Symphony No. 11 in E flat major
In distinction to the cyclically similar Symphony No. 5, No. 11 opens with an ornate, triplet-rhythmed Adagio cantabile essentially for the strings alone; it evens begins formally with a trio-sonata-like alternation between second and first violins (No. 18 is similar). The horns have only punctuating notes and harmonic pedals, and the oboes, remarkably, are tacent altogether. They join in for the second movement, Allegro, which begins with a five-note theme that will remind some listeners of the famous four-note 'cantus-firmus' of the finale of Mozart's 'Jupiter' Symphony. Sure enough, it receives overtly contrapuntal treatment in the piano passage of the second group and (especially) at the beginning of the recapitulation. (The same theme appears in three other Haydn symphony finales, always with contrapuntal implications.)
The minuet, in galant, dotted-rhythmed style, features a series of discrete motives in pervasively irregular phrasing; the trio is for strings alone and, unusually, is in the dominant; its three-layered rhythm resembles that in the minor-mode Andante of Symphony N0.4. The finale, like that in No. 5, eschews the usual 3/8 wind-up in favour of a Presto 2/4. It cedes nothing to the 3/8 type in boister-ousness, but unlike them has a full, if hasty sonata-form design.

Analysis of the movements

Musicians

Due to the unclear time of origin of most of Haydn’s symphonies - and unlike his 13 Italian operas, where we really know the exact dates of premieres and performances - detailed and correct name lists of the orchestral musicians cannot be given.  As a rough outline, his symphony works can be divided into three temporal blocks. In the first block, in the service of Count Morzin (1757-1761), in the second block, the one at the court of the Esterházys (1761-1790 but with the last symphony for the Esterház audience in 1781) and the third block, the one after Esterház (1782-1795), i.e. in Paris and London.  Just for this middle block at the court of the Esterházys 1761-1781 (the last composed symphony for the Esterház audience) respectively 1790, at the end of his service at the court of Esterház we can choose Haydn’s most important musicians and “long-serving companions” and thereby extract an "all-time - all-stars orchestra".

Music

Score