I can happily report that the Surprise Symphony is still brilliantly effective. I had a friend who was listening to it on headphones and found the opening so quiet that she had to turn the volume up all the way to hear... she was immediately thereafter turned into the next victim of Papa Hayden's jokery.
This only makes me love Haydn even more. I already greatly enjoy his compositions but these types of jokes are exactly my type of humour. Great idea for a video btw keep it up!
Another example is the farsical expositional coda in the first movement of symphony no.80 in D minor. After the dramatic sturm und drang opening, it comes as quite a shock. Yet a further example is the alternating subject of the slow movement in symphony no.68 which takes the form of tick tocking clock. It plays over the mysteriously developing main material which later turns into a profound rapture. That work as a whole is a hidden masterpiece.
A couple of jokes only for the musicians (for example, Prince Esterhazy himself). In Symphony 78 in C minor, the slow movement is in E flat, and the last note is (unsurprisingly) an E flat. The next movement (the Minuet) is in C major, and Haydn deliberately starts it with an E *natural*. That might seem accidental (see what I did there?), but in Symphony 83 in G minor, he again has the second movement in E flat, and when the Minuet, in G major, follows, again Haydn makes the first note an E natural. A slightly different thing happens in the Minuet of Symphony 24 in D. In bars 40 and 42, the horns are marked ff against the rest of the orchestra, the intention surely being to create a slightly comic effect. I don't think there's a single conductor that has brought this out properly, so I made a version in MuseScore to listen to, putting in an extra pair of horns just for those bars. In Symphony 23 in G, the very last note is pianissimo. As the Finale has both parts repeated, the first quiet ending is deliberately upset by a loud E minor chord v, and everything goes round again. In Symphony 93's slow movement, the two bassoons play a very loud unison low C after an ethereal dialogue between violins and flutes. This is known as "Haydn's fart joke". Haydn even makes jokes (I think they can still be called 'jokes') when they are totally undetectable. For example, in the first movement of Symphony 94 in G (yes, the "Surprise" again), the flutes and first oboe swap notes (low and high) from bar to bar. This isn't audible, but it's obviously deliberate, as Haydn could just have written the notes once and then put a 'the same as before' sign. He also writes deliberately low, and inaudible, notes for the flute in a tutti, bars 54-56 of Symphony 104's first movement (it's actually the viola line). I think that Haydn had to write so much music (remember that he essentially 'composed to order' for decades) that he entertained himself in this subtle way.
Really well done - enjoyed this carefully thought-out and well-presented selection very much; many thanks. (Only quibble is the silly papa bit - the composer’s name is Joseph Haydn)
Thanks. Very interesting and delightful, especially no. 60, "Il Distratto", which I didn't know about. I do wish you had provided more of the musical context for each surprise so we could hear the surprise emerging from the music that preceded it.
I feel like Haydn would have fit in with early/mid-20th Century composers had he been born around that time. Could you imagine a Haydn-Stravinsky collaboration??
Repent and trust in Jesus. Hes the only way. We deserve Hell because weve sinned. Lied, lusted stolen, etc. But God sent his son to die on the cross and rise out of the grave. We can receive forgiveness from Jesus. Repent and put your trust in him. John 3:16 Romans 3:23❤😊❤
I can happily report that the Surprise Symphony is still brilliantly effective. I had a friend who was listening to it on headphones and found the opening so quiet that she had to turn the volume up all the way to hear... she was immediately thereafter turned into the next victim of Papa Hayden's jokery.
1:32 Should be symphony no. 60 not 61, good video though!😊
This only makes me love Haydn even more. I already greatly enjoy his compositions but these types of jokes are exactly my type of humour. Great idea for a video btw keep it up!
4:16 not the puffle 😭😭
Another example is the farsical expositional coda in the first movement of symphony no.80 in D minor. After the dramatic sturm und drang opening, it comes as quite a shock. Yet a further example is the alternating subject of the slow movement in symphony no.68 which takes the form of tick tocking clock. It plays over the mysteriously developing main material which later turns into a profound rapture. That work as a whole is a hidden masterpiece.
7:08 Wanna know how I wrote these scores 🤡
LOOOOOOOL
A couple of jokes only for the musicians (for example, Prince Esterhazy himself). In Symphony 78 in C minor, the slow movement is in E flat, and the last note is (unsurprisingly) an E flat. The next movement (the Minuet) is in C major, and Haydn deliberately starts it with an E *natural*. That might seem accidental (see what I did there?), but in Symphony 83 in G minor, he again has the second movement in E flat, and when the Minuet, in G major, follows, again Haydn makes the first note an E natural.
A slightly different thing happens in the Minuet of Symphony 24 in D. In bars 40 and 42, the horns are marked ff against the rest of the orchestra, the intention surely being to create a slightly comic effect. I don't think there's a single conductor that has brought this out properly, so I made a version in MuseScore to listen to, putting in an extra pair of horns just for those bars.
In Symphony 23 in G, the very last note is pianissimo. As the Finale has both parts repeated, the first quiet ending is deliberately upset by a loud E minor chord v, and everything goes round again.
In Symphony 93's slow movement, the two bassoons play a very loud unison low C after an ethereal dialogue between violins and flutes. This is known as "Haydn's fart joke".
Haydn even makes jokes (I think they can still be called 'jokes') when they are totally undetectable. For example, in the first movement of Symphony 94 in G (yes, the "Surprise" again), the flutes and first oboe swap notes (low and high) from bar to bar. This isn't audible, but it's obviously deliberate, as Haydn could just have written the notes once and then put a 'the same as before' sign. He also writes deliberately low, and inaudible, notes for the flute in a tutti, bars 54-56 of Symphony 104's first movement (it's actually the viola line). I think that Haydn had to write so much music (remember that he essentially 'composed to order' for decades) that he entertained himself in this subtle way.
I've laughed just by reading! 😂
0:35 its not hadyn its liszt during lisztomania audience cheer up with horror in concert hall
Another great vid :)
N. 60 Il Distratto!
Really well done - enjoyed this carefully thought-out and well-presented selection very much; many thanks.
(Only quibble is the silly papa bit - the composer’s name is Joseph Haydn)
1:32 Symphony no. 60 **
As for the Surprise Symphony, the funniest version is by far the one from the Hoffnung Music Festival.
Thanks. Very interesting and delightful, especially no. 60, "Il Distratto", which I didn't know about. I do wish you had provided more of the musical context for each surprise so we could hear the surprise emerging from the music that preceded it.
Check out his vocal quartet, “Die Beredsamkeit” for textual jokes and another humorous ending.
I feel like Haydn would have fit in with early/mid-20th Century composers had he been born around that time. Could you imagine a Haydn-Stravinsky collaboration??
Gang gang
Farewell finale: my favourite trolling
Oh I gotta "Haydn's head 🎶"
This is a delightful video!
Repent and trust in Jesus. Hes the only way. We deserve Hell because weve sinned. Lied, lusted stolen, etc. But God sent his son to die on the cross and rise out of the grave. We can receive forgiveness from Jesus. Repent and put your trust in him.
John 3:16
Romans 3:23❤😊❤