Symphony No. 88 (Haydn)

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The Symphony No. 88 in G major (Hoboken 1/88) was written by Joseph Haydn. It is occasionally referred to as The Letter V referring to an older method of cataloguing Haydn's symphonic output.

1 Date of composition and scoring
2 Movements
3 Trivia
4 Notes
5 External links

[edit] Date of composition and scoring

The symphony was completed in 1787. It is one of Haydn's best-known works, even though it is not one of the Paris or London Symphonies and does not have a descriptive nickname.

The work is in standard four movement form and scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, continuo (harpsichord) and strings.

[edit] Movements

I. Adagio - Allegro
II. Largo
III. Menuetto: Allegretto
IV. Allegro con spirito

The first movement begins with a brief introduction which quickly settles to the dominant chord to prepare for the main body of the movement. It begins with just the strings, playing a theme which provides all the material for the rest of the movement^{[citation needed]}. The exposition is monothematic and the development continues to make use of that single melodic idea. In the recapitualation, the initial statement of the theme is embellished by a solo flute.

The slow movement in D major consists mainly of embellishments of the legato oboe theme which opens it, though every so often is punctuated by chords played by the whole orchestra. After hearing this slow movement, Johannes Brahms is said to have remarked, 'I want my Ninth Symphony to sound like this'.^[1] It is the first of Haydn's symphonies to use trumpets and timpani in the slow movement. Mozart had previously used trumpets and timpani in the slow movement of his Linz Symphony.^[2]

The minuet is in G major. The trio has an unusual feature to it: after stating a rather simple theme, the fifths held in the bassoons and violas shift down a fourth in parallel, an effect typically avoided by the classical composers.

The finale is a sonata-rondo, with the rondo theme first presented in binary form. The first section of this is noteworthy for ending on unusual cadence on the mediant. The piece is considered one of the most cheerful Haydn ever wrote.^[3]

[edit] Trivia

Part IV. Allegro con spirito was covered by guitarist Paul Gilbert on his instrumental album Get Out of My Yard as Haydn Symphony No. 88 Finale.

[edit] Notes

^ [1] The Daily Telegraph, 15 September 2007
^ HC Robbins Landon, Haydn: Chronicle and Works, 5 vols, (Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1976-) v. 2, Haydn at Eszterhaza, 1766-1790
^ Peter Gammond, Bluff Your Way in Music. London: Ravette Books (1985): 38. "Perhaps only a really heartless man could have written anything so incredibly happy as the finale of Symphony No. 88."