Symphony No. 38 (Michael Haydn)

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Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 38 in F major, Perger 30, Sherman 38, MH 477, written in Salzburg in 1788, is the next to last F major symphony he wrote, the fifth of his final set of six symphonies.

The symphony is scored for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns and strings. Sherman's edition of the score has "Cembalo" written in square brackets, suggesting continuo is optional in this work, despite his often-repeated statement that Haydn considered continuo essential even in the most fully instrumented works. This work is in three movements:

  1. Allegro molto
  2. Andantino, in C major
  3. Scherzando

Unlike the other symphonies in the final set of six, this one starts out piano and then states its theme forte, whereas the others first state it forte and then piano (though this is not unique among Haydn's symphonies). Despite its using horns in F, which became standard, the parts are still fairly limited to few notes in addition to F and C. However, in the recapitulation of the first movement, the first horn doubles the first violins an octave lower on the first theme. In the slow movement, the celli, instead of doubling the bassoons and basses on the bass line, double the first violins an octave lower and are written in tenor clef (changing to bass clef for a few measures in which they rejoin the bass complex).

Completed on February 10, the autograph score was bequeathed by Prince Esterházy to Hungary's national library in Budapest. Charles Sherman based his edition for Ludwig Doblinger "on a set of performance parts, bearing corrections in the composer's hand," from "the music collection of the Benedictine Archabbey of St. Peter in Salzburg." [1]

Discography

Like the other symphonies of the 1788 set of six, this one is in the CPO disc with Johannes Goritzki conducting the New German Chamber Academy.

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Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 20 in C major, Perger 12, Sherman 20, MH 252, written in Salzburg in 1777, is one of the few of his symphonies to have a slow movement in a minor key, and one of his few C major symphonies to not include trumpets or timpani.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 37 in D major, Perger 29, Sherman 37, MH 476, written in Salzburg in 1788, is the last D major symphony he wrote, the fourth of his final set of six symphonies.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 12 in G major, Perger 7, Sherman 12, MH 108, written in Salzburg in 1768, was at one time mistaken for a symphony by Joseph Haydn.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 7 in E major, Perger 5, Sherman 7, MH 65, written in Salzburg in 1764, is one of the few symphonies in E major written in the 18th century, and was the first of four symphonies in the key to be mistaken for a symphony by Joseph Haydn.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 2 in C major, Perger 2, Sherman 2, MH 37, was written in Oradea in 1761.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 36 in B-flat major, Perger 28, Sherman 36, MH 475, written in Salzburg in 1788, is the last B-flat major symphony he wrote, the third of his final set of six symphonies.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 28 in C major, Opus 1 No. 2, Perger 19, Sherman 28, MH 384, was written in Salzburg in 1784, was the third and last symphony published in his lifetime. The publisher, Artaria, also published several of Joseph Haydn's symphonies.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 11 in B-flat major, Perger 9, Sherman 11, MH 82 and 184, was written in Salzburg in 1766. Hans Gál attributed this work to Joseph Haydn, but he was not the first to do so. Movements of it were published as a Joseph Haydn work, in fact, in 1772.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 32 in D major, Perger 23, Sherman 32, MH 420, was written in Salzburg in 1786.

Symphony No. 23 (Michael Haydn)

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 23 in D major, Perger 43, Sherman 22, Sherman-adjusted 23, MH 287, is believed to have been written in Salzburg around 1779. It was attributed to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Ludwig von Köchel's original catalog as K. 291.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 35 in G major, Perger 27, Sherman 35, MH 474, written in Salzburg in 1788, is the last G major symphony he wrote, the second of his final set of six symphonies.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 34 in E-flat major, Perger 26, Sherman 34, MH 473, written in Salzburg in 1788, is the last E-flat major symphony he wrote, the first of his final set of six symphonies.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 39 in C major, Perger 31, Sherman 39, MH 478, written in Salzburg in 1788, is the last C major symphony he wrote, the sixth of his final set of six symphonies.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 31 in F major, Perger 22, Sherman 31, MH 405, was written in Salzburg in 1785.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 1 in C major, Perger 35, Sherman 1, MH 23, is believed to have been written in Vienna around 1759. It is not clear whether this is the first symphony Michael Haydn wrote.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 4 in B-flat major, Perger 51, Sherman 4, MH 62, was written in Salzburg, completed on December 7, 1763. Charles H. Sherman's modern edition of this work has been published by Musikverlag Doblinger and also appears in an anthology from Garland Publishing that includes symphonies by Anton Cajetan Adlgasser and Johann Ernst Eberlin, two other Salzburg composers.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 22 in F major, Perger 14, Sherman 23, Sherman-adjusted 22, MH 284, was written in Salzburg in 1779.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 24 in A major, Perger 15, Sherman 24, MH 302, was written in Salzburg in 1781.

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 3 in G major, also known as Divertimento in G major, Sherman 3, MH 26, was written in Oradea in 1763, according to the Göttweig catalog. It is not listed in the Perger catalog. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Salzburg Symphonies (K136-138) are examples of symphonies that were also called divertimenti.

References

  1. ↑ C. Sherman, Foreword to score of Sinfonia in F, Perger 30 Vienna: Doblinger K. G. (1988)
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