Symphony No.42 in D major

Unlike some of the symphonies Haydn wrote at about the same time – when he was caught up in the “storm and stress” that briefly but violently swept through German poetry and music in the late 1760s and early 1770s – No.42 in D major is a generally sunny inspiration. It’s almost as if Prince Nicolaus Esterházy had asked his distinguished director of music to write something more cheerful, just this once. Certainly, the first movement, which begins like the overture to a comic opera, presents no emotional problems. Composed as it was in 1771, however, it was bound to reflect something of the artistic current of the time – even if only in the brisk attitude of the main theme, the nervous energy evident in the restless bowing of the violins, the dramatic treatment of the material in the middle of the movement and the emphatic part played by oboes and horns.

The wind instruments make a comparatively late entry in the slow movement, which is essentially an expression of the intimate kind of melody best left to muted strings. There is no shortage of instrumental colour even so. Just after they have introduced the second of the two main themes, the violins die away to near-silence – at which point the oboes intervene for the first time and, in the attenuated circumstances, to maximum effect. The horns are held in reserve still longer, to add their authority to the reassuring recall of the main theme after a rhythmically and harmonically disturbing episode for strings alone. Having lent their support to the oboes in that, they join them again in restating the second theme after another collapse into near-silence and in bringing the movement to a clear but modest conclusion.

Far from the stately dance that it was before it was adopted as a regular feature of the instrumental suite and developed by Haydn and his contemporaries for a different purpose in the symphony, the Menuet reverts to the brisk attitude of the first movement. Oboes and horns are prominent everywhere except in the central so-called “Trio” section, which is delicately scored for strings alone (and sometimes played by a solo quintet).

The most orignal and most entertaining movement of the four, the Finale begins like a theme and variations – the theme introduced by the strings, the first and second variations presented by wind and strings in turn. But then Haydn introduces a striking new idea which, although the first theme is recalled in a third variation for wind and strings together, insists on having the last word.