Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Symphony No. 38 in C major "Echo", Hob. I:38 (1768) 00:00 - Allegro molto 05:25 - Andante molo 10:36 - Menuetto & Trio 14:27 - Finale. Allegro di molto L'Estro Armonico, dir. Derek Solomons (1982) "Here we have, in No. 38, one of the first Esterházy symphonies in Haydn's festival key, and with the festival C horns (here also with trumpets) and timpani. These C major works run like a silver thread all through Haydn's long career: from his first works for Count Morzin (which included several festival symphonies: Nos. 32 and 33 in any case, perhaps also No. 20, which is a difficult work to date), to this No. 38, and then to Nos. 41, 48, 50, 56, and 60 (of [the Sturm und Drang] period), to the once-famous 'Laudon' Symphony No. 69 (on the borderline between the end of this period to the beginning of the next), reaching a culmination in the magnificent 'L'ours' (No. 82) which, like No. 90, was written for Paris; and ending with the greatest of them all: Symphony No. 97 (London, 1792). Although a festival symphony, we feel the increased poise, compared to earlier specimens of the type, also the sophisticated compositional techniques which we may see, for example, at the beginning of the development, where the theme is broken up and its first six notes used to urge the music into G minor and then D minor and A minor, before we subside into the sub-dominant, F major. This is music very much of the period. The second movement is still rooted in the Baroque tradition. Here we have an 'echo' movement, so beloved by Baroque composers, even to J.S. Bach in the Christmas Oratorio (which it is unlikely Haydn knew). Haydn devises the echo as follows: violin I is without mutes (senza sordino), violin II with mutes (con sordino). They echo each other in an entrancing way in this delicate and poised Andante molto, made doubly delicate by dropping all the wind instruments and of course the kettledrums; and also by having the entire movement played 'piano'. It is a pretty effect. Many of Haydn's early minuets are (to borrow a term from the pictorial arts) in what might be called 'internationl preclassical' style), but there were minuet movements which are typically Austrian (such as those in the Symphonies Nos. 5 and 9, the one for Morzin and the other for Esterházy). Despite its French spelling, this Menuet is purely Austrian. We are surprised to find the Trio given over entirely to an elaborate oboe solo. But it is only in the Finale that we see Haydn's secret plan. In No. 38's conclusion we find: (1) the most highly-developed example of sonata form found in any Haydn finale to date; (2) interesting use of motifs derived from the main subject; (3) Haydn's first full-scale use of contrapuntal devices in a symphonic finale written in sonata form (as opposed to strict fugues such as the finale to No. 40); (4) the use of a solo instrument (the oboe) in a concerto-like manner as in the slow movements of Nos. 31, 36 or 72 (misplaced chronologically). What raises this Finale over earlier specimens is the judicious combination of symphonic, polyphonic, and concertante elements, all of which are neatly fitted into a sonata form mold. The oboe solo is actually so unexpected, coming at the end of a learned contrapuntal section, that one is tempted to look for an outside explanation. We believe there is one; and we put it forward as a possible reason for this sudden fascination with the first oboe part. On 1 September 1768, Haydn engaged a famous oboe player, Vittorino Colombazzo, who received the very high salary of 400 gulden (and emoluments) a year; he was twice in Prince Esterházy's service, this time only from 1 September to 19 December. Is it not possible that Haydn was perhaps in the middle of Symphony No. 38 when the famous oboe player was engaged, and always ready to display a new performer's talents, the composer wrote the Trio and the Finale to introduce Vittorino Colombazzo to His Serene Highness? There are reasons for supposing that the four horn parts of Symphonies Nos. 13 (1763) and 72 (1763?) were designed to introduce the new sound of four horns to the Prince. Perhaps Symphony No. 38 is a similar tribute to a great oboe player." - H. Robbins Landon Painting: The Dinner Horn, Winslow Homer