Symphony No. 96 (Haydn)
Encyclopedia
The Symphony No. 96 in D major
D major
D major is a major scale based on D, consisting of the pitches D, E, F, G, A, B, and C. Its key signature consists of two sharps. Its relative minor is B minor and its parallel minor is D minor....

, Hoboken I/96, was completed by 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...

 in 1791
1791 in music
-Classical music:*Franz Anton Hoffmeister – String Quartet in F*Joseph Haydn – Symphony No. 96 in D "Miracle"*Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – Requiem*Franz Xaver Süssmayr – Concerto Movement in D major for Basset Horn-Opera:...

 as part of the set of symphonies composed on his first trip to London. It was first performed at the Hanover Square Rooms
Hanover Square Rooms
The Hanover Square Rooms or the Queen's Concert Rooms were assembly rooms established, principally for musical performances, on the corner of Hanover Square, London, by Sir John Gallini in partnership with Johann Christian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel in 1774. For exactly one century this was the...

 in London on 11 March 1791. Although it is the fourth of the so-called twelve London Symphonies
London symphonies
The London symphonies, sometimes called the Salomon symphonies after the man who introduced London to Joseph Haydn, were composed by Joseph Haydn between 1791 and 1795...

 (numbers 93-104) by number, it was actually the first one written and performed. It is popularly known as the Miracle Symphony.

Nickname (the Miracle)

It is so called due to the story that, during its premiere, a chandelier fell from the ceiling of the concert hall in which it was performed. The audience managed to dodge the chandelier successfully as they have all crowded to the front for the post-performance applause, and the symphony got its nickname. More careful and recent research suggests that this event did indeed take place but during the premiere of his Symphony No. 102
Symphony No. 102 (Haydn)
The Symphony No. 102 in B flat major, Hoboken I/102, is the tenth of the twelve so-called London Symphonies written by Joseph Haydn.- Background :...

.

Movements

The work is in standard four movement
Movement (music)
A movement is a self-contained part of a musical composition or musical form. While individual or selected movements from a composition are sometimes performed separately, a performance of the complete work requires all the movements to be performed in succession...

 form and scored for two flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...

s, two 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, two 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...

s, two horns
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 ....

, two trumpet
Trumpet
The trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...

s, timpani
Timpani
Timpani, or kettledrums, are musical instruments in the percussion family. A type of drum, they consist of a skin called a head stretched over a large bowl traditionally made of copper. They are played by striking the head with a specialized drum stick called a timpani stick or timpani mallet...

 and strings
String instrument
A string instrument is a musical instrument that produces sound by means of vibrating strings. In the Hornbostel-Sachs scheme of musical instrument classification, used in organology, they are called chordophones...

.
  1. Adagio, 3/4 — Allegro, 3/4
  2. Andante, 6/8 in G major
    G major
    G major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp, F; in treble-clef key signatures, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom...

  3. Menuetto
    Minuet
    A minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...

    : Allegretto, 3/4
  4. Finale: Vivace
    Vivace
    Vivace is Italian for "lively" and "vivid". It is pronounced in the International Phonetic Alphabet.Vivace is used as an Italian musical term indicating a movement that is in a lively mood ....

    , 2/4


The first movement is in sonata form
Sonata form
Sonata form is a large-scale musical structure used widely since the middle of the 18th century . While it is typically used in the first movement of multi-movement pieces, it is sometimes used in subsequent movements as well—particularly the final movement...

. Following a slow introduction, the first theme of the exposition is actually two overlapping themes, a short-short-short-long repeated-note theme in the first violins over a falling motif in the middle strings and bassoons. Following a brief transitional section, the first theme returns giving the opening section a ternary structure. The first theme group closes with fanfares featuring repeated notes. What follows is a more extended transition featuring three repeated eighth-notes as in the opening of the Allegro. There is no true second theme group making this a P-T-K exposition. The expositional coda also features motifs containing three eighth notes. The development can be divided into three sections. The first section develops the exposition's first theme and the second develops themes from the expositional coda. Both of these sections touch on the relative minor, B minor
B minor
B minor is a minor scale based on B, consisting of the pitches B, C, D, E, F, G, and A. The harmonic minor raises the A to A. Its key signature has two sharps .Its relative major is D major, and its parallel major is B major....

. Following a two-measure grand pause, the third section opens with a false recapitulation of the exposition in the wrong key of G major
G major
G major is a major scale based on G, with the pitches G, A, B, C, D, E, and F. Its key signature has one sharp, F; in treble-clef key signatures, the sharp-symbol for F is usually placed on the first line from the top, though in some Baroque music it is placed on the first space from the bottom...

 which quickly collapses into more development of the first theme. When the recapitulation arrives, it proceeds quickly. Following another transition, the fanfares from the first theme group return building up to an unexpected stormy climax 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 ....

 leaving just seven measures of D major to bring the movement to a close.

The slow movement in G major is in ternary form
Ternary form
Ternary form, sometimes called song form, is a three-part musical form, usually schematicized as A-B-A. The first and third parts are musically identical, or very nearly so, while the second part in some way provides a contrast with them...

 (ABA) featuring a lightly scored, lilting theme with three upbeats. The central "B" section of the movement is for full tutti in G minor and is highly contrapuntal. The second "A" section finishes suspended on a cadential six-four chord. The following coda is indeed an orchestral cadenza
Cadenza
In music, a cadenza is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and often allowing for virtuosic display....

 featuring solos from the two principal violinists (including Salomon
Johann Peter Salomon
Johann Peter Salomon was a German violinist, composer, conductor and musical impresario.-Life:...

) and solos from the principal winds as well.

The trio of the minuet features an extended oboe solo.
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