Papa Haydn's "Farewell"

Ok, so maybe this is slightly more punk rock than metal, but today we are going to look at some music that was written to, and did, have a direct impact on the living situation of the people involved; we're talking old-school social protest (and by old school I mean 1772). First a little background. Franz Joseph Haydn, known often as the 'father of the symphony,' 'father of the string quartet,' or simply Papa Haydn, was a composer in the second half of the 18th century. He was part of what is often thought of as the holy trinity of classical music with his friend Mozart and his student Beethoven. However, unlike the other two, Haydn had a long-standing full-time gig with the Esterházy court, and this relationship provides the background for Papa Haydn's "Farewell Symphony."

Haydn and the musicians in his symphony spent the summer of 1772 with the Esterházy family at their summer estate. The sojourn in the country lasted a fair bit longer than they had anticipated, however, and the musicians began getting restless to return home to their families. Thus, if I may be allowed a cliche, Haydn decided to let his music do the talking.

The first movement of the symphony opens with a stormy, minor-key (and might I add heavy) theme in the violins. The music is agitated, arresting, and has something of a one-track mind - the theme that opens the movement just refuses to go away. At about 3 minutes in the video below, the dense texture of the rest of the movement melts away and a brief, lighthearted section (perhaps invoking the country estate) is heard. This respite is short lived, however, as the bucolic setting is interrupted, and quite brutally might I add, by a loud, aggressive return of the main theme. I think by this point Esterházy might have gotten the point that Haydn and his musicians were at least mildly irritated and ready to go home.



Yet Haydn did not stop with an expression of frustration. To the contrary, in true '60s style (only 200 years earlier), Haydn staged a musical walk-out. Near the end of the last movement, there are a series of short, light solos for the various instruments in the symphony. As musicians were playing by candlelight at the time, after each musician had finished his solo, he would blow out his candle and walk off the stand. By the end of the symphony, only two violinists were left playing, and at the first performance one of these was supposedly Haydn himself. You can still hear the same effect in performances today, as the performing forces gradually get smaller and smaller toward the end of the piece. It seems the Prince of Esterházy got the point; the court returned home the following day.



On a final note, this is Haydn's 45th symphony, out of 104 published! By any measure, this guy was more prolific than Gene Hoglan and James Murphy combined. Not to mention he was foundational in establishing a musical language that persists to this day. A consummate joker, a witty rebel, and one creative guy, let's give it up for Papa Haydn.