Symphony No. 26 (Michael Haydn)

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 26 in E-flat major, Perger 17, Sherman 26, MH 340, written in Salzburg in 1783, was the first of the only three symphonies published in his lifetime. It was one of several E-flat major symphonies attributed to Joseph Haydn (Hob. I:Es17).

Scored for 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns and strings, in three movements:

Allegro spiritoso
Adagietto affettuoso (in A-flat major)
Presto

The first of these movements is now acknowledged by scholars to have been an important influence on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Symphony No. 39, K. 543 in the same key.^[1]

^ Alfred Einstein, Mozart: His Character, His Work, translated to English by Arthur Mendel & Nathan Broder. Oxford: Oxford University Press (1945): 127. "But, as regards the E-flat Symphony [K. 543], it was probably the beginning of a symphony by Michael of 14 August 1783—Mozart was then in Salzburg and may have become acquainted with the work—that supplied the stimulus for the first Allegro: Ex. 7 [four bars of music are quoted in piano reduction] Similarly with the Adagio affettuoso of the Haydn work and Mozart's Andante."

[1] Alfred Einstein, Mozart: His Character, His Work, translated to English by Arthur Mendel & Nathan Broder. Oxford: Oxford University Press (1945): 127. "But, as regards the E-flat Symphony [K. 543], it was probably the beginning of a symphony by Michael of 14 August 1783—Mozart was then in Salzburg and may have become acquainted with the work—that supplied the stimulus for the first Allegro: Ex. 7 [four bars of music are quoted in piano reduction] Similarly with the Adagio affettuoso of the Haydn work and Mozart's Andante."

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