Symphony No. 14 in A major
This symphony, whose concertante usage and style suggest the Esterhazy period, is on a small scale, but every note tells. The opening Allegro molto, 3/4, is tiny; indeed the 'development', uniquely in Haydn's opening symphonic allegros, consists merely of a brief (and more tuneful) variant of the 'second theme' and a retransition, all in/on the dominant. The Andante is a simple rounded-binary movement, with the gorgeous tone-colour of a solo cello doubling the violin melody at the lower octave. (The first and second phrases of the main theme are more or less identical to the first and last phrases of the variation-finale theme in the Divertimento Hob.II: 11). The minuet suggests a faster tempo than most of the early-symphony galant works; the trio, in the minor and featuring a solo oboe, shows yet again how much Haydn could say with a very few notes.
The Finale, another tiny movement, is inherently incongruous. It is densely contrapuntal, yet its 'theme' is merely a scale descending through an entire octave, with the added indignity of an inappropriately high-minded trill on the penultimate note. Admittedly, the syncopated countermelody and, a little later, the rushing semiquaver accompaniment add rhythmic interest. The 'development' indeed brings new developments, and there is a delicious joke at the beginning of the reprise: the return of the tune is delayed by a single quiet measure of the tonic, which is 'right' in terms of the modulating retransitional sequence, but utterly 'wrong' in stealing the thunder from its reprise. And so the latter, which originally was piano, now breaks in fortissimo. The only proper response not only here but throughout the movement is laughter.

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