| 1772 | Joseph Haydn | Symphony No. 47 in G major | |
| Instrumentation | Strings, 2 flutes, 2 oboes (and bassoon doubling bassline) | ||
| Movements | I: Allegro (G) II: Un poco adagio, cantabile (D) III: Menuet al reverso (D) IV: Presto assai (G) | ||
| Overview | A four-movement symphony in the ‘Sinfonia a 8’ configuration. This symphony is included on account of its interesting third movement.
Listen on YouTube |
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| Essay Points | |||
| D) 3rd mov. / Minuet | Both the Minuet and Trio have a palindromic structure – the second half (B) is simply the first half (A) played backwards. Look at score of the minuet.
The Minuet makes this deliberately and humorously awkward by placing accents and leaps in such a way that they really stand out when the material is played backwards. Listen to an extract from the minuet – A followed directly by its reverse (B) (Booklet: Extract: The trio, by contrast, is done very subtly in such a way as you hardly would notice the palindrome (Booklet: Extract): |
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| H) Drama / progr. | Humorous treatment of palindromic structure as discussed above. | ||
| I) Melody / theme | Use of palindromes in third movement as detailed above. | ||
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