Symphony No. 28 in A major
One of the features that distinguishes Haydn, even in this comparatively early stage in his career, from Ordonez, Gassmann, Dittersdorf and other contemporaries is his ability to create a focussed musical argument with the minimum of material. At the end of his life the composer told his biographer, Griesinger: 'Once I had seized upon an idea, my whole endeavour was to develop and sustain it in keeping with the rules of art'. The first movement of this A major symphony from 1765 provides a perfect early example of Haydn's approach; hardly a bar in the movement does not feature the four-note anacrusic figure heard at the beginning. There are some harmonic surprises too, when, in the recapitulation, a solo oboe leads the music into a digression into the minor key. The Poco Adagio is scored for muted strings alone with the melody played by first and second violins in a low register, except for some punctuating phrases played in thirds in a higher register. Different orchestral colours catch the ear in the Menuet: bariolage, that is the oscillation of the same pitch on two different strings, and in the Trio, a severe sounding A minor as the music moves around a restricted range of chords in an almost aimless way. The last movement is a hectic 6/8 scamper.

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