#A-Haydn-A-Day Day 82: Symphony No. 18 I've caught up at last! Probably #3 in order of composition, signs of its earliness are everywhere: it's in only three movements, it ends in a galant minuet, and its first movement is in a form that was about to die out. - ThreadSky

deeplyclassical.bsky.social • 17 days ago

#A-Haydn-A-Day Day 82: Symphony No. 18

I've caught up at last! Probably #3 in order of composition, signs of its earliness are everywhere: it's in only three movements, it ends in a galant minuet, and its first movement is in a form that was about to die out.

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kapustadave.bsky.social•17 days ago

Remnant of the Church Sonata form.

deeplyclassical.bsky.social•17 days ago

Possibly, though the sonata da chiesa typically has four movements. There are plenty of slow-fast-minuet-fast Haydn symphonies inspired by that form, and their first movements are, generally, properly adagio.

kapustadave.bsky.social•17 days ago

Which is why they are like the Sonata da Chiesa but just three movements, which is a link to the Italian Sinfonia of three movements. Sort of an in between thing.

deeplyclassical.bsky.social•17 days ago

Unusually, the first movement is the slowest, but I think some recordings are *too* slow. Marked Andante moderato, the 2/4 time signature and how it's notated mean IMO that it should have a spring to its step. Out go Hogwood, Goodman and Fischer for me, who are all a bit sluggish and dull here.

rjwatt42.bsky.social•17 days ago

The first movement does sound as if Handel could have written it, except perhaps where it darkens a bit.

deeplyclassical.bsky.social•17 days ago

It's like an expanded trio sonata movement. Its binary form with both halves repeated but without a formal recapitulation, was a stalwart of the baroque, but would soon be brushed aside as its descendant sonata form came to dominate movements in the classical style Haydn himself was creating.

deeplyclassical.bsky.social•17 days ago

Haydn ended four symphonies with a final minuet, all early ones. It was also a popular finale for some other symphony composers in the late 1750s and early 1760s, but once again it died out in no small part thanks to Haydn himself, this time in favour of the rondo.

deeplyclassical.bsky.social•17 days ago

I had time today to listen to every #18 I could find. I recommend these four. Mallon's is easily the best version with harpsichord continuo. All the others do perfectly well without. Hsu is poised and stylish, Klumpp typically zippy and entertaining, especially in the minuet's 'Hungarian' trio.

deeplyclassical.bsky.social•17 days ago

But my choice is Ernst Märzendorfer, from the first ever complete Haydn symphony cycle. I wanted to represent it somewhere on my playlist. In a surprisingly modern move, he eschews a harpsichord. His first movement never drags, and such sweet, affectionate playing should never be overlooked.

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