Haydn's "Surprise Symphony"

Austrian composer Joseph Haydn (1732--1809)'s Symphony of Surprises is a fun song with anecdotes that the music played quietly and then suddenly made a loud noise, awakening the drowsy audience in surprise. The title “Surprise” was not given by the composer, but was given later through the interesting features and anecdotes of the song.

When listening to classical music, you come across a lot of the title “Symphony” (Symphony). Haydn composed more than 100 symphonies, Mozart composed more than 40 and Beethoven composed 9 symphonies. In Western Europe, mainly in Germany and Austria, there was a special development of instrumental music without songs. This was to create a flow similar to the story of Rise of War with pure music without the use of words and writings. A form called “Sonata” came out to create a story told through music, and the symphony was the most dramatic way to play this “Sonata” with dozens of performers.

Composer Haydn played the most important role in ensuring that the format of the symphony took shape. Haydn's music was concise and elegant, but was popular with the public because of its witty and humorous expressions. At this time, symphonies tended to be separated by numbering and not well titled, so most of Haydn's symphonies, which are now titled, were given by people after listening to his music. There are many symphonies with interesting titles among Haydn's works, such as <Watch Symphony>, <Military Symphony>, and <Farewell Symphony>.

Haydn's works, which laid the earliest days of the symphony, are not very volatile or dramatic when you listen to them now. At that time, the sensibility that the public felt was not that great. The symphony has grown bigger and bigger as the times passed, and it develops into a musical that is dramatic enough to give an emotional change similar to that of reading a big story. 

The symphony consists of 3-4 songs to complete into one large song, each of which is called a “movement”. That is why they are called the 1st movement, 2nd movement, and 3rd movement. The first movement is the most important, and the rest serve to expand the structure of the first movement or connect it for the final climax. In the <Surprise Symphony>, a simple melody plays quietly in the second movement, then suddenly plays a large drum together and plays the audience with a surprisingly loud performance.

The Surprise Symphony is Haydn's 94th symphony. The official title is Symphony No.94 “Suprise”. So, it's a song that Haydn composed when he was an old man, and for such a witty expression, you can think that he still had a humorous personality. Haydn worked most of his youth as a "court movement." “Palace movement” is a job in which a nobleman is responsible for all the music necessary for his or her life and runs an orchestra under one noble. At that time, each nobleman had an orchestra that played music, and talented musicians were hired to compose and conduct music for the orchestra.

Haydn left the court movement and traveled to London, England, when he got older, and wrote 12 symphonies in England, one of which is The Surprise Symphony. Haydn's most famous symphonies were composed at this time.
Haydn's Symphony No. 94 <Surprise> has a total of 4 movements. The first movement is the fastest and the longest (there is a slow prelude at first), and the second movement, which is astounding, is a slow and lyrical song. The third movement is an elegant European dance song called Minuet, and the final fourth movement is quick and cheerful. All songs take about 25 minutes to play.

▷ Common Sense of Music: Movement of the
Symphony The symphony was initially composed of 3 movements. The first movement is fast, the second movement is slow, and the third movement is quick and cheerful. Then, a three-beat dance song called Minuetra was added to form a four-movement. Minuet is usually played in the 3rd movement and the last quickest movement is the 4th movement. Over time, instead of Minuet, a quick dance song called “Scherzo” came in. Minuet is a slow, three-beat dance song, while Scherzo is a two-beat, fast, funny or bizarre dance song. You can see that the sentiment of the people who listened to music was getting wider and more intense. So, after Beethoven, the format of the fast first movement, the slow second movement, the 3rd movement of Scherzo, and the 4th movement of fast climax was established. As time passed, Scherzo came to the second movement, and it was slow and lyrical. More and more, the in movement was performed as the third movement.

https://youtu.be/VOLy6JxEDLw

Haydn's "Surprise Symphony" 2nd movement