Symphony No.104 in D major (“London”)

Known in English-speaking countries as the “London,” Haydn’s Symphony No.104 is only the last of twelve such works written for performance in London between 1791 and 1795. So why it should have been singled out in that way, by a nickname that could have been applied to any of them, no one really knows. It could be, however, that it is the only one of the twelve which seems to have anything of London in it, the opening theme of the last movement having been claimed as an allusion to the street cry “Hot Cross Buns.” On the other hand, since that same tune has been identified as the Croatian folksong “Oj Jelena,” by Bartók among others, the symphony could equally have been nicknamed the “Croatian.”

Whatever the origin of that tune, it falls into place as the main theme of the Finale as though predestined for it. In fact, Haydn’s last symphony is a masterpiece of thematic organisation where most if not all of the melodic ideas are related to each other. The basic melodic shape is not so much the fanfare proclaimed in the opening bars of the Adagio introduction - although it certainly has a long-term function - as a quieter but equally insistent little figure on the violins. It is from that figure that, as the tempo changes to Allegro, the violins derive the first and only main theme of the first movement. In its turn, that theme is converted into the opening phrase of the Andante - a phrase which, for all the drama of the movement and its thoughtful flute solos, is virtually the sole source of melodic interest here. If the melodic material of the minuet and trio relates to the introductory fanfare rather than the other figure, “Oj Jelena” (or is it “Hot Cross Buns”?) accompanied by a folksong drone at the beginning of the Finale reverts to the basic melodic shape of the first two movements and, with every appearance of spontaneity, seals the unity of the whole work.

Rupert Avis ©2004

It would be most satisfying to be able to declare Haydn’s last symphony the ultimate in some sense other than the merely chronological. It is difficult, however, to go along with those analysts who seek to present the work as an elaborately calculated anticipation of 20th-century serialism. It is true that the Symphony No.104 in D major is uncommonly well unified by thematic links between the four movements. If, on the other hand, you can claim the prominence of such necessarily common intervals as the fifth and the fourth as evidence of serial thinking, you can claim anything. Haydn’s construction is motivated not so much by intervallic relationships as by a self-renewing melodic impulse.

The purpose of the rising fifth and the falling fourth in the fanfare opening to the slow introduction is not to draw attention to their own unremarkable presence but to highlight the subversive quality of the chromatic little phrase postulated by the first violins immediately afterwards. Emphasised by sforzando colouring, this phrase assumes such a high profile in the Adagio that the beginning of the Allegro - just after a brief but significant oboe solo - seems at first to be part of the same introductory process. It is a beautifully contrived transition and at the same time a way of establishing the melodic shape of the first four notes of the main theme of the Allegro as basic to the work. That theme has another important characteristic in the repeated notes which, though it seems unlikely at this stage, are to take obsessive hold of the development section and to become a percussive feature of the recapitulation as well. But it is the opening phrase of the theme which, in the absence of a true second subject, supplies most of the melodic interest of the movement.

Those same four notes form also (with the help of one other) the opening phrase of the main theme of the G major Andante. For all the drama of the movement, its spontaneously extended reprise and its thoughtful flute solos, that phrase is virtually the sole source of melodic interest here. Wisely in the circumstances, Haydn gives his basic motif a rest in the next movement - but not without alluding to the main theme of the first movement in another way: it is represented in the theme of the Menuet, though not that of the mellifluous Trio section, by an allusion to the repeated notes which were of such obsessive interest earlier in the work.

As for the vigorous main theme of the last movement, whether Croatian folk song or London street-cry (“Hot cross buns!”), it takes only a minor adjustment of the basic motif of the work to match its opening phrase. Its rustic vigour is balanced by a lyrical, almost languid second subject which, though no thematic relation, shares the harmonic subversiveness of the seminal little sforzando phrase of the introduction to the work. The balance is so well calculated, in fact, that it allows Haydn to build one of the most impressive of all his finale constructions on it.

Known in English-speaking countries as the “London” and in German- speaking countries as the “Salomon,” Haydn’s Symphony No.104 is, of course, only the last of twelve such works commissioned by Johann Salomon for London. It was first performed, with great success, at Haydn’s benefit concert in the King’s Theatre on 4 May 1795.

Known in English-speaking countries as the “London,” Haydn’s Symphony No.104 in D major is only the last of twelve such works written for performance in London between 1791 and 1795. So why it should have been singled out in that way, by a nickname that could have been applied to any of them, no one really knows. It could be, however, that it is the only one of the twelve which seems to have anything of London in it, the opening theme of the last movement having been claimed as an allusion to the street cry “Hot Cross Buns.” On the other hand, since that same tune has been identified as the Croatian folksong “Oj Jelena,” by Bartók among others, the symphony could equally well have been nicknamed the “Croatian.”

It is actually more remarkable that the construction of the work is motivated by a self-renewing melodic impulse and, as a result, uncommonly well unified by thematic links between the four movements. The purpose of the rising fifth and the falling fourth in the fanfare opening to the slow introduction is not to draw attention to their own unremarkable presence but to highlight the subversive quality of the chromatic little phrase postulated by the first violins immediately afterwards.

Emphasised by sforzando colouring, this phrase assumes such a high profile in the Adagio that the beginning of the Allegro – just after a brief but significant oboe solo – seems at first to be part of the same introductory process. It is a beautifully contrived transition and at the same time a way of establishing the melodic shape of the first four notes of the main theme of the Allegro as basic to the work. That theme has another important characteristic in the repeated notes which, though it seems unlikely at this stage, are to take obsessive hold of the development section and to become a percussive feature of the recapitulation as well. But it is the opening phrase of the theme which, in the absence of a true second subject, supplies most of the melodic interest of the movement.

Those same four notes form also (with the help of one other) the opening phrase of the main theme of the G major Andante. For all the drama of the movement, its spontaneously extended reprise and its thoughtful flute solos, that phrase is virtually the sole source of melodic interest here. Wisely in the circumstances, Haydn gives his basic motif a rest in the next movement – but not without alluding to the main theme of the first movement in another way: it is represented in the theme of the Menuet, though not that of the mellifluous Trio section, by an allusion to the repeated notes which were of such obsessive interest earlier in the work.

As for the vigorous main theme of the last movement, whether Croatian folk song or London street-cry, it takes only a minor adjustment of the basic motif of the work to match its opening phrase. Its rustic vigour is balanced by a lyrical, almost languid second subject which, though no thematic relation, shares the harmonic subversiveness of the seminal little sforzando phrase of the introduction to the work. The balance is so well calculated, in fact, that it allows Haydn to build one of the most impressive of all his finale constructions on it.

Gerald Larner © 2018