"A good story, but not exactly true," says Haydn

Synopsis

If you were in London in the year 1792, and picked up the Times for today’s date, you would have been able to read this announcement: “Mr. Salomon most respectfully acquaints the nobility and gentry that his sixth Concert will be at Hanover Square on the 23rd.”

Johann Peter Salomon was the impresario who arranged for Haydn to visit London to present his latest music, and among the works promised for March 23rd was a new symphony, the work we know today as Haydn’s “Surprise Symphony”

This nickname comes from the sudden loud, timpani stroke in the work’s second movement—and the story soon went ‘round that Haydn had wanted to wake up any snoozing members of the audience.

It was a good story, but somebody finally asked Haydn himself if it were true. “No,” Haydn replied. “Rather it was my wish to surprise the public with something new, so as not to be outdone by my pupil Iganz Pleyel, who was engaged in London for a concert series just before mine. My new symphony was well received, but enthusiasm reached its highest point with the unexpected timpani stroke. Even Pleyel complimented me on the idea.”

Music Played in Today's Program

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) Symphony No. 94 in G (Surprise) Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; Sir Colin Davis, cond. Philips 442 614

On This Day

Births

• 1834 - German composer, pianist and organist Julius Ruebke, in Hausneindorf, near Quedlinburg;

• 1878 - Austrian composer Franz Schrecker, in Monaco;

• 1895 - French-born American composer, painter and mystical philosopher Dane Rudhyar, in Paris;

Premieres

• 1731 - Bach: "St. Mark Passion" (S. 247, now lost) performed in Leipzig at Vespers on Good Friday;

• 1748 - Handel: oratorio "Alexander Balus" in London at the Covent Garden Theater; The event possibly included the premiere of Handel's "Concerto a due cori" No. 1 as well (Gregorian date: April 3);

• 1783 - Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 13 and final version of Symphony No. 35 ("Haffner"), at the Vienna Burgtheater, with composer as piano soloist and conductor; An earlier version of the symphony was performed in Salzburg at private concerts arranged by the wealthy Haffner family in the summer of 1782;

• 1792 - Haydn: Symphony No. 94 ("Surprise"), conducted by the composer, at the Hanover-Square Concert Rooms in London;

• 1828 - Beethoven: String Quartet in F, Op. 135 (posthumously, and almost one year to the day after the composer's death on March 26, 1827), in Vienna, by the Schuppanzigh Quartet;

• 1886 - Tchaikovsky: "Manfred" Symphony (after Byron), in Moscow (Julian date: Mar. 11);

• 1912 - Gliere: Symphony No. 3 ("Ilya Murometz") in Moscow (Julian date: Mar. 10);

• 1917 - Bloch: "Trois poèmes juifs" (Three Jewish Poems), in Boston, with the composer conducting;

• 1923 - de Falla: opera "El retrablo de maese Pedro" (Master Peter's Puppet Show) (concert version), in Seville at the Teatro San Fernando;

• 1935 - Barber: "Music for a Scene from Shelley," by the New York Philharmonic;

• 1939 - Bartók: Violin Concerto No. 2, by the Amsterdam Concertgebouw Orchestra, Willem Mengelberg conducting and Zoltán Székely as the soloist; A live recording of this premiere performance has been issued on both LP and CD;

• 1944 - Cowell: "Hymn and Fuguing Tune" No. 2 for strings, in New York on a WEAF radio broadcast featuring Henri Nosco and his Concert Orchestra; The first concert hall performance took place at Town Hall in New York on October 8, 1944, with the Daniel Saidenburg Little Symphony;

• 1945 - Copland (and 9 other composers): "Variations on a Theme by Eugene Goosens," by the Cincinnati Symphony;

• 1946 - Marc Blitzstein: "Airbourne Symphony," in New York City;

• 1962 - Irving Fine: "Symphony 1962" by the Boston Symphony, Charles Munch conducting;

• 1969 - Gene Gutchë: "Genghis Khan," by American Symphony Orchestra, Leopold Stokowski conducting;

• 1999 - James MacMillan: "Cumnock Fair" for piano and strings, at Cumnock Academy by members of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra;

Others

• 1703 - Antonio Vivaldi becomes a Roman Catholic priest at age 25;

• 1721 - Handel completes the composition of Act 3 of "Muzio Scevola," as part of a "competition" arranged by the directors of the Royal Academy of Music to settle the rivalry between their three house composers (Filippo Amadei composed Act 1, Giovanni Bononcinni Act 2, and Handel Act 3); Handel was deemed the victor in this "contest" (Gregorian date: April 3);

• 1729 - J.S. Bach visits Coethen to perform funeral music for his former employer, Prince Leopold;

• 1743 - London premiere of what is billed as "A New Sacred Oratorio" by Handel(Gregorian date: April 3); This was his "Messiah" which had its first performance in Dublin the previous year;