Symphony Number 45 in F# Minor (the "Farewell symphony")

578 Words2 Pages

Symphony Number 45 in F# Minor (the "Farewell symphony")

Between 1761 and 1790 Haydn was employed by the enormously wealthy

Esterhazy family who had two palaces on the borders of Austria and

Hungary. The court orchestra was similar to that of many baroque

orchestras - two oboes, a bassoon, a string ensemble and a

harpsichord. But it also included a pair of horns - instruments that

became a regular part of the orchestra thereafter.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

It was this orchestra that accompanied operas in the palace theatre

and played symphonies twice a week. Haydn's symphony number 45 in F#

minor was first performed in the summer prince Nikolaus Esterhazy and

his household lived in their Hungarian palace where wives of his

musicians where not allowed to stay. The usual date for the prince's

return to his Austrian palace and the reunion of his instrumentalists

and their wives had long past. The orchestra asked Haydn to speak to

the prince, but instead Haydn wrote a symphony that ended quite

unusually, with a slow movement designed to allow the musicians to

leave in ones and twos until only two violinists were left. When they

finished playing they too blew out their candles and left. The prince

took the hint and ordered immediate preparations fro a return to

Austria.

The importance of the Farewell symphony lies in the way that Haydn

uses the formal structure of the symphony to express an astonishing

tange of moods. At one extreme is the Sturm und Drang (storm and

stress) style - its restless syncopations, stabbing accents, tortuous

chromaticism, harsh discords and dramatic silences fo...

... middle of paper ...

...re homophonic approach to the wind

section abundantly clear.

The division of the violin section into four groups in the Adagio is

very unusual. It is allowed Haydn to end the symphony with just two

muted violins. Unusually Haydn to gives melodic material to all wind

instruments just before they leave.

These passages point to the way wind instruments gained their

independence from the strings un classical music. Even the double bass

is given an extensive solo in bars 55-67. With the departure of the

double bass Haydn is left with a four-part string band, then a trio.

Meanwhile the first and second violins put their mutes on ready for

the consordino duet that fades into silence. Soloist textures of this

sort were becoming common in romantic orchestral music, but they are

extremely rare in 18th-century symphonies.

Open Document