Symphony No. 69 (Haydn)

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Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 69 in C major (Hoboken I:69) was written around 1775-1776.^[1] It is known as the "Laudon" symphony'.

1 Nickname
2 The music
3 Critical opinion
4 Notes
5 References
6 See also

[edit] Nickname

The nickname comes from Haydn's publisher Artaria, who issued a version for solo piano. As a device for increasing sales, Artaria attached to the symphony the name of General Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon, an important figure in Austrian military history. Haydn agreed to make the keyboard arrangement, but insisted on omitting the final movement as inappropriate for keyboard performance. He also apparently endorsed Artaria's sales maneuver:

The last or fourth movement ... is not practicable for the keyboard, nor do I find it necessary to include it: the word 'Laudon' will aid the sale more than any ten finales.^[2]

[edit] The music

The "Laudon" symphony is in the standard four movement form and is scored for two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. The movement are marked as follows.

I. Vivace
II. Un poco adagio piu tosto andante
III. Minuet & Trio
IV. Finale: Presto

[edit] Critical opinion

Haydn scholar James Webster locates the symphony during a period of the composer's career when he was also creating comic operas, and describes the work as one in which the composer's intent was simply to be musically entertaining, in contrast to the more emotionally intense works of the previous few years (often called Haydn's "Sturm und Drang" period). Within these terms, Webster makes a very positive appraisal; the 69th and neighboring symphonies are described by him as being "as finely crafted, as interesting, indeed as original, as the preceding ones, albeit very different in character."^[3]

[edit] Notes

^ Webster 1999, 13
^ Narrative in this paragraph as well as quotation from Webster (1999, 22)
^ Webster 1999, 12

[edit] References

The remarks by James Webster are taken from his 1999 program notes for made for a series of Haydn symphony recordings made the Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music; Oiseau-Lyre CD 460-776-2.