Editions of Haydn's Works

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Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)

Overview of repertory:

Haydn is best known for symphonies and chamber music for strings, but he also composed numerous operas, masses, and other sacred vocal music.

Method of identification of works:

Works are identified by the titles given in the sources used. The absence of a complete edition of Haydn's music (the first is still in progress) has left editors free to adopt many systems of identification.

Overview of sources used:

Our encodings of Haydn's music are based on various early prints. An endemic problem in the use of early prints is the greater reliance (then) on the use of notated approggiatures and grace-notes where, gradually over time, editors and performers have come to prefer notes written at normal size. We use RISM print numbers where they are available.

Reference catalogue:

The essential catalogue of Haydn's works is Anthony von Hoboken's Thematisch-bibliographisches Werkverzeichnis (3 vols., Mainz: Schott, 1957-78). The Hoboken catalogue uses a double-numbering system. Works are first grouped by genre and then by number. A Roman numeral is used to indicate the group. Hoboken's system has been less widely adopted than those for most other major composers, although the existence of a complete edition may steer editors towards standard choices.

Work titles/numbers:

A great many systems of nomenclature exist for Haydn's chamber works. His music was extremely popular, and therefore made available in multiple editions, in the early nineteenth century. Divergent numbering practices, issuing from the idiosyncratic practices of these early publishers, survive to the present time. His string quartets in particular are identified by several different systems of numeration in modern editions. We have provided a table of cross references between our sources and the most common systems. Note that some works rendered legitimate by these diverse numbering practices are now considered spurious. We do not intentionally encode spurious works. Some Haydn works may have multiple subtitles. Thus Hoboken I: 96, a symphony in D Major, is known both as the Sixth "London" Symphony and as the "Miracle" Symphony. We have ignored nicknames and subtitles unless they are found in the source used.

Movement titles/numbers:

Movement titles and numbers are normally straightforward in Haydn's music, except for the fact that movements with sections in different tempos and/or meters are fairly common; the Hoboken catalogue respects these as one movement.