Joseph Haydn wrote hisSymphony No. 8 in G major under the employ of PrincePaul II Anton Esterházy in Spring 1761, in the transition between theBaroque andClassical periods. It is the third part of a set of three symphonies that Prince Anton had commissioned him to write –Le matin ("Morning"; No. 6),Le midi ("Noon"; No. 7) andLe soir ("Evening"; No. 8). He had given him as inspiration the three times of Day.
The orchestration used in Symphony No. 8 is very similar to theconcerto grosso style of the Baroque period, where a small group of solo instruments was set against a larger ensemble. In Symphony No. 8, the small group consists of two soloviolins, solovioloncello and a soloviolone and the large ensemble contains oneflute, twooboes,bassoon, twohorns,strings andharpsichord. Haydn's use of the bassoon and harpsichord is reminiscent of thebasso continuo used extensively throughout the Baroque period; however it is not as constantly driving.
This symphony has the usual number of four movements for a classical symphony (in the tonicG major unless otherwise specified):
The first movement is agigue insonata form and quotes a melody from a song inChristoph Willibald Gluck's operaLe diable à quatre called "Je n'aimais pas le tabac beaucoup" ("I didn't like tobacco much").[1][2] The final movement, also in sonata form, subtitledLa tempesta, was intended to evoke the sensation of a thunderstorm.
In the first movement, the strings start with the main eight-bar melody, a theme which carries throughout the entire movement. Haydn makes use of theconcerto grosso format in the second movement, with the melody in theconcertino – two solo violins and solo violoncello. The melody of the menuet is fairly conventional, with the bassoon, violone, and strings taking up the theme in the trio. In the final movement,La tempesta (the storm), the strings have a series of descending figures which suggest falling rain, and octave leaps in the solo violin are used to build tension. An interesting anecdote about the theme of theflute in this movement: When Haydn describes a storm in his lastoratorioThe Seasons, he uses the same theme as in this movement, with the same orchestration – passage in the flute of descending broken chord.
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