Symphony No. 50 (Haydn)

Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 50 in C major Hob. I:50 was written partly in 1773 [Antony Hodgson, "The Music of Joseph Haydn: The Symphonies". London: The Tantivy Press (1976): 77. No. 50 "is the only symphony to which the year 1773 can be ascribed with certainty."] [James Webster & Georg Feder, "The New Grove Haydn". New York: Macmillan (2002): 96. Movements I and II were "supposedly composed as ov [erture] to Vorspiel: Der Götterat (E 12)."] [Webster & Feder (2002): 83. "E ... 12 XXIXa:1, 1a; XXIXb:2 Philemon und Baucis, oder Jupiters Reise auf die Erde (Spl/marionette op, 1, G.K. Pfeffel); Vorspiel: Der Götterat (1, ?, P.G. Bader) 2 S, 2 T, 4vv, ? 2 fl, 2 ob, ? bn, 2 hn, ? 2 tpt, timp, str [1773] EK, signed lib, HL a (frag., u) HW xxiv/1 supposed ov. (cf J 50) and frag. of prelude extant, drama extant in rev. version; perf. Eszterháza, 2 Sept 1773; ov. to drama, HIa:8; cf appx G. 1, "1"] and partly in 1774. [Webster & Feder, (2002): 64. Haydn's symphonies of the years around 1770 ... are widely described as exemplifying his "Sturm und Drang" style; those of 1773-4 (nos.50, 51, 54-7, 60, 64), while less extreme, have many points of contact with it."]

Scored for 2 oboes, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings. [Webster & Feder (2002): 96] Since the trumpets pretty much double the horns an octave above for most of the piece, Antony Hodgson has suggested the trumpets may be omitted. [Hodgson (1976): 77] It is in four movements:

# Adagio e maestoso - Allegro di molto
# Andante moderato
# Menuetto e Trio
# Presto

H. C. Robbins Landon states that the first two movements were likely reconstructed from a marionette opera "Der Gotterath" (Prologue to Philemon and Baucis) which is now lost. The marionette show was performed for the Empress Maria Theresa in 1773.HC Robins Landon, Haydn: Chronicle and Works, 5 vols, (Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1976-) v. 2, Haydn at Eszterhaza, 1766-1790]

Given that Empress Maria Theresia was of rather conservative taste in music and that this symphony is in some ways less "advanced" than No. 48, scholars such as H. C. Robbins Landon have suggested that No. 50 is in fact the symphony Haydn wrote for the imperial visit to Eszterháza. [Hodgson (1976): 77]

Discography

Thomas Fey has recorded it with the Heidelberger Sinfoniker, pairing it with No.s 34, 39 and 40 on Hänssler Classic. On Naxos Records, the Swedish Chamber Orchestra conducted by Bela Drahos pairs No. 50 with the numerically neighboring No.s 51 and 52.

References