Wednesday, April 22, 2009

The Farewell Symphony

When we learned about "The Farewell Symphony," I was really interested in why it received the name it did. It is really called Symphony No. 45 in F-sharp minor by Joseph Haydn in 1772. The symphony was written for Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy. Well, the symphony received its name because one summer, Haydn and the orchestra were staying at the prince's summer palace. They weren't there by choice, but they were forced too. They ended up staying a lot longer than they were supposed to. They all wanted to go home to their wives but they couldn't. Haydn, being the smart and genuine man, decided to hint to the prince that this was unacceptable. During the last movement, each musician of the orchestra left one by one and blowing their candle out as they left. By the end, there were only two musicians left: Haydn himself and the concertmaster. The Prince got the hint and let everyone leave the next day. One other interesting thing I found out was that in Haydn's Symphony No. 85, he references The Farewell Symphony. It is referenced in the first movement. I wonder why he wanted to reference it in this symphony?

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