Listening To Haydn's 'London' Symphonies

For this listening exercise I decided to listen to Haydn's 'Surprise' symphony in G major. The first movement starts with an introduction, in 3/4 time. It is marked 'Adagio Cantabile' and as such is slow and lyrical. Around half way through the introduction however the tension begins to mount, and you are expecting something to happen. At the start of the exposition, the mood turns lively, the music now in 6/8 time and marked 'Vivace Assai'. The quick runs in the violins were very difficult to follow along with on the score! The strings did take the lions share of the focus in the music, but there were some prominent and ornate sections where the flute and oboe took the lead while the violins rested. In the development section the tone of the music turns darker and more stormy, you can still hear familiar fragments from the exposition.

The second movement is a theme and variations. Here, Haydn presents the titular 'surprise'; a sudden, loud 'fortissimo' chord after the initial quiet string opening, first bowed then pizzicato. The variations were very enjoyable to listen to, and it was interesting to see how Haydn took such a simple theme and expanded on the idea. As well as embellishing the melody with semiquavers in the violins, Haydn also presents a stormy passage in the relative minor, and there is even a solo passage for the flute and oboe which was very lyrical and pleasant to the ear.

The third movement is a minuet and trio, a form I'm becoming much more familiar and comfortable with now.  The minuet is marked 'Allegro Molto', which, upon a little research, appears to be significant as it marks a shift away from the old slower minuet style, towards the later scherzo. The trio has no wind involvement except for the bassoon, which mirrors the movement of the first violins. This lack of upper winds in the texture creates quite a unique but very pleasant sound.

The fourth movement is in sonata rondo form. As I listened to the piece my aim was to pick out the return of the main theme, in its many variations. The timpani plays a huge part in this piece, being used throughout to really bolster the powerful chords from the orchestra. There is a fantastic little fragment right near the end of the movement, where the tension and excitement has been ratcheted right up with the dynamic at fortissimo, then the winds play two staccato chords on their own at a dynamic of piano, before all the instruments come crashing together again at fortissimo for two final chords. This is a great little idea, yet another surprise, something the listener doesn't expect, and which helps keep things interesting.


My Response

This symphony was very exciting to listen to, and certainly lives up to its name of the 'surprise' symphony. Haydn achieves this element of surprise in many ways, often with unusual and well-placed contrasting dynamics. I managed to find examples of all the compositional developments mentioned in the course materials, including specific writing for wind and timpani, the use of a tense introduction and the use of rondo form in the final movement.