Surprise!

Driving to work this day I was listening to the wonderful Haydn Symphony in G Major, No. 94, lovingly known as "The Surprise!" Written in 1791 in London for a concert series on his first visit to England, Franz Joseph Haydn first performed it in 1792, with he himself sitting at the pianoforte in front of the audience. Called The Surprise because of a sudden Fortisssimo, or loud, chord and kettledrum after a rather quiet opening theme in the second movement. It is surely a wake-up call for those who have gotten way too comfortable in their powdered wigs and satin breeches.

Haydn (Austrian, 1732-1809) is known as the Father of the Symphony, and was a good friend to his young friend Mozart. He told Mozart's father that "Before God, and as an honest man, your son (Mozart) is the greatest composer known to me". Haydn was speaking about a very young Mozart at the time!