A Symphony And Its Consequences – Orchestra Da Camera Di Mantova

A few years ago, while searching for a Symphony of the classical era to complete a concert programme, I discovered Haydn’s Symphony no. 39.
I immediately realized that it was an extremely idiosyncratic symphony, while being, at the same time, typical for that taste for minor keys and for strong contrasts which is often indicated by the label of “Sturm und Drang”: a brief period in which the quantity of minor-key symphonies increased dramatically. I started to research the topic, and soon a kind of a family tree started to emerge: from Haydn’s Symphony no. 39 originate some symphonies by Vanhal (in particular the one recorded here), and, from these, Mozart’s Symphony no. 25 derives in turn. I began to think of recording a CD reconstructing this genealogy: a direct derivation, from a symphony to another, as rarely happened in the history of the Symphony. At the same time, reading a book by Matthew Riley, The Viennese Minor-Key Symphony in the Age of Haydn and Mozart, broadened my knowledge on the topic and on its context.
Haydn wrote the G-minor Symphony no. 39 in 1765. It features many traits which enabled it to serve as a model: stark dynamic contrasts, sudden silences, the use of figurations recalling the operatic world of tempest and furore (in some copies, this symphony bears the title of La tempesta di mare, “storm at sea”), repeated notes and tremolos, rhythmic energy, but also the presence of a contrapuntal “old style”, which had never truly gone out of fashion in Vienna and in the Habsburg Empire. Minor keys mark three out of its four movements (the slow movement is in a major key), and they rule within the individual movements, which remain in the minor key until the very last chord. In the reprise of the first and fourth movement, in fact, all elements are restated in the minor key, including those that had been first presented, in the exposition, in a major key. This faithfulness to the minor key is one of the features which would go out of fashion first, even in Haydn’s own later works, in favour of itineraries leading the symphonies to a close in the major key. Another peculiarity of this work is the use of four instead of two French horns (two in B-flat and two in G: this allows to partially overcome the limitations of the contemporaneous instruments and to increase their presence). Paradoxically, Haydn would not follow the path he had opened himself: later, he composed a series of minor-key symphonies with more experimental traits (among which the Farewell Symphony).