Haydn Symphonies No. 78-81

No. 391 of the ongoing ITYWLTMT  series of audio montages is this week's Friday Blog and Podcast. It can be found in our archives at https://archive.org/details/pcast391

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Over the past several weeks, we undertook a survey of Haydn’s late symphonies, spanning from the six so-called Paris symphonies through to the 12 London symphonies.

To close out this review, I am offering the set of four symphonies (nos 78 to 81) that immediately precede the Paris set.

Few composers show such remarkable growth as Haydn; from his insignificant youthful pieces, entirely dominated by the style of his pre-Classical elders, to the towering achievement of his last works, his symphonies display an evolution in form and content that had tremendous effect on his followers.

Let me make a bold statement – should you ever do 104 original widgets of a certain type, chances are some may look eerily similar. Not identical – after all, they are all unique – but in many ways they would have some common threads. In Haydn’s case, it as to do with “the formula”. In a way, producing so many symphonies is helped quite a bit by a formulaic approach. But to call this a “cookie cutter” style is a stretch. By turns rigorously contrapuntal and lucidly witty, the vitality evident in the formula reflects Haydn’s overflowing adventurousness.

No two movements are alike; the “mosaic” of theme elements pervades even transition sections and codas; each instrument shares in the melodic development; minuets grow in fire or dignity while finales exploit varieties of rondo form. The formula reaches its zenith in the London symphonies, but even the four works featured today exemplify the variety behind Haydn’s methods.

I think you will love this music too!