Haydn symphonies to kiss goodbye 2020 and call in miracles in 2021

Hello everyone. In this post I am going to introduce a few Haydn symphonies.

Haydn’s nickname is “papa haydn” and he is considered as the father of symphonies because he is an important contributor in the establishment of the genre.

When Haydn first started composing symphonies, they were in F-S-F, 3 movements format. Along with Manheim School, Haydn established what had become the standard symphony format that has four movements, and sonata form by writing officially 104 and unofficially 108 symphonies in his lifetime in addition to numerous keyboard works, string chamber works, operas, and sacred works.

Haydn was very fortunate to be employed by the Esterhazy family and could be productive in his musical output without worrying about financial difficulties.

The Esterhazy family was one of the most powerful aristocratic families in austro-hungarian empire. They were originally a small nobility from Hungary, but had built their wealth and power through their expansion of real estate, and in their peak years, they were actually more powerful than the emperor himself financially. Haydn was the music director of the Esterhazy court during those peak years.

Nicolaus Esterhazy who accomplished the pinnacle of family’s legacy was a huge music lover, and he invested a lot of money in his musical entertainment. In these circumstances, Haydn was able to experiment and expand the boundaries of orchestral music.

The Esterhazy family did not like Vienna much and they missed their home country of Hungary, so they decided to build a new castle near the border between Austria and Hungary. The intention for this castle was to rival the Versaille of Louis the XIV.

When the castle was built, the family decided to spend the summer vacation in the new castle, and what’s the fun of vacation without music, right? So they took the court orchestra with them.

They loved their new place so much that they kept extending their stay. However, the musicians’ families were still in Vienna, and Vienna was the cultural center of Europe at that time, and unlike the Esterhazys, the musicians loved living in Vienna. So they asked Haydn to do something about it so that they can return home.

This was a difficult situation for Haydn because it’s like telling your boss to wrap up his vacation and go back to work. Thankfully, Haydn was a humorous and clever man. He decided to deliver his message through music.

In the last movement of this symphony, he instructed orchestra members to blow out their candles on the music stand and leave the stage one by one, eventually leaving just the conductor and concertmaster with a muted violin.

Thankfully, Esterhazy took the message well, and they returned to Vienna the next day.

The second Haydn symphony I will introduce today is the Miracle Symphony.

When Nicolaus Esterhazy’s son, Anton Esterhazy, succeeded to the power after his father’s death, the culture of aristocracy was dying out and Anton Esterhazy was not a music lover, so Haydn retired from his position after more than 30 years of work for the Esterhazy family. Haydn, now as a free person, decided to open his chapter two in life in London with the partnership with Salomon, a successful music publisher.

His last 12 symphonies are called the London Symphonies because they were written in or for the public audiences in London instead of the Esterhazy family.

Miracle Symphony is No. 96 and is the first symphony written and performed in London. The background story of this symphony is that the audiences were so excited and eager to see Haydn, and when Haydn walked on stage, they all ran up to the stage to see him closely which left the audience seats empty. In that moment, a big chandelier fell down where the audiences should have been seated, but fortunately, everyone was out of their seat and no one was hurt! So people shouted “Miracle!” :) As heartwarming as the story sounds, there is some controversy over its credibility. An authoritative Haydn biographer Robbins Landon found a news article that accounts the incident happened for Haydn’s Symphony No.102, not No. 96- so we don’t actually know which symphony is the true owner of this charming nickname!

2020 is closing and I see so many people are ready to say goodbye to this year, and to go back to their normal life where they can be with families and friends and enjoy the cultural activities just like how the musicians in Esterhazy’s court orchestra felt. So I thought Farewell Symphony would be a perfect piece to accompany our last few days of 2020.

At the same time, I sense high hopes for 2021, and wishing everyone some miracles is a great way to start the new year. So I wanted to talk about the Miracle Symphony as well!

All three pieces, No. 45, no. 96 and no. 102, demonstrates Haydn’s symphonic style well. You can witness how the genre has developed as you listen through these symphonies in chronological order. No. 102 is especially exciting and well composed since it’s one of his last works.

This is the basis of symphonic sound, and if you get a feel of Haydn’s symphonies, it makes your listening experience a lot more fun because you will see how other composers of the future generations such as Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms, Schumann, Mahler etc. expand this musical form with their own styles and contributions.

Thank you for spending time with me, and I will see you in the next video!

Happy New Year and bye~