1765 – The music part 1 – Welcome back horns!

Hob	Key	NC	HRL	Instruments
30	C	36	35	Flute, 2 Oboes, 2 Horns & Strings, Trumpets & Timpani (optional)
31	D	37	37	Flute, 2 Oboes, 4 Horns & Strings
39	g	38	40	2 Oboes, 4 Horns & Strings
29	E	39	36	2 Oboes, 2 Horns & Strings
Hob = Hoboken		NC = 'New Chronology'	HRL= Robbins-Landon

With all that was going on in 1765, Haydn still managed to gratify us with a few superb symphonies. With the hiring of two more hornists to replace the deceased former members of the band, we are once again able to revel in the sound of wild brass. Even one of the symphonies which only has two horn parts is in festive C Major, and thus merits a set of trumpets to go along with the horns. So we have a brass extravaganza!

Beginning the year with Hob 30, I recall that earlier I talked about 'church symphony' being a structure rather than a target for performance. Also, many symphonies which begin with a normative 'Sonata Allegro' could easily have been used in church. One can hardly transport back in time to verify this, but a small amount of deductive reasoning, based on the very common Gregorian chant 'Alleluia' theme of the opening movement and the fact that festive works including drums and trumpets were commonly used in church, leads one to the conclusion; this was very possibly a church symphony! Robbins-Landon speculates that it may have been written for Easter Sunday, 1765. This is very plausible, I think. The Alleluia is a very famous one throughout Austria, and was specifically designated for Holy Week, so hearing it at Easter Mass would have been familiar to the ear. The trumpet and timpani debate which has gone on for years continues in this work. It is a simple fact that Haydn doesn't write these parts right into the main body of the work, but has them on separate sheets that can be set aside when the instruments aren't available. But the earliest catalogs all show these trumpets and drums, and the symphony catalog kept by Haydn's friend Keeß until after London shows them also. The net result is that some recordings, such as Dorati, don't use them, while many others, such as Harnoncourt, use them to great effect. Of course, they don't appear in the central Andante, which features the solo flute for the first time in this work, much in the manner that Haydn used it in Symphony 24, almost like a miniature flute concerto with the oboes and strings providing the ritornello. The bustling finale, marked Tempo di Minuetto: più tosto Allegretto, is one of Haydn's early demonstrations of his complete mastery of wind instruments. The flute disappears at first, but suddenly returns mid-way, and is totally integrated into the fabric of the orchestra along with the other winds. It is no wonder this work was a favorite of the Prince, to the point where he had Haydn compose a Baryton Trio (#69) on the same themes.

Our next work, a great favorite of many (including Yours Truly), is Hob 31, called since the beginning 'Sinfonie mit dem Hornsignal' or 'The Hornsignal Symphony'. It is hard not to be stirred by the four horns in D, blowing a familiar hunting call en masse, and then guiding the strings through Haydn's evocative thematic excursion. He doesn't wait to use his solo flute this time either, giving it some nice solo turns (mainly trills rather than melodic sections) right through the development. It is interesting that we can nearly date the symphony by the instruments available. The year is written on the parts, but the four horns didn't come available until May, and as we saw in the last essay, our flutist, Sigl, was dismissed in mid-September, so this was clearly a summertime work. I find it interesting to do the math and see that four horns in a band of sixteen musicians makes a section of 25%! One can imagine (or be fortunate enough to attend a re-creation) what such a group sounded like in the very reverberant atmosphere of the (now called) Haydnsaal (Haydn Performance Hall) at Schloss Esterházy in Eisenstadt. The second movement requires two of the horns to change instruments so we now have two horns in D and two in G. This wonderful movement can slip by in the rush, but the virtuoso horn parts are matched by superb writing for Tomasini on first violin and Weigl on cello also. The shifting back and forth between pizzicato and arco bring out the fine expressive voices of these two players. Truly a movement to listen to with attention! The third movement minuet is one of Haydn's classics. It begins with a very danceable and recognizable minuet rhythm, changing to a trio dominated by a 'duet' between the oboes and horns. Piquant touches by the violins and the flute serve to dramatize the goings-on in the winds. The finale, a set of variations, Moderato molto, reminds one of the finale from two years earlier to Symphony 72. As in that work, the work in each variation is done by a different solo instrument. It was a brilliant idea the first time around, and no less so here. The difficulty of the horn parts in their variation (#4) are inestimable.

Next time we will look at the remaining two symphonies before plunging off into the first of many looks at Baryton Trios. If one can only listen to two Haydn symphonies in a given day, these two will serve very nicely on any day!

Thanks for reading!