Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Surprise Symphony
When i heard about Haydn's Surprise Symphony(Symphony No. 94), I wanted to learn more about the intentions that Haydn had when he composed this particular work. After some investigation, I learned that what we learned in class was not 100 percent accurate. It was never Haydn's intention to include the "surprises" as a means of keeping his audience awake. According to Haydn's biographer, Haydn simply wanted to surprise the public with something new which they had not experienced before, and make a brilliant debut that would outdo his student Pleyel. The supposed awakening aspect the symphony has on the audience is merely a side effect.
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This does make sense. During this time period, composers were experimenting with the use of dynamics and accents, as well as the use of silence. Haydn made extensive use of silence in music, with extended rests and rests occurring in unconventional sequences. At this point, accents and dynamics were not utilized to a large extent, partly due to the limitations of instruments at the time and before Haydn's time. The harpsichord was not capable of different dynamics and string bows were shaped in a way that made dynamic manipulation difficult. However, instruments were constantly evolving, allowing them to have better tone and more flexible dynamics. Haydn was one of the first composers to make use of this, especially the accent. While it may seem rather tame today, it was quite different in Haydn's time.
ReplyDeleteHaydn's Surprise Symphony
ReplyDeleteI like the information we learned about the Surprise Symphony and why he used it. He used it because people would constantly fall asleep. I believe that he also used it as a tool to be the first or the creator of some movement. We talked in class about how Haydn's goal in life was to be immortal, that is he wanted everyone to know his work after he died. This idea can only be exercised in his works. The use of different tempos and the dynamics between a soft melody and then a loud cord was an attempt to have a signature in music. When anyone else did this, he wanted people to say that was Papa Haydn...