Symphony No. 42 (Haydn)

The Symphony No. 42 in D major (Hoboken I/42) is a symphony by Joseph Haydn. The symphony was composed by 1771. It is scored for two oboes, two bassoons, two horns and strings.

The work is in four movements:

# Moderato e maestoso
# Andantino e cantabile
# Menuet & Trio: Allegretto
# Finale: Scherzando e presto

The first movement "is marked by the lively acciaccature that appear in the first bar." [Keith Anderson, "About This Recording" Naxos 8.570761] Generally in this period the winds were tacent for the slow movement, and here they are silent at first, but they come in later. [Anderson, ibid.] The last movement has been described as a "novel use of the rondo form," [William E. Grim, "Haydn's "Sturm und Drang" Symphonies: Form and Meaning". Lewiston: Edwin Mellen Press (1990): 52.] and H. C. Robbins Landon even goes so far as to call it a "characteristic Haydnesque rondo" and perhaps the first such rondo, [H. C. Robbins Landon, "Haydn: Chronicle and Works", Vol. 2. Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press (1976): 301] though others point out that it is not the sonata rondo that has come to be associated with Haydn. [Grim (1990): 53]

Discography

On Dorian Recordings, Symphony No. 42 is available on a disc with No.s 23 and 35 performed by the Apollo Ensemble conducted by John Hsu; the album is titled "Symphonies for the Esterhazy Court." The new Naxos Records CD that just came out this week, by the Sinfonia Finlandia and Patrick Gallois, puts No. 42 with No.s 25 and 65. More commonly, Roy Goodman and the Hanover Band put it with No.s 43 and 44 or Bruno Weil and Tafelmusik with No.s 40 and 41.

References