Haydn Symphony No. 94, "Surprise"

If you want to understand how a symphony works, look no further
than the works of the Father of the symphony, Joseph Haydn.


In 1790, a concert promoter and impresario named Johann Peter
Solomon showed up un-announced at the Vienna home of the great
composer Joseph Haydn.  He immediately told Haydn: “I am
Solomon from London and I have come to fetch you.”  What
Salomon and Haydn were about to embark upon would be one of the
greatest successes of both of their lives.  Haydn would end
up making 2 visits to London, presenting an adoring audience with
12 symphonies, almost all of which are still regularly performed
today.  But the most famous one is the one we’re going to be
talking about today, the 94th symphony, nicknamed “Surprise” or
in the slightly drier German version: “the one with the
Drumstroke.”  The piece is famous for this surprise, which
is now so well known that it rarely surprises anyone, though
we’ll get into just how you might be able to do that in
2022.  But the entire piece is a masterpiece in its own
right, and so today we’ll discuss all of the tricks and traps
Haydn pulls with his audience, leading to one of the most
enjoyable symphonies of his entire catalogue.