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Symphony No. 104 (Haydn)

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The Symphony No. 104 in D major (Hoboken 1/104) is Joseph Haydn's final symphony. It is the last of the twelve so-called London Symphonies, and is known (somewhat arbitrarily, given the existence of eleven others) as the London Symphony. The work was composed by Haydn while he was living in London in 1795, and premiered there at the King’s Theatre on May 4, 1795, in a concert consisting entirely of Haydn's own compositions and directed by the composer. The premiere was a success; Haydn wrote in his diary "The whole company was thoroughly pleased and so was I. I made 4000 gulden on this evening: such a thing is possible only in England."^[1]

1 Scoring
2 Movements
3 References
4 See also
5 External links

Scoring

The work is for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings.

Movements

First movement

The symphony opens with a slow and grand introduction in D minor, the parallel minor of the tonic key, which leads to the first movement proper. This is in sonata form and starts in cut time. The movement is monothematic: the second theme is simply the first theme transposed to A Major. The exposition is in D Major, with the strings playing the first theme. The theme goes straight into A Major with the woodwinds to form a second theme; there is no modulation involved in this keychange. The exposition closes with a codetta and is followed by the development which begins in B minor, using the rhythmic pattern of the second half of the theme. The development ends with the full orchestra. In the recapitulation, the first theme is heard again in D Major. It uses imitative patterns of the woodwinds in the second theme. The piece closes with a coda, also in D major.

Second movement

This movement, in G major, opens with the main theme in the strings. After this, a brief episode highlighting A minor and D minor leads to a modified repeat of the main theme in both strings and bassoon. From here, a second section begins which modulates to various other keys, including G minor and Bb major, but continues to feature the melody of the main theme. After arriving on the dominant of G major, the music of the first section returns. The rest of the movement consists of a modification of the first section of music, with several changes in rhythm and more prominence to the winds, especially the flute.

Third movement

The third movement is a minuet and trio in D major. The minuet section consists of a ternary (ABA) form with an opening section emphasizing the tonic, while the second section visits the relative minor (B minor) and the dominant (A major). The trio is in Bb major, and uses the oboe and bassoon extensively. Like in the minuet, this trio's B section emphasizes the relative minor (in this case, G minor). The trio ends with a transition back to dominant of the main key in preparation for the return to the minuet.

Fourth movement

The exuberant finale, in fast tempo and in sonata form, opens in the mode of folk music using a drone bass and a theme often claimed to have originated as a Croatian folk song; for details see Haydn and folk music. The development section settles on the dominant of the main key, as is typical, but atypically, the recapitulation does not occur immediately. Instead, the development is extended with a section in F sharp minor, after which the recapitulation in D major follows immediately.