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The orchestration of John Sebastian Bach was thin despite its elaboration. The strings formed the foundation, according to the prevailing rule, and were written in so many real parts, and when wind instruments appeared, they were also used with an independent polyphony. His contrasts were, for the most part, produced by giving a melody to a simple solo instrument, accompanied only by a bass, while a figured bass indicated the chords to be filled in by the organ or the clavier. It can hardly be said that the greatest of the Bachs advanced the art and science of orchestration. Handel's scoring was in quite another vein, and may be viewed as revolutionary for its era. In his overtures, especially, his strings are used with the evident object of producing solidity in effect. The oboes often strengthen the violins in unison and the bassoons perform the same service for the basses, but he also used these instruments independently and to embroider the broad and simple themes of the strings. In addition, he made use of the latter and of the wind separately, each body full in itself and responding each to the other. Now and then he used three trumpets, and in his "Rinaldo" he resorts to four, giving the bass to the drums. In "Saul" he uses three trombones. Clarinets were unknown to him, and the bass tuba was unborn in his day; but otherwise he was acquainted with all the instruments of the modern orchestra and made use of them. One cannot recall an instance in which he used them all in combination, and hence, the four trumpets of "Rinaldo" and the three trombones of "Saul" are not heard together in any of his scores. Notwithstanding the fame of Handel, his daring innovations in orchestration do not seem to have been studied by Haydn, or if they were, they exercised no early influence over him.

Gluck's scores must be considered epoch-making in the art of orchestration. His "Orpheus" was produced in 1762 when Haydn was thirty years of age; his "Iphigénie en Aulide" was produced in 1774, and the other "Iphigénie" was given in 1779. In these works instrumentation was advanced to an extent that broke almost wholly with the past. When Gluck died Haydn was in his fifty-fifth year, and yet the older composer, the report of whose world-wide fame must have reached Haydn's ears, even in the seclusion of Eisenstadt, does not appear to have suggested anything to Haydn. The twelve great Salomon symphonies, Haydn's, till then, highest achievements in orchestral writing, were not produced until some seven years after Gluck's death, and in them the influence is unmistakably that of Mozart, who had undoubtedly studied Gluck thoroughly.

The word "symphony" had various meanings before it became fixed as a name for the highest form of instrumental music. It was, however, generally understood to signify an overture, and its closest connection was with the opera. Originally it was merely a notification to the audience that the opera was about to begin; an appeal for silence and to concentrate attention on the coming entrance of the singers. The French "symphony," as exemplified by Lully, opened with a slow movement followed by an allegro, frequently in fugue form, and passed again into an adagio which ended the overture. The Italian symphony consisted of three movements, the first of which was a moderate allegro, the second an adagio, and the last a livelier and lighter allegro; and the Italian overture, as will be seen, became the foundation of the modern symphony as far as the positions of the movements are concerned. Before Haydn, Stamitz, Abel, J. C. Bach and Wagenseil, as well as Emanuel Bach, had written symphonies, and a symphony by Stamitz, in D, is peculiarly interesting, inasmuch as its form is completely in accordance with that which was established permanently by Haydn. The opening movement is an Allegro, with the familiar double bar with the repeats and the binary form. The second movement is an Andante in the dominant; the third is a Minuet that has even the Trio, and the finale is a Presto. The clavier sonatas of Ph. Emanuel Bach congealed this form and had a permanent influence on it, in the impression they made upon Haydn, who, by his mastery of his art, his amazing fecundity in invention and his unflagging productive powers, was enabled to increase the scope and aim of this form so greatly as to entitle him to be recognized as the creator of the symphony. Haydn's first symphony was written in 1759, for Count Morzin. We are unaware of any printed copy of it in this country. Pohl describes it as a slight work in three movements for two violins, viola, bass, two oboes and two horns. It appears to be modelled on the symphonies of Stamitz, Abel and John Christian Bach. The symphonies that followed differed but little in character from this one and afford little if any insight into Haydn's influence on the symphonic form. He appears to have followed in the footsteps of his predecessors, curiously enough, ignoring the symphonies of Emanuel Bach. The orchestration is meagre and conventional, the violins are almost constantly playing, and the wind is only used to duplicate them. It is not until we come to the first symphony composed by him at Eisenstadt that we see him as an innovator. This work is in C-major, and is generally known as "Le Matin." It is in four movements and begins with a few bars of adagio. The opening allegro is remarkable for its variety of subjects and their treatment, and for the careful manner in which it worked out. Between this movement and the adagio is a long dramatic recitative for the violin, very impressive, but having no discoverable connection with what precedes or what follows it. In breadth, dignity, and expressiveness it surpasses anything that the composer had hitherto produced. From this time forth the symphony steadily grew under Haydn's hands; the form was enlarged, the orchestration was varied, the timbres of the different instruments were studied and instrumental effects gradually assumed an importance that increased with each succeeding symphony. But his greatest symphonies were not written until the period of the Salomon concerts. In the meanwhile Mozart had appeared upon the scene. Haydn's first symphony was produced when Mozart was three years old, and the latter died in the very year in which Haydn's connection with the Salomon concerts began. That Haydn influenced Mozart's early works is beyond question; that Mozart in turn, influenced Haydn later, is equally indisputable.

JOSEPH HAYDN.

From an engraving by J. E. Mansfield, published by Artaria, in Vienna, 1781. Haydn in his forty-ninth year.

In "Le Matin," before alluded to, the second violins play with the first, and the viola with the basses almost through the whole of the first movement. The slow movement has no wind instruments whatever. In the minuet, though, there is a long passage for wind instruments only, and in the trio is an extensive and florid solo for bassoon. Haydn treated the strings in this same confined manner, and the wind after this solo fashion for some twenty years. Then came an effort to make the strings more independent and to pay attention to the peculiar qualities of the viola and violoncello. In the symphony in E-minor (Letter I) the wind is given long holding notes while strings sustain the subject. This was the first step toward greater freedom of orchestration in Haydn's symphonies; but it was not until his "Oxford" symphony that he broke wholly with the past. It was written in 1788, the same year in which Mozart produced his three greatest symphonies. This work is in his mature style, and the orchestration is delightfully clear, flexible and fresh. If he had written no more symphonies after this, however, he would not have attained to the rank he has won as a symphony composer. His fame in this walk of his art was assured by the twelve symphonies he wrote for Salomon after 1790. In these he reached his highest point. His mastery of form was perfected, his technical skill was unlimited, and he ventured into bold harmonic progressions that were little short of daring, for his time. His orchestra had been enlarged to two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets and drums, and in his three last symphonies, the two in D-minor and the one in E-flat, two clarinets appear. It is in these twelve symphonies that the influence of Mozart is clearly manifested. The bass has attained to independence; the violas no longer duplicate it except for certain effects; the second violins have a free motion of their own; the wind instruments express musical ideas proper to them and appropriate to their special qualities of utterance. The form and character of the symphony were established permanently.

Simplicity, clearness of style, grace and playfulness are the leading features of Haydn's symphonies. There are few of the more notable of them in which his command over the science of his art is not delightfully manifested. Haydn is invariably lucid, always finished to the highest point, always logical and always free from display for the mere sake of display. It is a prevailing fault to dwell too persistently on the cheerful simplicity of Haydn's music and to forget how serious and profound he could be when occasion demanded. These latter qualities are nobly manifested in his more important symphonies in those portions of them devoted to the "working out." Such symphonies as appeared before Haydn fixed the form and showed the capacity of that species of composition have wholly disappeared. It would perhaps be over dogmatic to assert that had it not been for Haydn the symphonies of Mozart and of Beethoven would not have been what they are; but it is certain that Haydn gave the impulse to both in as far as their symphony writing is concerned.