I was grumpy as a sleeping bear this morning – until the first notes of Haydn’s Symphony No. 30 in C (nicknamed “Alleluia”) filled my ears.

Wow.

This is an extraordinary work, so perfectly crafted, so expertly arranged, that it drew me in immediately.

According to its entry on Wiki,

It is nicknamed the Alleluia Symphony because of Haydn’s use of a Gregorian Alleluia chant in the opening movement…

The Alleluia chant of the first movement has been confused with the principal melodic line in the finale of Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in C major. Mozart did use this Alleluia chant melody for his Alleluia Canon, K. 533, written shortly after he completed his C major symphony. 

The work is scored for flute, two oboes, bassoon, two horns, trumpets, timpani and strings with continuo.

To my (admittedly untrained) ears, Movement I (“Allegro”) is unlike the other Movement I allegros that Haydn composed in previous symphonies. This allegro is just as quick, to be sure, but the instruments intertwine each other like Larry, our cat, winds in and out of our legs when he wants breakfast each morning – and, likely, for the same reason: they want something. My attention. In this case, they got it. From the first five notes.

Even the Andante Movement II doesn’t retard my joy as a slower movement often does. This movement is punctuated with flute and oboe solos (and a happy sounding violin chorus) that makes the whole thing sound like the score of a classic Disney movie.

This exquisite symphony was composed in 1765. Haydn was 33.

Symphony No. 31 in D (nicknamed “Hornsignal”) is another corker of a symphony, charging out of the chute. According to its entry on Wikipedia, this symphony,

was composed in 1765 for Haydn’s patron Nikolaus Esterházy. It is nicknamed the “Hornsignal” symphony, because it gives a prominent role to an unusually large horn section, i.e. four players. Probably because of its prominent obbligato writing for the horns, in Paris, the publisher Sieber published this symphony as a “symphonie concertante” around 1785.

The four-movement Symphony No. 31, to me, never lives up to the promise of its first movement. According to Wiki, “It is the first movement that shows off the horn section most dramatically, although not with the hunting calls he would later be known for in The Seasons or La chasse (Symphony No. 73). Here, Haydn begins with a military fanfare including all four horns:”

This symphony was composed in 1765. Hadyn was 33.

Symphony No. 32 in C is another composition that immediately bursts forth with great fanfare. Composed “as early as 1757 and as late as 1763” (recent scholars think it was 1760 or 1761), Symphony No. 32 in C begins with great promise. However, it doesn’t hold my attention or compel me to listen the way Symphony No. 30 did.

Haydn was anywhere from 25 to 31 years old when he composed this symphony.

The last symphony on CD 8 is Symphony No. 33 in C, composition date unknown, although some suggest it was written in 1760 or 1761. If so, Haydn would have been 28 or 29. As with most symphonies I’ve heard, Movement I (“Vivace” or “lively and fast”) of Symphony No. 33 is the most compelling to me.

I also like Movement IV (“Allegro”) of Symphony No. 33. But not as well as Movement I.

Apparently, I’m a Movement I kinda guy.