Sinfonia Nr 1 in D, Franz Joseph Haydn

[aulos43]

In the second quarter of the 18th century, owing to a confluence of wealth, political stability, enlightened patronage and an abundance of musical talent, a relatively large (for the time), highly disciplined orchestra was developed at Mannheim, by then the capital of the Electorate of the Palatinate. Johann Stamitz is seen as a prime contributor and a major innovator, putting Mannheim on the map of world musical capitals, along with Paris, Vienna and Hamburg.

One of the innovations was a concerted crescendo by the whole orchestra -- it was said to make the ladies swoon. This became known as the Mannheim Crescendo.

Walt

[aulos43]

Haydn's musical lifetime spanned the passing of the high baroque to just before the dawn of romanticism. Theorist Charles Rosen (and others) credits him with the invention of the "Classical Style," fully developed with the writing of the string quartets, Opus 33, published in 1781. Haydn himself claimed to the publisher that these quartets were of “a new and entirely special kind.” Some of his symphonies of the late 1770's show experiments with the new style.

This symphony in D is most likely from early in his tenure as Kapellmeister for Graf Morzin, c. 1759. It is a good example of proto-classic style.

Here are pointers to an mp3 version -- produced with Notation Composer, Garritan Personal Orchestra, Aria and converted from wav to mp3 using iTunes:
Sinfonia Nr 1 in D mvt 1, Presto
http://home.comcast.net/~w_j_peterso...in_D_mvt_1.mp3
mvt 2, Andante
http://home.comcast.net/~w_j_peterso...in_D_mvt_2.mp3
mvt 3, Finale, Presto
http://home.comcast.net/~w_j_peterso...in_D_mvt_3.mp3

Regards

Walt