Symphony No. 104 in D Major

• This is one of Haydn’s London Symphonies (Nos.93-104), symphonies he wrote for performance during his visits to London.¹
• This symphony premiered in a benefit concert for Haydn presented at the King’s Theater in London on May 4, 1795.² The performers were Giovanni Battista Viotti and his orchestra, which was quite large for its time (60 members).³
• On his manuscript score for this symphony, Haydn noted that it was “the 12th which I have composed in England.”⁴

Haydn’s 1795 symphonies were “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.” 

Music historian Charles Burney, after attending the May 4, 1795 Haydn benefit concert in London.⁵

1.  Georg Feder and James Webster, “Haydn, (Franz) Joseph,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed March 11, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000044593.
2.  “Symphony No. 104 in D major, Hob.I:104 (Haydn, Joseph),” IMSLP, accessed March 11, 2021, https://imslp.org/wiki/Symphony_No.104_in_D_major%2C_Hob.I:104_(Haydn%2C_Joseph). 
3.  Georg Feder and James Webster, “Haydn, (Franz) Joseph,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed March 11, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000044593.
4. Ibid.
5. Quoted in Ibid.