Michael Haydn

Michael Haydn

Johann Michael Haydn was an Austrian composer of the classical period, the younger brother of Joseph Haydn.-Life:...

's Symphony No. 32 in D major, Perger 23, Sherman 32, MH 420, was written in Salzburg in 1786.

Scored for flute

Flute

The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

, 2 oboe

Oboe

The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

s, 2 bassoon

Bassoon

The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...

s, 2 horn

Horn (instrument)

The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....

s, 2 trumpet

Trumpet

The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

s, timpani

Timpani

Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...

 and strings. It is Haydn's only symphony in two movements; this it has in common with Carl Nielsen

Carl Nielsen

Carl August Nielsen , , widely recognised as Denmark's greatest composer, was also a conductor and a violinist. Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age...

's Symphony No. 5

Symphony No. 5 (Nielsen)

Symphony No. 5, Op. 50, FS 97 is a symphony composed by Carl Nielsen in Denmark between 1920 and 1922. It was first performed in Copenhagen on 24 January 1922 with the composer conducting. It is one of the two of Nielsen's six symphonies lacking a subtitle....

 but not much else (Delarte, 2006).

1. Vivace assai
2. Rondeau

The first movement, in 3/8, begins softly with a somewhat dancelike theme.

At measure 20, a new theme is introduced forte with a more pronounced dance character. After the establishment of A major, the second subject group begins at measure 41:

leading to a much more lyrical theme at measure 55. After a typical unison scale run, the exposition concludes with A major firmly established as the tonic. The development is concerned almost exclusively with Example 2. A general pause precedes the recapitulation, which besides reorienting the second subject group to D major, also mixes the subjects of the groups together, with special emphasis on Example 2. Haydn indicated the development, recapitulation and coda are to be repeated as a unit, but that repeat is normally ignored in modern performance.

For the slow movement, the second oboist switches to flute.

The concluding Rondo's principal theme

is triadic to an extent not encountered in the previous movement, while the contrasting themes tend to be stepwise.

Discography

On the CPO label, this symphony is available on a CD that also includes Symphonies No.s 21

Symphony No. 21 (Michael Haydn)

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 21 in D major, Perger 42, Sherman 21, MH 272, written in 1778, is believed to have been written in Salzburg.Scored for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns and strings. In three movements:# Adagio - Allegro molto# Andante, in A major...

, 30

Symphony No. 30 (Michael Haydn)

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 30 in D major, Perger 21, Sherman 30, MH 399, was written in Salzburg in 1785.Scored for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns and strings. In three movements:# Adagio - Allegro spiritoso# Andante sostenuto, in G major# Vivace molto...

 and 31

Symphony No. 31 (Michael Haydn)

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 31 in F major, Perger 22, Sherman 31, MH 405, was written in Salzburg in 1785.Scored for 2 oboes, 2 English horns, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, and strings...

; Johannes Goritzki conducting the Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss

Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss

The Deutsche Kammerakademie Neuss is a chamber orchestra based in Neuss, Germany, specializing in obscure music from the baroque and classical periods as well as new music commissioned especially for them....

. The exposition repeat in the first movement is obeyed, the repeat of the development and recapitulation is ignored.

External links

The Classical Archives

Classical Archives

Classical Archives is an online digital music store focused exclusively on classical music. Originally opening as the Classical MIDI Archives in 1994 primarily as a repository for free MIDI sequences of classical music works, in August, 2000 the site incorporated as Classical Archives, LLC, and...

has the entire work in two MIDI format files at the H page. Continuo is omitted. Both repeats in the first movement are obeyed. The tempi for both movements are almost the same as in the Goritzki recording.