1772: Haydn: Symphony No. 46 in B major (HOMOTONAL), age 40
Instrumentation:
- two oboes
- bassoon
- two horns
- strings
Movements:
- Vivace
- Poco adagio in B minor
- Menuet e Trio (Trio in B minor): Allegretto
- Finale: Presto e scherzando
Some other “surprises”:
First this is described as “homotonal”, a fancy word simply meaning that every movement is in B major or B minor. To me that sounds a bit monotonous, but it’s not at all.
In the final movement the music builds only to break off suddenly, interrupted by the closing passage of the minuet. Then there is a repeat of the whole of the second half of the minuet. Suddenly the horns explode again with the main finale theme, but then they fade away and the music stutters almost to a halt. There is a pedal in the horns, the strings take up the energy and the symphony comes to a rapid and abrupt close.
Beethoven later did the same thing in the finale of his Fifth Symphony, interrupting the work with a reprise of material from the preceding movement before returning to the current movement’s theme. The chances that Beethoven did not know some of these symphonies well is zero, and it shows what a huge influence Haydn had on everyone around him.