence whatsoever, only the interesting confluence of dates, I would suggest the possibility that it was used during the festivities of May, 1762, when Nicholas was made Prince Esterházy. That is surely the type of affair which would have employed such music.

Next time we will look at the balance of the symphonies. Hopefully you will have access to a recording of these fine works. They truly show the rapid pace of development of the young Haydn into full maturity.

Thanks for reading!

 

Roy Goodman & the Hanover Band are another nice choice, although rounding them up is more complicated because they used the Hoboken numbers for chronology, so they are all over the place. A good choice would be to get them all...	A very nice Symphony 14 appears on this disk.