A peculiarity in Haydn’s early symphonic work: Form and possible sources of the first movement of Symphony Hob. I:21

Abstract

Among the first forty symphonies that Joseph Haydn wrote up to 1765, Symphony Hob. I:21 has a slow first movement that does not resemble any other, since it is not based on the usual mid-18th-century ternary or binary sonata form; its structure would be better described as a fantasy with allusions of sonata form, and this special structural case should be placed somewhere in the middle of two other notable “capriccios” from the same period: the first movement of Keyboard Trio Hob. XV:35 (a pure sonata form) and the Keyboard Capriccio Hob. XVII:1 (a pure fantasy on a single theme). Yet, the unique form of Hob. I:21 / I does not seem to be absolutely novel in the “pre-classical” repertoire, since some slow movements from Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach’s “Württemberg” Sonatas (Wq. 49 nos. 1, 3 and 6) display several common characteristics with it. Thus, the present paper, focusing on similarities between C. P. E. Bach’s and J. Haydn’s compositions during the 1760s, aims at the broadening of the subject-matter of one’s influence on the other, not only from a chronological point of view but also in terms of an interrelation between different music genres.