Symphony No. 31 (Haydn)

Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 31 in D major was composed in 1765 for Haydn's patron Nikolaus Esterházy. It is nicknamed the "Hornsignal" symphony, [Ethan Mordden, "A Guide to Orchestral Music: The Handbook for Non-Musicians". New York: Oxford University Press (1980): 80. "Haydn gave the work its subtitle, "Mit dem Hornsignal" (with the horn call) because it begins and ends with the same fanfare in the horns."] because it gives a prominent role to an unusually large horn section, i.e. four players. Probably because of its prominent obbligato writing for the horns, in Paris, the publisher Sieber published this symphony as a "symphonie concertante" around 1785. [Bernard Harrison, "Haydn: The 'Paris' Symphonies". Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (1998): 31]

Background

The backdrop of this and other early Haydn symphonies was a patron who loved music and wanted his household music to be performed by top musicians -- but whose budget did not accommodate anything like the orchestras of the size seen in modern times. Personnel fluctuated, and thus also the forces Haydn had available to work with. Haydn himself sought to retain the best instrumentalists, and he did so in part by writing interesting and challenging solos for them in his early symphonies.

Prince Nikolaus's had included a large horn section (four players) earlier in the 1760s, but one horn player, Franz Reiner, left in 1763 and was not replaced. A further loss is reported in the a letter by Haydn dated 23 January 1765 (the earliest preserved letter of the composer). This informs the Prince the death of a horn player named Knoblauch. Haydn suggested a replacement, but his suggestion was not accepted. The same letter serves an illustration of Haydn's role as lobbyist for his men (see Papa Haydn): he requests that the Prince provide a fringe benefit for the musicians by covering the cost of their medications. This too was (temporarily) turned down. [All information in this paragraph from Robbins Landon and Jones (1988), 45] .

Prince Nikolaus brought the horn section back to full strength in May 1765, [Webster 1990] when hornists Franz Stamitz and Joseph Dietzl were engaged to fill the missing places. [Robbins Landon and Jones (1988), 45] The "Hornsignal" Symphony evidently was written to celebrate this event. (Other four-horn symphonies from roughly the same time are #13, #39, and the misnumbered #72. [Webster 1990, 22] )

The exact date of the symphony is not known, other than the year. However, the symphony must have been premiered no earlier than May (since that is when Stamitz and Dietzl arrived) and before September 13, 1765. The latter date is known since the symphony includes a flute part, and the flautist (Franz Sigl) was dismissed on this date for having carelessly started a fire while shooting birds; [Webster 1990, 20] it was only the following year that Haydn was able to persuade his patron to reinstate Sigl.

Premiere

The premiere performance would have taken place in the hall of one of Prince Esterházy's palaces, probably in the family seat at Eisenstadt. [Webster 1990, 17] The orchestra was very small, with perhaps three each for first and second violins, one violist, one cellist, and one bass player; but in compensation the hall would have been quite reverberant [Webster 1990, 18] --the basis of a sonically impressive effect when the (not entirely refined, valveless) horns of the day were played in a group of four.

Haydn himself probably would have been one of the first violinists, leading the orchestra with his instrument. [Webster 1990, 21] . According to Webster, "the audience would have consisted of the prince and his guests only and very often Haydn's orchestra of fifteen or so players would have outnumbered the listeners." [Webster 1990, 18]

Movements

The work is scored for one flute, two oboes, four horns, and strings. Modern performances, even by authentic performance ensembles, usually opt for a larger string section than was available for the premiere.

The symphony is in four movements, marked as follows:

#Allegro
#Adagio
#Menuet - Trio
#Finale: Moderato molto

It is the first movement that shows off the horn section most dramatically. According to Webster, "the thematic material of the first movement draws not on hunting calls (as in the famous chorus in Haydn's oratorio The Seasons), but on military fanfares and posthorn signals." [Webster 1990, 22]

The finale is a theme with seven variations, the first variation movement to appear in the Haydn symphonies. [Robbins Landon and Jones, 1988, 92] Most of the variations are written to show off a particular instrument or section of the orchestra, in the following order: oboes, cello, flute, horns, solo violin, tutti (all players), and double bass [In the Luck's Music Library edition, this is incorrectly marked as a cello solo] . There is a final coda, marked Presto, whose final notes repeat the opening of the symphony.

Reception

Webster calls the symphony "a splendidly ostentatious work, displaying the prowess of the horn players to maximum effect in all four movements." [Webster 1990, 22]

Discography

In the LP era, musicologist Antony Hodgson compared this symphony to Symphony No. 72, insisting that "these two works do need to be studied together in order to appreciate their similarities and differences," but bemoaned the fact that "no grammophone recording has yet paired them" as of the late 1970s. [Antony Hodgson, "The Music of Joseph Haydn: The Symphonies". London: The Tantivy Press (1976): 67] In the CD era, it seems that this is still the case; Vilmos Tatrai's recording with the Hungarian Chamber Orchestra presents an interesting near miss: he pairs No. 31 with No. 73. Nikolaus Harnoncourt with Concentus Musicus Wien adds to these two No. 59. Indeed it would seem that the only way to get No.s 31 and 72 in the same box is in a boxed set of all the symphonies.

Without that constraint, there is no shortage of recordings of the Hornsignal Symphony, which is often paired with other nicknamed symphonies.

Notes

References

*Robbins Landon, H.C. and David Wyn Jones (1988) "Haydn: His Life and Music", Thames and Hudson.
*Webster, James (1990) Program notes to Volume 4 of Christopher Hogwood's recordings of the Haydn symphonies. Oiseau-Lyre 430 082-2.
*Webster, James, and Georg Feder (2001), "Joseph Haydn", article in "The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians" (New York: Grove, 2001). Published separately as a book: "The New Grove Haydn" (New York: Macmillan 2002, ISBN 0-19-516904-2).