Haydn Symphony 6 Essay

Words: 1404
Pages: 6
Open Document
When looking at both of these symphony another element that stands out is the use

programmatic material in Haydn's Symphony No. 6. As stated before, Haydn was commissioned by

the Prince of Esterházy to write a piece based on the divisions of the day. Haydn used the imagery of

the sunrise as the main subject material in various ways throughout this symphony. In figures 7,8, 9,

and 10 we will see examples of Haydn using this idea of the sunrises as thematic material. The first

movement of this piece begins with a slow introduction and presents the raising of the sun idea in the

opening measures.

Here in figure 7, we can see the melodic line starting with the first violin voice rising in pitch as

well as in getting thicker …show more content…
6 in D major is a prime example of the perfect storm. In this example, you have one prince interested in the idea of time and the divisions within a day. You have Haydn exuberant by the sheer beauty of his surroundings at Esterhazy. Also, you have a newly improved orchestra filled with some of the best musicians in Europe who are also new to Esterhazy and ready to show the prince their musical abilities. Finally, you have a young newly employed composer who is eager to show the prince as well as his orchestral counterparts his own abilities and what he was capable of. All these coincidences came together to create this piece of music, without one or the other it doesn't exist. The “Esterhazy Effect” in its basic form is this. The idea of the perfect conditions at the Esterhazy court as well as Haydn own desires for himself created a situation in which something extraordinary could be achieved. Gerhard Winkler wrote, “Haydn chose not to highlight the fact that the favorable working conditions were determined by “exterior” dictates that shaped even the “experiments” in his earlier creations which he later chose to underestimate. These limits lent his work the characteristic style of the milieu. Only the results of recent Haydn scholarship allow us to appreciate to what extent Haydn's Esterhazy period actually represented an independent historical phenomenon, to be judged according to its own specific criteria.”
Show More

Related Documents: Haydn Symphony 6 Essay

Essay on Music: Johannes Brahms

influence were considerable; following a comment by the nineteenth-century conductor Hans von Bülow, he is sometimes grouped with Johann Sebastian Bach and Ludwig van Beethoven as one of the "Three Bs". Brahms composed for piano, chamber ensembles, symphony orchestra, and for voice and chorus. A virtuoso pianist, he premiered many of his own works; he worked with some of the leading performers of his time, including the pianist Clara Schumann and the violinist Joseph Joachim. Many of his works have…

Words 6900 - Pages 28