Symphony No. 24 in D major
When Haydn first entered the service of the Es-terházy family in 1761, a new flute player, Franz Sigl, was engaged; he remained in post until 13 September 1765 when he was dismissed for setting a roof on fire while shooting birds. Following Haydn's diplomatic intervention Sigl was re-engaged the following year. Although Haydn composed a flute concerto for Sigl (now lost) he included the instrument in only a minority of his symphonies at this time. In this D major symphony from 1764 the flute is featured in the Adagio, which could easily be a concerto slow movement (complete with cadenza), and the trio of the minuet, where it shares the melodic lead with horns and first violins. Elsewhere in this bright and confident symphony the flute is replaced by oboes.

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