Portland Chamber Orchestra - "The Philosopher" by F.J.Haydn (Symhony no. 22 in Eb major

Composed in 1764, the premiere took place the same year under the direction of Haydn in Prince Esterházy's court. Scored for two English horns, bassoon, two French horns, continuo and strings.

In May 1761, after several years in the service of Count Morzin in Vienna, Haydn was appointed as Vice Kapellmeister [Chapel Master] to the Hungarian Court of Prince Anton Esterházy in the town of Eisenstadt. Due to financial difficulties, Haydn's previous employer Count Morzin released all of his musicians, and Haydn was searching for new employment. Haydn's new position at the Esterházy court seems a step back - from Music Director and Composer for Count Morzin, to Assistant Music Director for Prince Esterházy - but his assistant status was primarily a token of honor to his aging, but still living, predecessor - Gregor Werner. The musical life of the court blossomed in the next few years, due to the death of Prince Anton in 1762 and the subsequent succession by his brother, Prince Nikolaus, who loved music above all else and wished to increase the splendor of his orchestra. Upon Werner's death in 1766 Haydn was promoted to Kapellmeister, a post that he held until Prince Nikolaus's death in 1790.

In several works from his first years at Esterházy, Haydn experimented with reversing the normal procedures of the symphony. What is now commonly considered the conventional four-movement model for the Classical symphony - fast movement, slow movement, minuet and trio, fast movement - was not solidified yet in the 1760s and Haydn experimented with many variants. Symphony No. 22, known by the nickname "The Philosopher," was composed in 1764 and falls into a particular kind of formal variant. Haydn used this plan, modeled on the church sonata, featuring a single key throughout all of the movements and a slow first movement, several times. The association with church music is usually strongest in the first movement of these symphonies, and the opening melody of Symphony No. 22 sounds as though it could be from a Bach chorale.

One of the most notable features of this symphony is Haydn's use of two English horns in place of the customary oboes (his only symphony scored this way). The English horn can be a dark and somber instrument, particularly in comparison with the oboe, and Haydn ingeniously combines the English horns, the French horns, and the muted strings to create a contemplative and mysterious opening atmosphere. Haydn cultivates the archaic "church" style throughout this movement by using old-fashioned contrapuntal devices - such as the chains of suspensions (overlapping descending notes in the strings) - that would be common in J.S. Bach's music, but not usually in a Classical symphony. The remaining three movements of the symphony unfold rather more conventionally, and make it clear that the popular name for this symphony, "The Philosopher" (added sometime in the 19th century), refers primarily to the character of the distinctive first movement.

The second movement, marked "Presto," provides a humorous contrast to the imposing first movement. English and French horns play a lively theme in dialogue with the strings and a compact sonata form unfolds in which the first section is repeated, and after a brief developmental episode, the opening theme returns.

A minuet and trio follows composed in a German folk-style, and the final movement is a wonderfully playful hunting gigue that closes out the symphony. However, don't miss the brief reminiscence of the first movement-after a repeat of the lively first section-when a quiet moment in the strings interrupts the fast motion. We hear the same descending figures from the first movement, changed so that they no longer overlap but rather alternate between the high and low strings. The interruption is brief, but the reference is clear, and with the entrance of the English and French horns the movement rushes to a close.