Symphony No. 32 (Michael Haydn)

Michael Haydn's Symphony No. 32 in D major, Perger 23, Sherman 32, MH 420, was written in Salzburg in 1786.

Scored for flute, 2 oboes, 2 bassoons, 2 horns, 2 trumpets, timpani and strings. It is Haydn's only symphony in two movements; this it has in common with Carl Nielsen's Symphony No. 5 but not much else (Delarte, 2006).

  1. Vivace assai
  2. Rondeau

The first movement, in 3
8, begins softly with a somewhat dancelike theme.


Example 1


At measure 20, a new theme is introduced forte with a more pronounced dance character. After the establishment of A major, the second subject group begins at measure 41:


Example 2


leading to a much more lyrical theme at measure 55. After a typical unison scale run, the exposition concludes with A major firmly established as the tonic. The development is concerned almost exclusively with Example 2. A general pause precedes the recapitulation, which besides reorienting the second subject group to D major, also mixes the subjects of the groups together, with special emphasis on Example 2. Haydn indicated the development, recapitulation and coda are to be repeated as a unit, but that repeat is normally ignored in modern performance.

For the slow movement, the second oboist switches to flute.

The concluding Rondo's principal theme


Example 3


is triadic to an extent not encountered in the previous movement, while the contrasting themes tend to be stepwise.