Great Symphonies

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H A Y D N

poser who wrote real symphonies, he is the best

one for a start, if you want to know something

about this kind of music.

They cal led him "Papa Haydn," not because

he was the father of the sym pho ny (which was

not really known until later) , but because he

had a fatherly way with music and with every-

body who listened to it. (Pronounce his name

"hid e'n," as in "hide'n go seek.") H is pieces gen -

erally sounded happy and contented and cheer-

ful, and they were not hard to understand.

Haydn liked to play jokes, and many of these

are in his music.

H e once wrote a Toy Symphony, in which

most of the instruments are toys, like rattles and

cuckoo-calls and whistles and httle tin trumpets.

Almost any group can learn to play this sym-

phony, so long as there is one good pianist and

one good violinist to do the important parts.

Another famous musical joke of Papa Haydn

was his Farewell Symphony, in which he m ad e

each player blow out a candle and stop playing,

one at a time, until there were only two left, and

finally they blew out their candles too, and the

symphony was over.

HAYDN'S SURPRISE SYMPHONY

But the best known of all the Haydn jokes

is in the

Surprise Symphony,

which he w rote in

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G R E A T S Y M P H O N I E S

1792, nearly a hundred and fifty years ago. The

surprise comes in the second movement, and it

is a very loud chord, played suddenly after a

soft and peaceful melody. Haydn said that this

would wake up all the people who had fallen

asleep during the symphony. But i f you l is ten

to the first movement, you will find very little

reason to fall asleep, for it is hvely, joyful music

that anybody would l ike to hear .

There is a slow Introduction, which is itself a

sort of joke, for Haydn does not mean to be

serious at all . After seventeen measures, he sud-

denly starts a merry tune that could be fit ted

with words like this:

lif FIFPp^^P

fe^

t

c

Hay-dn ve-ri-ly Sang so mer-r i-ly. Yea caa

t^ag

m

l-ways laugh athisjokes

H e play s all sorts of musical tr icks with this

tune, until he has reached the eightieth measure,

when he brings in a second tune, a little softer,

a little sweeter, and a little gentler than the first.

They are both introduced by the s tr inged instru-

ments (violins, etc.) , and the second one might

have these words:

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H A Y D K

^ g J ^ l J . J ) h J ) | h h h J

m

Tbis fame an-w ersthe ea r-B -e r straai, h

J. j i jU i | j> ju jn^ i j v | ; ; i ^ i ;

sooB hasUSall smi-ling a-guo. "Cheer np heernp Cheer

O J ji I J

j

up " Hat is its

-py re-frain

After this tune has been played once, it is

repeated, with the flute playing the same notes

as the first violins, and then going into a little

duet with the oboes, which sound like someone

singing through his nose.

T he developm ent or plot of this open ing move-

ment is mostly about the first tune, which goes

around in all sorts of disguises, till at last it

comes back very softly and timidly, as if it

wanted to be forgiven for running away. The

orchestra makes a lot of noise in welcoming it

back, and finally there is a contest, in which the

strings play the first tune again, and then the

wood-wind instruments (flute, oboes, bassoons)

play it their way. Then they all do the same sort

of thing with the second tune, as a reminder, for

it really has not had much attention, compared

with the first tune. Before anything more can

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be done about it, the orchestra seems to say, in

unison, "Time's up " and pulls down the curtain

with a few closing chords.

Now comes the second act, or movement,

which contains the main surprise. It starts right

in with this tune, played slowly and softly by the

first violins, with the other players picking at the

strings instead of using the bow, for an accom-

paniment :*

S

^m

E

^ ^

^

M=M

h-0-

Papa Haydn vn-ote this tone. And a chord is coming soon,

W

Jij iJ iJ il^JJ l(?[y||J J lJ >^

IIwiUbe a big surprise, Op-en slee-pyeyes Bang

T h e "b an g" really comes after this l i t tle tun e has

ibeen played twice, the second time even softer

than the first, so that the loud chord would

ac tua lly be both a surp rise an d a shock, especially

to anyon e who mig ht have gone to sleep, as P a p a

Haydn said .

This is the only tune in the second movement

'of the Surprise Symphony, althou gh it run s a

little longer than just the few notes above. The

*Haydn used this same tune in The Seasons, to represent a

whistling ploughboy.

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H A Y D N

trick that Haydn plays is to write "variat ions,"

th a t is, ex tra notes and m usical decorations,

which dress up the tune in such ways that it

sounds different, although it is really always the

same tune. This happens eight times altogether,

and you never grow tired of the tune, because

the variations make each reminder seem fresh

and new.

The th i rd movement of Haydn 's

Surprise

Symphony

is a M inu et, which was originally

a

rather slow and stately dance, with three beats

to a measure, like a slow waltz. People danced

the Minuet in the powdered wigs and elaborate

costumes of what we call "colonial days," and it

was popular all over Europe, as well as in

America.

Haydn calls this movement Menuetto, by

which he means to show that it is faster than

a regular Minuet. It really is much too fast for

such a dance, and the very first tune makes this

quite clear:

^

In this

Men

n

ei

- to

th e

m u. sic i s

*

k

$

^ ^ ^ ^ ^

fast. Just Us-ten and findont how long it will lasL

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Haydn wrote this melody one tone higher, which

would be a little too high to sing, and where we

have the words "fas t" and " las t" he had the vio-

lins play a chord, with its top note an octave

higher. H e w ent on a l i t t le further with the t u ne

too, but this is the most important par t .

The Minuet in a symphony general ly has a

reg ula r form, l ike thi s: T he first tu ne is repe ated,

note for note. Then comes a second tune, which

is also repeated, and then the first tune again.

After that there is a third tune, called the

Trio,

in two parts, each repeated. Finally the first and

second tunes are played through once more,

which finishes the Minuet. If you can remember

the first tune, especially in this

Menuetto,

that

is really enough.

By the time you reach the last movement, or

Finale, in the Surprise Symphony, you feel th at

you a lready know Ha y d n qui te well . H e s tar t s

ag ain with one of those jo lly tune s th at ma ke yo u

forget he was all of sixty years old when he w rote

this symphony. It might be called a good-bye

t une , but there is nothing of sadness in it.

This tune is played seven times, with slight

chan ges, in the Finale of theSurprise Symphony,

other and less important melodies interrupting.

Such a pattern is called a

Rondo,

which really

means a round dance, the same melody coming

back again and again, after others have tried to

push it aside. It is a gay, happy way to finish a

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H A Y D N

tfjji^ [T i I ji ji } p

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Il's

time BOW

to say

good-bye

To

y J'ppMMp^r u

oae we call a jol-ly firiend. Best thanks for a

i l^J^J^J^MppfJ^

1 ^ ^ ^

grandsurprise. Our sym-pho-ny is at an end.

symphony, and many other composers used

Rondos in their symphonies after Haydn's time.

In fact, they all took him as a model, and built

on the foundations that he created, making the

symphony gradually more and more elaborate,

like a cathedral that starts with a few simple

arches and becomes after many years a wonder-

ful piece of architecture.

H A Y D N ' S L O N D O N S Y M P H O N Y

I n 1791, when Ha yd n was already nearly

sixty years old, he came to London for the first

time, at the invitation of a concert manager

named Salomon. During his visit of a year and

a half in London, Haydn wrote six great sym-

phonies, as ordered by Salomon, including the

Surprise.

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Great Symphonies

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