Album insights
Despite being numbered, these four symphonies were not composed in sequential order. They were likely created in reverse order—16, 15, 14, 13—with the latter two backdating the initial two by a couple of years. These symphonies represent works composed for two of Haydn's main employers, the Morzin family and the Esterházy family.
The Morzins employed Haydn as their Kapellmeister in his first position. Although the count and his family split their time between a summer castle in Bohemia and a townhouse in Vienna, Haydn spent most of his time at the former. Morzin's orchestra was relatively small but also included a wind band that could double as string players when needed. Haydn wrote around a dozen or more symphonies for this expanded ensemble, including No. 15 and No. 16, composed between 1759 and 1761 before financial troubles led Morzin to disband the orchestra, and Haydn moved on to the Esterházys.
Symphony No. 15 is one of the most intriguing pieces from this era, featuring a first movement unusually styled after a French overture, characterized by an ABA structure of slow-fast-slow, where extended Adagio sections frame a lively Presto. The second movement also exhibits a French character, notably in the dotty rhythms of the minuet's main section. The finale, a Presto, showcases Haydn's masterful instrumentation and formal genius.
Symphony No. 16 is equally captivating, consisting of three movements with a clearer structure. The first movement displays Haydn's penchant for monothematic symphonic movements, where the main contrapuntal theme at the beginning provides material for an effective and cohesive Allegro. In contrast, the slow movement for strings alone is less intense, featuring continuous doubling of the main violin theme in a lower octave by a solo cello. The tension returns in the 6/8 meter Presto finale, an early display of Haydn's musical wit.
In the mid-18th century, the Esterházys became the wealthiest and most powerful family in Hungarian nobility and among the most influential in cultural affairs, with Haydn at the center of a highly developed musical infrastructure. When Prince Nikolaus Esterházy succeeded his brother Paul Anton in 1762, he expanded the orchestra and diversified the court's musical activities. In August 1763, Haydn doubled the horn contingent in the orchestra from the usual two to a generous four, justifying this extravagance with two symphonies composed that same year for the prince. Symphony No. 72, a masterful piece despite a misnomer in conventional numbering, and Symphony No. 13, where Haydn showcased the suitability of a horn quartet for ensembles by intricately assigning parts across the four movements.
Haydn's prolific writing in the grand hall at Eisenstadt between 1761 and 1765 highlights his consideration of the ample acoustics. This is exemplified in Symphony No. 13's first movement, where sustained organ-like horn chords provide a balance and support to the vigorous rhythmic repetitions of the arpeggio string theme dominating the movement. The subtle acoustic exploration returns in the reprise, featuring clandestine keyboard play before the four echoing horns proudly reveal the arpeggio.
The cantabile Adagio, resembling a concerto, showcases a solo cello over repeated staccato chords from other strings. The minuet restores the full force of the orchestra, while the trio reduces instrumentation to strings accompanied by a solo flute. In the finale, Haydn combines fugue style with sonata form, introducing a cantus firmus theme that would later be familiar as the same four-note Gregorian Credo theme found in Mozart's final Symphony No. 41 in C, K551.
Symphony No. 14 is a more compressed work than its likely predecessor, Symphony No. 13. Here, the restless first movement and contrapuntal finale (anticipating the cantus firmus in Symphony No. 13) frame an Andante based on an earlier Divertimento and a minuet where horns once again play a leading role.