Haydn't Symphony No. 93 and its Fart*ng Bassoon

Yesterday’s pre–intermission piece was Haydn’s Symphony No. 93, which reminded me of something funny: Beethoven wrote 9 symphonies, Mozart around 50, Tchaikovsky 6… and Haydn wrote 104.

Composers by number of symphonies
by inclassicalmusic

Haydn’s “London Symphonies” (Nos. 93–104) were written for his two London trips in the 1790s. The London audience loved Haydn, his music during that time was all charmingly lovely. No. 93 is especially fun — elegant, bright, and just cheeky enough. My friend was like, “I can totally picture people in wigs dancing minuets.”

The second movement even has Haydn’s most famous “fart joke”: a perfectly refined flute line is followed by a very committed bassoon “puuuu.” Two hundred years later, still funny. Only Haydn could write a sophisticated slow movement and sneak that in.

Here’s the moment (starting around 12:47):

It’s not the deepest symphony ever written — and it doesn’t need to be. It’s joyful, clever, and a really perfect warm-up before hearing Mozart’s Requiem after intermission. (Honeck knows music pairing) And come on, who doesn’t love happy Haydn in London?