Symphony No. 89 (Haydn)

The Symphony No. 89 in F major, Hoboken I/89, was written by Joseph Haydn in 1787, and performed under the auspices of Nikolaus Esterházy at Esterháza. It is sometimes referred to as The Letter W referring to an older method of cataloging Haydn's symphonic output. The second and fourth movements of this symphony are based on movements of a Concerto for Lire Organizzata in F, Hob. VIIh/5, that Haydn composed in 1786, a year before this work, for Ferdinand IV, King of Naples. To accommodate other orchestras, Haydn had arranged all of his Lire Concertos to be played with flute and oboe as the solo instruments instead of the two lire.[1] Similar substitutions were made adapting the movements into a symphonic form, giving this work a decidedly windband flavor.

  1. ^ Brown, A. Peter, The Symphonic Repertoire (Volume 2). Indiana University Press (ISBN 025333487X), pp. 230-233 (2002).