Note – It would be a good idea to consult the chapters on “Music of the Classical Period”, and “Sonata Form” in the study area before studying this analysis.

Background and Overview

Haydn was born ten years before Bach began work on the second book of his Well Tempered Clavier, and nine before Handel wrote his Messiah.  He died after Beethoven had written his fifth and sixth symphonies. His long and colourful life was punctuated by periods of travel and periods of service to the court of Prince Nikolaus Joseph Esterhazy.  In 1790 the Prince, Haydn’s employer, died and was succeeded by his son Prince Paul Anton.  Paul Anton made provision for Haydn with the award of an annual pension but began, systematically, to dismantle the musical establishment at the court, which had sustained and ennobled Haydn so successfully for almost three decades.  This at least left Haydn free to travel and in the middle of December 1790 he left Vienna, with the violinist and London impresario Johann Salomon, bound for the first of two visits to London.  They arrived in Dover on New Year’s Day in 1791.  Salomon engaged Haydn to compose, for a substantial fee, an opera, six symphonies (nos. 93, 94 (Surprise), 95, 96 (Miracle), 97 and 98), and twenty other chamber and orchestral works to be performed under his own direction. 

Despite having lived in and around Vienna for most of his working life, the musical capital of the world in the late eighteenth century, Haydn is said to have been deeply impressed with the thriving, cosmopolitan scene that was London in the 1790s.  He was enthralled by the tremendous variety and quality of the orchestras, music clubs, choirs, and concert venues.  His enthusiasm for the city is evident in the London symphonies – not least in the 104th.  Just one week after his arrival, in a letter dated January 8th 1791, Haydn wrote: “Everybody wants to know me.  I had to dine out six times this week and I could have had an invitation every day, but first I must consider my health and second my work.  Except for nobility, I admit no callers until after 2:00 p.m.ⁱ”

In 1792 Haydn returned to Vienna, travelling through Bonn in order to meet the twenty-two year old Beethoven who was to become his pupil.  He returned to Vienna much the richer, both financially and culturally, and with the title of Doctor of Music which had been bestowed upon him by the University of Oxford. In January 1794, Haydn again left Vienna, drawn by the lure of more work in London.  Again he was employed by Salomon to provide music for the concert series and, again, he experienced the excitement of London.  Salomon commissioned six more symphonies (nos. 99, 100 (Military), 101 (Clock), 102, 103 (Drum roll) and 104 (London)) along with various other new works. 

Salomon’s concert series, usually given at the music rooms in Hannover Square in the spring and early summer months, was discontinued in 1795.  Written in early 1795, Symphony No. 104, Haydn’s final symphony, was performed on May 4th of that year at the King’s Theatre, Haymarket, with Haydn himself in charge.  The event was a benefit concert for the composer, and the work was given a rapturous reception.  Its first Viennese performance was given in December 1795, at a concert in which Beethoven gave the first performance of his second piano concerto. 

The work opens in D minor with a slow introduction to a lively sonata form movement in D major which consistently trades full orchestral, forte passages with more lightly textured moments of Viennese gracefulness.  The opening introduction is heavily dependent on a double-dotted rhythmic motif, and also alternates antiphonally between full and reduced textures as far as the orchestration is concerned.  The slow movement, a variant of sonata-rondo in so far that parts of a main theme reoccur and are subject to development, adjacent to material which is neither developed nor restated, is in the subdominant key of G Major and has, as its characteristic, homophonically written staccato passages and rests which leave a lot of holes in the texture of the music but which also add to the poise, tension and charm.

The movement also contrasts widely differing textures, from full orchestra to solo passages for small groups of instruments, which almost present a fusion between advanced, classical, symphonic writing and chamber music, and has its roots in the concerto grosso of the high Baroque.

The Minuet, with its lumpy rhythm accenting falsely, as it does, the third beat in the bar, and the cheeky Trio, in an unrelated key and again written with solo instruments and a much reduced, thinner texture are, together, the perfect canvas for Haydn to exercise his well documented sense of musical humour.   The opening melody of the finale, marked spiritoso, is allegedly based on London urchins’ street cries of “hot cross buns” - a seasonal symptom of the period of composition of which Haydn would doubtless have been aware.  The use of a drone / tonic pedal accompaniment to the main theme is a recurrent feature of the movement, the melody of which certainly displays the rustic, or in this case, urban features of a melody whose roots are in folk music.  The movement is also in sonata-rondo form.

The work is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two French horns, two trumpets, timpani (D and A) and strings.

*** ⁱ Grove - §5 London Visits

Analysis

First movement: Adagio – Allegro

The opening slow introduction begins with the full orchestra, in unison, stating the tonic and dominant notes of the key with all of the majesty and grandeur provided for and implied by the use of a double-dotted rhythmic pattern, played out at a very slow tempo, with accompanying timpani rolls.  Tonic and dominant are indeed the two notes in question, although at the present moment they belong to the key of D minor.

Ex.1 Opening

The slow introduction to a sonata form movement typically provided the classical composer with the opportunity either to impress some grand melodic and harmonic statement on the listener, or to lead  them on a kind of mystery tour through an unusual assembly of unexpected keys, and moments of melodic and harmonic tension and suspense, before revealing his hand with the opening statement of the first subject proper.  Whilst the latter option was, perhaps, most successfully played out by Beethoven in the opening to his seventh symphony, Haydn opts for the former here – the surprise being that the tonality of the tonic minor is preferred.  The music, however, creeps instantly away from its grand opening statement and, with the use of soft strings and a solo bassoon, reaches its destination of the relative major (F major) at 0.34 where the opening statement is repeated, but less emphatically, and without the brass and timpani, transposed into this new key. Again the music moves immediately away from this key by the use of diminished chords rising three times sequentially (1.01 – 1.20) and the same reduced texture, although this time with a solo flute as well.  The opening statement is repeated, verbatim, at 1.33 and the music then moves by means of the Neapolitan Sixth chord (a first inversion chord on the flattened super-tonic: in this case a chord of E♭ major with a G in the bass) into a 64 - 53 imperfect cadence in D minor (1.47).  At this point the music changes to an Allegro tempo, the tonic major tonality (D major), and the witty and energetic first subject is launched.

Ex.2 First subject

At 2.11 there is a transition, which moves us, eventually, to the dominant of A major in which key the music comes to an imperfect cadence at 2.42.  Here we expect to hear the second subject.  However, a brief glance at the above table will show that the second subject is conspicuous by its absence. Tovey quips that [ anyone ] “who believes that the text-book scheme of sonata form is anything like as close to classical precedent as a Dutch doll is to human anatomy will get into difficulties if they try to prove that the mature style of Haydn follows the rules”².

In place of the second subject Haydn simply replays the first subject. He treats the music differently this second time from a textural point of view, however, providing a solo flute, oboe and bassoon with the opportunity to experiment with the subject (2.44 – 2.56) the bassoon supplying a countersubject.  More transitory material takes over at 2.56 and keeps us in the dominant until 3.42, which marks the end of the exposition. This second passage of transitory material also has some delightful moments of reduced texture where three-way conversations between a solo flute, oboe and bassoon occur (3.16 – 3.30). The exposition is then repeated. 

The development section follows and is based largely on the melodic fragment which is bars 3 – 4 of the subject (see Ex.2).  Haydn takes this fragment, along with very similar motifs clearly derived from it, and moves them relentlessly through the orchestra as shown below, moving through, or implying, the following keys:

The development section ends with another imperfect cadence over a dominant pedal point and from there the first subject is returned to us in the tonic key, as expected.  The statement of it is extended by additional material provided at 6.45 – 6.52 by solo woodwind instruments (two oboes and a flute) before the transitory material from 2.11 is repeated.  From 7.21 Haydn again experiments further with the motif exploited so comprehensively through the development section, and again uses smaller groups of instruments, pizzicato bass lines and solo woodwind to do so, all of which thin the texture. Having done this he begins a long coda to the movement at 7.39.  Very much in the style of the symphonic codas that Beethoven was writing, Haydn recycles various of the smaller themes and fragmentary ideas from the transitory material we have heard. These ideas are neither substantial nor prominent enough to be subjects in their own right, and Haydn mixes them up with a helping of ascending and descending passages based on broken chords, sequences and scales, all of which serve to reinforce the D major tonality.

*** ² Essays in Musical Analysis, (OUP) Vol. 1, p.174.

As in the opening movement, Haydn again employs thematic economy in this second movement. He creates a main theme, which has a ternary construction, and then proceeds to use it as the basis for the vast majority of the movement.

The movement opens with the strings stating the opening part of the theme.

Ex.3 Opening

This is repeated before the second part of the theme takes over at 0.50 – still in the strings. The well-worn classical model of the “question and answer” structure is employed here, with each sub-statement of the theme needing resolution from its successor.  The first part of the theme comes back at 1.13 and is enhanced by the addition of a solo bassoon.  The theme is extended and developed a little from 1.42, by strings alone, before the inevitable cadence in G major at 2.19.

Haydn then shifts the tonality abruptly, changing the key signature to G minor.  The opening of this new section begins with the statement of the opening of the main theme, but transposed into the minor key and played on solo woodwind (3.50).  The music shifts abruptly again, this time to D minor (4.01). The next passage is sustained not so much by melodic creativity as by a harmonic sequence.  There is a melody in the first and second violin part, but it is not really allowed prominence within the texture, and it is neither replayed elsewhere in the movement nor doubled by any other instrument.   Its shape is rather jagged at the opening, embracing, as it does, a wide pitch range over a very short time span, and it then degenerates into continuous, running demisemiquavers (4.16 – 4.40) which deploy arpeggiated figures, scales, and shorter melodic fragments treated sequentially in a loud passage of fast movement. 

The harmonic sequence outlined by the passage moves through D minor (4.01), A major (4.07), D minor (4.10), B♭ major (4.13), C minor (4.14), F major (4.15) and B♭ major (4.17). Then the music moves through E♭major and F major, before arriving at a sudden, unexpected stop on an F major chord with the flattened seventh before a bar’s silence at 4.40. 

This is a movement of contrasting textures, and Haydn dispenses with this full texture for four bars (one of silence and three of soft strings) before bringing it back again at 4.51.  Here he uses the opening fragment of the main theme, transposed into B♭ major and treated sequentially through C minor (4.57) and into D major.  It is this last shift that prepares the ground for the return to the opening key and the original material.  The texture thins to the first violins alone, playing an arpeggiated ostinato based on the dominant chord, and treated as a pedal point.  This ostinato is joined both by the flattened seventh at 5.23, (preparing for the V7 – I cadence) and a solo bassoon at 5.26; this short passage has very similar textures and compositional devices (ostinati and pedal points in particular) to those used by Beethoven throughout the first movement of his Sixth Symphony (Pastoral) – a work which was not written until 1808.

At 5.28 the music moves back into G major and the first part of the first theme is replayed to us with solo woodwind and strings.  It is subject to some delightful decoration at 5.50 – 6.12: Haydn divides up the quaver beats in a repeated ¾ - ¼ note ratio, (dotted notes), giving this to the flute, bassoon and first violin in octaves.  This adds both impetus and charm to the melody.  At 6.14 further decoration is added in the form of turns (a melodic ornament) and at 6.31 the quaver beat is again divided – this time into equal thirds with the melody notes being turned into repeated triplets and sextuplets. There is a passage of tonal development beginning at 6.49. The melody is played out in augmented time values, over a sustained bass line. The tonal changes evoke a slightly sinister air, and the music moves unexpectedly into C minor (6.58), and then, over a pedal C, into A♭ major (7.04) and, with the bass ominously rising by a semitone, D♭ major (7.10).   The second violins persist in playing an almost jocular ascending and descending arpeggio figure, which mirrors the harmony provided by the sustained parts.

The music comes to a stop at 7.22.  D♭ major changes enharmonically to C# minor at 7.26 and solo wind tentatively attempt to develop the motif of the main theme twice – the first attempt being aborted by the insertion of a diminished chord (7.29), and the second by an unexpected twist into F# major (7.37).  The opening motif is then replayed again in G major, (7.54) and yet further decoration is added.  A solo flute takes over the limelight at 8.20 and holds up the melodic flow with a type of mini-cadenza: again, here, we are experiencing stylistic elements to be used to great effect by Beethoven in both his Fifth and Sixth Symphonies.  The final passage, from 8.49 to the end, abounds with delightful short statements from all of the solo woodwind in turn, except the clarinets, and finally, at 9.12, the French horns have their chance as the music comes to a close.

Third movement: Minuet and Trio

Haydn’s music often represented his humorous personality, and the Menuet and Trio oblige in this work.  The rhythmic energy of the Minuet, back in D major, is immediately established by the provision of an accented third beat in the bar.  As this lies adjacent to the naturally accented down (first) beat the overall pattern is of two accented beats followed by one unaccented beat stretched across a triple time metre.  

Ex.4 Opening

In contrast to the previous movements the music is largely homophonic across a full orchestral texture, complete with brass and timpani, although Haydn again cannot resist thinning the texture at 0.35 – 0.46 and calling on the services of solo woodwind instruments. The natural conclusion of the melody is delayed by two cheeky bars of silence, in strict time, at 1.00, the upbeat to which is played but is then left “high and dry”, followed by two bars where the harmonic progression is suspended across a trilled dominant seventh chord in D major (1.02) – Haydn making us wait for its inevitable cadence into the tonic.

The key is abruptly changed, without any preparation, into the unrelated B♭ major for the Trio, and the orchestral texture is divided into two layers.  On the top a solo oboe and bassoon, lightly doubled by the first violins, play a lyrical, flowing melody based on scalic patterns which rise and fall gracefully, whilst underneath the lower strings provide an intermittent, pizzicato, harmonic accompaniment.

Ex.5 Trio

This texture contrasts greatly with that of the Minuet.  The second part of the trio, (2.31 – 3.13) is decidedly more polyphonic.  The idea of solo wind, doubled by first violins, is perpetuated and developed, but the pizzicato accompaniment is abandoned for a while and the lower strings become engaged in a series of contrapuntal dialogues and exchanges which contribute countermelodies to the existing material before, at 2.53, the original pizzicato is restored and the section ends as it began. 

In order to prepare for the returning Minuet, in D major, Haydn now goes through the process of modulating from B♭ major, and this can be heard in a chord progression from 3.56 – 4.11.  It is carried out over a pedal point of B♭, and a rising, chromatically expanding progression which moves from B♭ major with an F at the top (3.56), to an augmented fifth on B♭ with F# at the top (4.00), to G minor in first inversion (4.01), to B♭ seventh with an A♭ at the top (4.02).  At this point the pedal point falls to an A and the dominant seventh in D major allows for the smooth return to the Minuet.

Fourth Movement: Spiritoso

This fourth movement best fits the description of a sonata rondo – a final movement form much favoured by Haydn, and used also by Mozart and Beethoven.  Here we find intensely inter-related thematic material, which is all developed in its turn, interrupted persistently by original and developed statements of the opening melody, restated to us in a variety of keys and textures.

The movement opens with a drone accompaniment and the folk song nature of the melody is beyond doubt. There is a precedent for this as Haydn also used a folk song melody, accompanied by a drone, as the main theme in the finale of his Symphony No. 82 – (Bear).

Ex.6 First subject

The first subject is scored very simply, with just French horns, celli and basses providing the drone and the first violins playing the melody.  It is immediately restated (0.10), this time harmonised by the strings, and then transitory material (i) continues at 0.17, using the first subject in places, to take us up to the introduction of the second subject, which occurs in E major, at 0.39.

Ex.7 Second subject

This theme is barely stated before Haydn brings back the fist subject at 0.49. The orchestral texture has all been fairly full since the cautious opening, but at 0.57 it thins and strings accompany a solo bassoon through the start of a second transitory passage (ii) until the full orchestra is brought back at 1.05.  The music comes to rest on chord V in A major at 1.12, and we expect a perfect cadence into the dominant.  Haydn surprises us here, however, and writes an interrupted cadence taking the music from E major (V) to F# major (VI) temporarily, for the third subject at 1.15.  Although the music for this subject begins with a chord of F# major, including an A#, the subject is, if we trace its tonality back to its roots, in A major.   This subject is characterised by a rising diminished seventh followed by a falling scale, treated canonically between first violins and bassoon.   It is harmonised homophonically by the strings.

Ex.8 Third subject

More transitory material (iii) at 1.31 takes us to 1.48 where the exposition is repeated.  After this repeat a development section of sorts begins at 3.30, and this section, up until 4.04, develops melodic fragments of the first subject along with the same from transitory material iii.  The section is also characterised by a five-note motif, which rises and falls and can be heard most prominently at 3.41 in the first violins.  The second subject is returned to us, this time in F# major, at 4.04 and again, its statement is very brief and singular.  It leads straight into a replaying of the third subject at 4.15.  This time this third subject opens in G# major and works its way back to its home key of B major by 4.20.  The G# major chord is again approached by means of an interrupted cadence at 4.13. 

Haydn provides us with the sensation of a recapitulation at 4.41 as the first subject and drone reappear in the tonic of D major.  From 4.48 the transitory material (i) is restated and developed by means of a full and busy orchestral texture with fast moving string parts and sustained homophonic chords from the wind, brass and timpani. This leads into a repetition of the second subject at 5.13, this time in A major, and the whole passage comes to an abrupt halt at 5.25.  A third interrupted cadence leads into a chord of B major at 5.27 and the third subject is played for the final time and in the home key of D major.  At 5.46 the music begins to develop material from the first subject and the short passages for solo woodwind, which have been a hall mark of the first three movements in this symphony, are given a final opportunity to take a part in this at 5.53.   The music moves briefly through D minor at 6.04 – 6.16 and the first subject is given its final outing at 6.25 with the flutes and first violins in unison against a full orchestral accompaniment.  A coda, based on bars 3 and 4 of the first subject along with the five-note motif heard at 3.41, concludes this symphony.

Further Listening

Bibliography