The Development of the Symphony

    Haydn's experiments in musical form, and in the composition of the orchestra, resulted in the symphony, as we know it today.  He wrote 104 symphonies, though the earliest ones were very slight.  The later ones include a set of six "Paris" and twelve " London " symphonies.  Some of his symphonies have been given titles, such as the 'Farewell'; the 'Hen' and the 'Paris' of the Paris set; the 'Oxford'; and the 'Surprise', the 'Military', the 'Clock', the 'Drumroll', and the 'London' from the London set.  His best symphonies were written at the end of his life, after the death of Mozart, and show the influence of the younger composer.  

    Mozart, twenty-four years younger than Haydn, and a devoted admirer of his, began by writing symphonies similar to Haydn's; but soon he was showing individual touches, particularly as regards orchestration, and the delicacy and sensitivity shown in the last three of his 41 symphonies, the 'Jupiter', the 'Eь major' and the 'G minor', make them great masterpieces of orchestral writing.  

    Beethoven found the symphonic pattern well established, and, as with his piano sonatas, he enlarged it and made it more dramatic, so that his 9 great symphonies are all popular in the concert hall today.  The first two belong to his "first period", when he was much affected by Haydn and Mozart, but even they have passages that could have been written by no earlier composer.  The third, the 'Eroica', written in honor of Napoleon, is a gigantic work, about an hour in length, while the fifth, in C minor, and the sixth, the 'Pastoral', are two of the most popular in the concert repertory.  The ninth symphony belongs to his “third period”.  It, too, is very long, and introduces the innovation of a chorus in the last movement.  

    Schubert wrote 11 symphonies, of which one is lost and another is unfinished.  But the 'Unfinished', though only possessing two movements, is the most popular of all.  At the end of his short life he wrote the 'Great' C major, a very long but beautiful symphony, over which he took much greater pains than usual, and this is perhaps his greatest work.