31 Days of Classical, Day 8: Happy Haydn

Each day throughout July, I'll share with you a piece of classical music. Thirty-one days, thirty-one pieces.

The list is by no means definitive, nor is it necessarily a list of all of my favorite music from the classical world. Every morning, I start my day with music that inspires me in some way, whether I'm inspired by its happiness, its loneliness, the instrumentation, the harmony, the colors, the melody — each piece is special in some way — and offers an opportunity to either hear something you've never heard, or hear something new in a piece you've known your whole life.

Day 8: (Franz) Joseph Haydn, Symphony No. 31 "Hornsignal", 1st movement

Haydn! He's so happy! Seriously, Haydn blows my mind. He lived basically in the middle of nowhere, working for Prince Esterhazy at the Esterhazy estate. Since Haydn was isolated from the rest of humanity, more or less, he had the opportunity to do what he pleased. I love the obnoxious horns in the first movement of this symphony. You can get the gist of them immediately. And then the horn players do the horn call, which is delightful. I can imagine them at the Palace back in 1765 overcome with delight when they first saw that they'd get to play hunting calls really loudly in a symphony. Oh, and the "Menuet" in this symphony is pretty great too.

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