1791: Haydn: Symphony No. 95 (MINOR) in C minor

FRIDAY, October 23, 2020 – 10:45 AM

(As with all these London symphonies the exact order is not clear. By number this is the 3rd, but there is a good bit of confusion about when these were actually composed, in what order.)

Symphony No. 95 in C minor (MINOR), age 59

There is no nickname for this, so I’m giving one. It was very unusual for Haydn to have written anything with a strongly minor feel, also true of Mozart. So his choice of a minor key here is important. That said, a lot of the 1st movement is in the relative major key of Eb major

  • 48:08 I. Allegro moderato, C minor – C major: I like the minor feel even though it ends in major. There is a little theme here that keeps making me think of “Put ’em together and what have you got – Bippity-boppity-boo” – Bb C Bb Ab G F Eb.
  • 55:00 II. Andante, variation form – E♭ major: The key of Eb is not unusual. It’s the relative major of C minor. But getting there from C major is a bit unusual, and very nice. This has one of the nicest cello solos I’ve ever heard.
  • 1:00:37 III. Menuetto – Trio C minor – C major – C minor: He’s back to minor, and although the trio moves to parallel major, this time he ends in minor. But the A section also moves to Eb major, so it’s a bit more complicated. I’m finding that Haydn, the master craftsman, seemed to always do enough creative and “out of the box” things to totally keep my interest in these London symphonies. Note that the trio is slower, but it sounds faster because it goes from quarter notes to eight notes. The feeling is going to something not twice as fast rather than something slower. Nice cello solo, so if I were 1st chair cello I’d love to play this symphony.
  • 1:05:37 IV. Finale: Vivace – C major: Typically minor moves to relative major, but not always. This time he just morphs to major to end the whole thing. I’ve also found that Haydn seemed to use “vivace” for his fastest music, even though to me “presto” would logically be even faster. So you can see that these tempo indications are all extremely variable. This movement does not sound as fast as many other final movements. It has a very light, genial, charming feel in the opening. I don’t think Haydn was very good at being unhappy, morose or negative. His personality seems to be irrepressibly optimistic.

Instrumentation:

  •  flute, two oboes, two bassoons
  • two horns, two trumpets
  • timpani
  • strings

No slow intro…

It is the only one of the London symphonies that does not begin with a slow introduction to the first movement.

Cello solo…

The trio of the minuet is a solo for the cello, and it’s a long solo. So along with “minor” for a nickname for this symphony, you might want to think “great cello solo”

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