One of Haydn’s Sturm und Drang symphonies – a movement across the arts between the late 1760s and early 1780s with extremes of emission. This symphony was composed in 1772 – allegedly he had the slow movement performed at his funeral, hence the title Trauer (‘sadness’ or particularly ‘mourning’).
Scored for oboes, bassoon, horns, strings and continuo, it is in four movements, with the Minuet and slow movement in the ‘wrong’ order:
- Allegro con brio
- Minuet & Trio
- Adagio
- Finale (Presto)
The first movement has a strong tonic-dominant-tonic opening, followed by a sighing figure – it is a dramatic piece of writing, more so because Haydn doesn’t give only Sturm und drang, but gives moments of contrast so as to make the stormy sections more impactful.
The minuet is notable for being in canon form – Haydn liked to try unusual or complex structures – the minuet of 47 is in palindrome form, for example.
The Adagio has muted strings and is in the tonic major.
The finale is fairly contrapuntal, and has excellent use of ascending and descending sequences to drive up tension. It ends without a Tierce de Picardie.
This symphony is often overlooked due to its more popular and story-laden successor, the ‘Farewell’ symphony. However, the Trauer is not just an excellent introduction to the Classical symphony, but full of drama and good composition.
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