Symphony No. 4 (Haydn)

This article is about the symphony by Joseph Haydn. For the symphony by Michael Haydn, see Symphony No. 4 (Michael Haydn).

Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 4 in D major, Hob. I/4, is one of the earliest symphonies he wrote, believed to have been composed roughly between 1757 and 1761.

The work is scored for 2 oboes, bassoon, 2 horns, strings and continuo.[1] As usual for the period, it is in three movements:

  1. Presto, 6
    8
  2. Andante in D minor, 2
    4
  3. Tempo di menuetto, 3
    8

The second movement features a syncopated second violin part.[2] The walking eighth-notes of the second violins are offset by half a step (a sixteenth note) from the first violins that play above it.[3]

The finale is marked Tempo di menuetto, but is not in the 3
4 time of a minuet, but in the 3
8 time which is typical of Haydn's other early symphonic finales.[2] Also, unlike other minuets, the movement lacks a central trio section.

  1. ^ Landon 1955, p. 620.
  2. ^ a b Landon 1976, p. [page needed].
  3. ^ Hodgson 1976, pp. 47–8.