Jordan Lawrence

Assigned Listening 4
Haydns Symphony No. 95 begins very heavily with strings.
These instruments more or less carry the melody. The development
incorporates the both themes of the Exposition, but includes some
changes. The first two movements start off forte with strong chords.
They change dynamically throughout the movements.
The second movement starts with a smooth and pretty string
introduction. The movement continues to omit other instruments
besides the string section. The strings play thirty- second notes with
great finesse. The individual string instruments switch off take the
melody with sixteenth notes. The movement soon modulates to minor.
Again, the third movement begins with the strings, indicating
their importance in Haydns music. In this movement, the rhythms
arent too difficult. Its actually mostly quarter notes, however it is
important that they are not played for too long, that is why they are
staccato. The viola has a very nice melodic solo, while the rest of the
strings accompany it with very simple chords.
The third movement, the Minuet, has a similar sound to previous
movements. It is actually quite short, but introduces the melody and is
lively. The finale movement emphasizes the strings for what seems to

be the primary theme. The woodwind instruments are added in to give

a light and energetic feel. The piece ends in C major, the parallel major
to the original key of C minor. The eight note rhythms added
excitement and anticipate a great ending.
Beethovens Symphony No. 7 is rather different from Haydns
No. 95. It starts off kind of slow and features the wind instruments over
the strings, unlike Haydns piece. Once the first few measures are out
of the way, the strings come in with swift and staccato sixteenth notes
ascending the A major scale. The strings get very quiet, and slowly
crescendo to a powerful forte. The transition includes sequences of
ascending scales and modulates to then introduce the Secondary
theme.
The Allegretto has a slow tempo of quarter note equaling
seventy-six. It begins in A minor which is stated in the first measure by
the woodwind instruments. The same familiar melody is repeated
throughout this movement. The note A is used as a pedal to emphasize
the tone.
In a section of the third movement, the melody is doubled by the
strings and the woodwind instruments. Similar to the second
movement, the A is pedaled and repeated to put emphasis on the key.

The development in the final movement repeats the primary

theme. Towards the end of the piece, there is dissonance between the
instruments.