South Asia—Re-Discovering Haydn’s Il Distratto
by Vidhurinda Samaraweera
Not many composers ignite my passion quite like Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809). Dubbed the “Father of the Symphony,” his long tenure as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family forced him, in his own words, "to become original." This originality shines brightest in his demanding and virtuosic writing for the natural horn.
Haydn’s High-Flying Horns
Haydn’s relationship with the horn is very special, to say the least, contributing challenging orchestral passages and influencing later composers like Mozart and Beethoven. The Esterházy court prized the horn for its strong association with the hunt, a feature Haydn brilliantly exploited to please his patrons.
His horn sections often enjoyed unusual prominence; in works like Symphonies Nos. 13, 31, 39, and 72, four horns constituted roughly a quarter of the entire orchestra of sixteen or seventeen musicians.
A key characteristic of early Haydn writing, particularly in the festive C major symphonies, is the continuation of the Baroque clarino tradition, demanding specialization in the high register (cor alto). This contrasts sharply with the contemporary trend, where Mozart generally wrote safer, mostly harmonic parts for his concertos.
Haydn’s most spectacular horn writing, such as the fortissimo fanfares in Symphony No. 31, “Hornsignal” (1765), featuring four horns (two originally crooked in D and two in G), showcases this high-flying requirement. The brilliance of his C major symphonies, like the Maria Theresia (No. 48), often required horns in C-alto, sometimes functioning as "replacement trumpets" due to the absence of trumpeters at Esterházy.
The Comical Demands of Symphony No. 60, Il Distratto
My experience playing Symphony No. 60 (composed c. 1774) is a vivid memory of navigating brilliance and hilarity. This six-movement work, adapted from incidental music for a comedy about an absent-minded gentleman, was described by conductor Kenneth Woods as "possibly the funniest and most modern symphony ever written."
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Jude Fernando and Vidhurinda Samaraweera performing Haydn’s Symphony No. 60 in Colombo, Sri Lanka, with the Gustav Mahler Orchestra of Colombo (September 9.2025)
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The horn parts, scored for two horns (and optional trumpets/timpani), contribute greatly to the celebratory and chaotic atmosphere. The players are required to transition seamlessly from supporting stately Baroque passages to executing sudden, jarring fanfares that anticipate the work’s many jokes.
My favorite passage—and one that requires utmost interpretive precision—is in the 2nd movement, where the horns and oboes blast a sudden forte fanfare mid-phrase in a mellow andante passage. This is the perfect embodiment of “the distracted.”
Figure 1
Another passage is in the finale (6th movement) where the energetic prestissimo comes to a spectacularly discordant halt, allowing the strings to noisily retune their strings—a pure moment of musical comedy. The horns must blast through the fanfare passages that precede this moment of absurdity, setting up the comic tension Haydn intended.
Figure 2
Compared to the adventurous, lyrical chromaticism found in Beethoven works, Haydn’s writing in No. 60 generally adheres to the strict natural harmonic series, emphasizing clarity and fanfare.
Period Instruments and Modern Adaptation
Haydn wrote for the natural horn (or Waldhorn), a valveless instrument that utilized a series of interchangeable tubes (crooks) to change keys. The tone quality was brighter and more penetrating, suitable for its origins as an outdoor instrument. The ability to play notes outside the harmonic series relied on hand-stopping (i.e. inserting the right hand into the bell in varying degrees).
When adapting these parts to the modern valved horn, we must strive to emulate the natural horn's sound characteristics:
- Timbre: The modern horn tends toward a rich, dark sound. To honor Haydn, we must prioritize clarity and brightness. We can achieve this by adjusting the hand position (simulating the open bell sound) and using a conical mouthpiece.
- Articulation: Haydn’s passages, restricted largely to the harmonic series, often evoke hunting calls (like those used in Il Distratto). We can use a crisper tonguing technique ("toh") and maintain the energetic esprit inherent in the original style. This is, however, open to discussion and may be a matter of personal preference.
Filling the Gap in Il Distratto
A persistent and consequential ambiguity in Haydn performance involves the notation of B-flat horns (whether alto or basso), as Haydn himself rarely specified. However, a related interpretive gap exists in how conductors treat the C horns in C major symphonies like No. 60, especially when optional trumpets and timpani are involved.
Despite scholarly consensus (led by H.C. Robbins Landon) that the C horns in Haydn’s festive C major symphonies must be played C-alto (high horns), modern conductors frequently default to C-basso, fundamentally changing the character of the music.
Haydn’s Symphony No. 60, Il Distratto, requires the horns in C to be performed C-alto. This decision is necessitated by both the context and the composition:
- Programmatic Context: The symphony is built on dramatic wit, humor, and the notable fanfare passages. The high clarino register produces the requisite brilliance ideal for these fanfares and the C major solemnity.
- Aesthetic Intent: Critics such as Antony Hodgeson note that performances using the lower octave horns "invalidate" the work because the horns "lumber along an octave too low" and the fanfare-like passages make "no sense at all." It is generally accepted that the upper octave is essential for the horns to function as the brilliant brass component, particularly since the work often includes optional trumpets and timpani.
To best preserve Haydn's inventive genius, modern performances of Il Distratto would need to restore the C-alto horn register. The brilliant, high sound seems to be not a mere detail; it might very well be the defining feature that allows this comic masterpiece to truly come to life.
