Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 94 Second Movement
Haydn's symphony no. 94 second movement
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was born in Rohrau. He was exposed to a lot of folk music when he was younger and this had an effect on his later style. His talents were soon discovered and at the age of 29 he started working for a wealthy family in Hungary, where he worked for almost 30 years. Haydn composed his works extremely quickly, performing two concertos and two operas weekly, and chamber works daily. Haydn's compositions became popular throughout Europe and were regarded as one of the best musicians of his time, working for aristocratic and royal circles. Haydn was a pioneer of symphonies and string quartets, a master of developing themes and splitting them into smaller fragments to be repeated, produced …show more content…
Theme 1 is introduced in the 1st and 2nd violins and consists of 6 staccato quavers playing an ascending broken triad, followed by a crotchet. This rhythmic pattern repeats 4 times with varying pitches. This creates an 8 bar phrase which is the foundation of the movement. This theme is repeated, with the 1st violins playing the melody and the rest of the string section playing pizzicato crochets on the first beat, supporting the melody. It is after this second phrase where there is a sudden fortissimo chord played by the entire orchestra. Haydn continues to vary this theme by introducing counter melodies of semiquavers played by the first violins. There is then a modulation to a minor key, where there is a repeat section. The first four bars of the phrase are fortissimo, with the woodwind section and strings playing the melody and the last four are pianissimo, with the 1st violins playing the melody and the rest of the string section playing accompaniment. This creates a great deal of contrast in dynamics and timbre. There is then a modulation back to the original major key, and the melody is played in the oboes, supported by the strings and woodwind section. In this variation, the instruments are playing in semi quaver figures. There is soon a variation that involves the entire orchestra, for the first time, and is played fortissimo. The coda section is preceded by a fermata. In this section, the last 3 notes of the original theme are emphasised. The last four bars of the movement are played
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was born in Rohrau. He was exposed to a lot of folk music when he was younger and this had an effect on his later style. His talents were soon discovered and at the age of 29 he started working for a wealthy family in Hungary, where he worked for almost 30 years. Haydn composed his works extremely quickly, performing two concertos and two operas weekly, and chamber works daily. Haydn's compositions became popular throughout Europe and were regarded as one of the best musicians of his time, working for aristocratic and royal circles. Haydn was a pioneer of symphonies and string quartets, a master of developing themes and splitting them into smaller fragments to be repeated, produced …show more content…
Theme 1 is introduced in the 1st and 2nd violins and consists of 6 staccato quavers playing an ascending broken triad, followed by a crotchet. This rhythmic pattern repeats 4 times with varying pitches. This creates an 8 bar phrase which is the foundation of the movement. This theme is repeated, with the 1st violins playing the melody and the rest of the string section playing pizzicato crochets on the first beat, supporting the melody. It is after this second phrase where there is a sudden fortissimo chord played by the entire orchestra. Haydn continues to vary this theme by introducing counter melodies of semiquavers played by the first violins. There is then a modulation to a minor key, where there is a repeat section. The first four bars of the phrase are fortissimo, with the woodwind section and strings playing the melody and the last four are pianissimo, with the 1st violins playing the melody and the rest of the string section playing accompaniment. This creates a great deal of contrast in dynamics and timbre. There is then a modulation back to the original major key, and the melody is played in the oboes, supported by the strings and woodwind section. In this variation, the instruments are playing in semi quaver figures. There is soon a variation that involves the entire orchestra, for the first time, and is played fortissimo. The coda section is preceded by a fermata. In this section, the last 3 notes of the original theme are emphasised. The last four bars of the movement are played