3 movements (out of 4):
I Allegro
II Menuet
III Moderato molto
Clefs
Treble, bass
Meters
3/4, 4/8
Key signatures
1#
Range
Horn 1: g - b2
Horn 2: d - a2
Horn 3: g - b2
Horn 4: G - g2
Creator's Comments
Performance Notes
Beware! If you are one of those people that can tolerate transposing arrangements into different keys only up to a certain point, this work will not make you very happy. On the other hand, if you are glad when a piece gets remarkably simplified that way, and therefore technically more accessible, this may just be the publication to go for.
Haydn’s Symphony no.31 is one of the best known and most feared horn features of the classical period (with the possible exception of Symphony no.51, which however is a lot less performed). It is the notorious variation no.4 that is so difficult, and in an arrangement that is the most likely passage to be looked at first.
Well, the first horn part gives no clues, as there is little to play in that variation. After some searching something resembling the feared first horn part can be found in horn 3, but it looks somehow different. The original key of D major was transposed into C major (G major in horn pitch), so while on paper it looks like the excerpt is a tone higher, in reality everything is a tone lower (as the original parts are in D).
So it is no surprise to find that the whole symphony is a tone lower, and what is more, that one movement (the adagio is missing). The presentation is also not ideal, with the menuet on a separate part (the first and last movement are on one double-sided sheet, front and back respectively). This may disappoint some, and delight others, so depending on which side you are on, this is either a publication to avoid or to buy (given that it has the usual qualities of a Martinet arrangement).