Symphony No. 102 in B-flat Major

• Haydn’s Symphony no. 102 premiered on Feb. 2, 1795 in London. The symphony was performed by the orchestra of the London “Opera Concerts,” an ensemble of about 60 musicians, directed by Giovanni Battista Viotti.
• The symphonies Haydn premiered in London in 1795 were well received.

“Such as were never heard before, of any mortal’s production; of what Apollo & the Muses compose or perform we can only judge by such productions as these.”

Haydn’s friend, English music historian Charles Burney, on Haydn’s 1795 London symphonies

• Fun fact: The musical material in the Adagio movement is nearly identical to the Adagio of Haydn’s F# minor Piano Trio HXV:26¹

1. Georg Feder and James Webster, “Haydn, (Franz) Joseph,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed October 22, 2019, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000044593.