Repertoire: The Haydn Symphony CRUSADE (No. 45 "Farewell")

[@henrystratmann807]

The book about Haydn's Symphony No. 45 that David cites starting at about 10:10 is James Webster's "Haydn's 'Farewell Symphony' and the Idea of Classical Style." That work is written in a manner more scholarly than popular, but it richly rewards a careful reading. Among other things, Webster echoes what David says about this symphony's incredible unity, originality, and formal/emotional ambiguities, while going into even deeper detail about them. I highly recommend Webster's book for anyone interested in delving further into the intricacies of the "Farewell Symphony" and, in its later chapters, other works by Haydn.

[@mickeytheviewmoo]

There are one or two KZbin videos that show the soloists leaving the stage. The audience start laughing and this becomes infectious. It's almost a comedy sketch. Like you say, still a no brainer to have as a going home piece. The audience love a good laugh and everyone has a smile on their faces.

[@williamwescott4213]

Thank you, again. I decided (because of your crusade) to listen to 45 cold, and it was so odd I wanted to get your ideas about it. Very enlightening and helpful they are, and they added to a lot to my own untutored perceptions.

[@davidaiken1061]

Thanks, as always, for this wonderful series. Your exposition of the "Farewell" Symphony added a new dimension to my love of the work, which I first heard through that old Scherchen recording. Thereby hangs a tale. I happened to find the Westminster Gold LP during a record sale at my undergraduate college bookstore. It caught my attention because of the cover: A soldier presumably departing for service in the Vietnam War desperately clings to his girlfriend in the back seat of a taxi. The couplings: Haydn's "Military" and "Farewell" symphonies! I was 20 and eminently draftable at the time. So Haydn's No. 45 will always have a special significance for me, especially in Scherchen's vivid performance of it. Can't wait for No. 46.

[@miltonjohnston1683]

Being a former horn player I enjoyed the detail about the need for help in playing f#. I remember this transposition being labeled “almost never” in Phillip Farkas’s horn method.

[@kostastopouzis7479]

Great presentation. Incredible symphony by a composer I only started "discovering" for good after the age of thirty. Thank you.

[@russschmidt7701]

wonderful video. Liked the captions at the end. It was nice to know who was leaving it helped me understand it all even though I've heard this work a lot.I find myself listening only to Haydn more and more........

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Thank you.

[@robkeeleycomposer]

Haydn is true medicine for the soul.

[@dinos_catsoulis]

Amazing video and very helpful regarding my university class "Introduction to Symphonic Repertoire" !

[@DaninMaine]

I always hear the folk music in Haydn's symphonies.

[@nelsoncamargo5120]

I love this symphony!

[@MrLandale]

Charles Mackerras version is most intense, the greatest recording ever of Haydans No. 45 "Farewell" symphony!

[@robkeeleycomposer]

One perhaps surprising, much more recent take on The Farewell is Stockhausen's Kontra-punkte (1953) for ten players. where only the piano is left at the end. James' Webster's book on the Haydn 45 is indeed a classic. Can't wait for 46. And 47....

[@edelineableful]

There is also the Ligeti's Poème symphonique for one hundred mechanical metronomes (1962)

[@djbabymode]

Would you ever consider doing a video on Unico Wilhelm Wassenaer's Concerti Armonici? They're an amazing little bundle of Concerti Grossi with exceptional slow movements, and the story about how self-conscious the composer was about his own work is infinitely relatable.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Sure.

[@banginghats2]

I used to be a regular concertgoer to the Proms concerts in London. I was nearly always disappointed to find that Haydn was almost always overlooked, season after season. How could they do that to the father of the symphony? I haven't been for quite a few years so don't know if things have changed.

[@robkeeleycomposer]

Not much. I have felt the same for many many years, I recall a particularly imaginative programme ca 1976 (William Glock I believe) where Haydn's 22, 44 and 88 book-ended some folkloristic Bartok and Heinz Holliger playing a Rejcha Scene for cor anglais. I also miss the old 'overture - concerto- symphony' pattern which used to work so well. So many beautiful overtures simply never get played.

[@carlconnor5173]

Genius!

[@detectivehome3318]

31:43 What happened

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Beats me. Nothing to be done now--one word seems to be missing ("pause").

[@RichardWhite_Composer]

When will we see 46, etc. ?

[@utvpoop]

At the time when the symphony was written even the horn crooks were not available everywhere. So you had to change the whole thing!

[@matthiasm4299]

One correction: Eisenstadt isn't in Vienna, it's a town 50km south of Vienna. It used to be part of Hungary, now it's part of Austria. The Eszterháza palace, in turn, is roughly 40km southeast of Eisenstadt, still in Hungary today. That family had some serious money to build two grand palaces (relatively) close together.

[@christopherwilliams9270]

Eisenstadt was accessible to Vienna in less than a day's carriage ride in those days: Esterhaza was not. But actually, since many of the musicians in Haydn's orchestra depended during the winter season on gigs in the city, they and their families actually lived in the city.

[@DavesClassicalGuide]

Exactly. It was in the "burbs."

[@classicalperformances8777]

very interesting, Dave. small question: why does the orchestra sounds so...thick/echoey? bad sonics? bad interpretation? missing the 'bite' here

[@robertdandre94101]

poor musicians of the orchestra of haydn in the obligation to stay after the will of prince esterazy.....i'm sure the message of fareweel symphony is really good,and i'm shure ,when the orchestra return to vienna,some day after, the musicians don,t think at this symphonies when they see her wife....!