Symphony No. 4 (Haydn)
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Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...

's Symphony No. 4 in D major, Hoboken I/4, is believed to have been written between 1757 and 1761.

It is scored for 2 oboe
Oboe
The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English, prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois" , "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca...

s, bassoon
Bassoon
The bassoon is a woodwind instrument in the double reed family that typically plays music written in the bass and tenor registers, and occasionally higher. Appearing in its modern form in the 19th century, the bassoon figures prominently in orchestral, concert band and chamber music literature...

, 2 horn
Horn (instrument)
The horn is a brass instrument consisting of about of tubing wrapped into a coil with a flared bell. A musician who plays the horn is called a horn player ....

s, strings and continuo. As usual for the period, it is in three movements:
  1. Presto, 6/8
  2. Andante in D minor
    D minor
    D minor is a minor scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. In the harmonic minor, the C is raised to C. Its key signature has one flat ....

    , 2/4
  3. Tempo di Menuetto, 3/8


The second movement features a syncopated
Syncopation
In music, syncopation includes a variety of rhythms which are in some way unexpected in that they deviate from the strict succession of regularly spaced strong and weak but also powerful beats in a meter . These include a stress on a normally unstressed beat or a rest where one would normally be...

second violin part. The walking eighth-notes of the second violins are offset by half a step (a sixteenth note) from the first violins that play above it.

The finale is marked Tempo di Menuetto, but is not in the 3/4 time of a minuet, but in the 3/8 time which is typical of Haydn's other early symphonic finales. Also, unlike other minuets, the movement lacks a central trio section.
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