HAYDN\u27S OVERTURES AND THEIR ADAPTATIONS AS CONCERT ORCHESTRAL WORKS (JOSEPH HAYDN, AUSTRIA)

Haydn\u27s overtures have not previously received an extended study. Only with recent advances in Haydn source research has it become possible to treat in depth the basic issues concerning them: the identification of the authentic overtures, the assignment of each overture to the appropriate theatrical work, the determination of the original version of each overture and of the function it had in its theatrical context, the authentication of the numerous concert adaptations as independent works or parts of symphonies, and the stylistic relationship between the overtures and the symphonies. This study accepts 22 works as Haydn overtures. They invariably show structural, tonal, thematic, or programmatic connections with the remainder of the works they introduce. The reuse of overtures as concert works consequently posed difficulties for Haydn and the authentic concert adaptations often show an ad hoc quality. Only two overtures from 1762 have three movements. From 1768 to 1778 Haydn made use of a type having two movements, fast-slow, with the following number generally serving as a finale; a tradition of such overtures can be traced in Austria from the beginning of the century to the 1780s. In all, he may have written seven two-movement overtures, though three survive only in concert adaptations. Three works from the mid-1770s to 1783 appear to be reprise overtures, with a slow middle section interrupting a quick movement in sonata form. The remaining ten overtures, dating from ca. 1774 to 1801, have one movement. The first overtures have stylistic affinities with the concert symphonies of a few years earlier, but after 1770 the overtures are comparable to the contemporary symphonies in their low-level structure. The slow introduction actually makes its appearance in Haydn\u27s mature orchestral works in the overtures in 1773 and only in 1786 becomes a regular feature of the symphonies