Unlike other symphonies on this album, Haydn's Symphony No. 21 survives in a dated autograph manuscript from 1764, suggesting he composed an average of at least four symphonies per year in the early to mid-1760s.
Composer Biography
Haydn claimed to have composed his first symphony for Count Morzin, his Kapellmeister, in 1759, but evidence suggests he may have been composing symphonies for Morzin or a similar body up to two years earlier.
Composition History
The history of Haydn's earliest symphonies is still unclear due to a scarcity of autograph manuscripts and contemporary records.
Compositional Technique
Haydn's Symphony No. 18 adopts and adapts the movement pattern of the church sonata, an instrumental form originally designed for liturgical use, characterized by an opening slow movement.
Composer Biography
Haydn married Maria Keller, a former pupil, in 1760, and shortly after, he became Deputy Kapellmeister for the Esterházy family, a post he held for about three decades.
Historical Context
Count Morzin's household, where Haydn worked, employed a small orchestra of about a dozen players and a wind band, which influenced the modest scoring of Haydn's Morzin symphonies.
Composition History
The accepted numbering of Haydn's early symphonies, established by Eusebius Mandyczewski in 1907, caused confusion by assigning difficult-to-date works to their latest possible composition year.
