Symphony No. 99 in E-flat Major

• Haydn’s Symphony no. 99 was written for performance in London in 1794, part of a concert series produced by Johann Peter Salomon, a German musician living in London.
  • Salomon and Haydn had had been collaborators since 1790, the year Prince Nicolaus Esterházy died. Prince Anton, the Esterházy heir, still retained Haydn as an employee, but provided him with new freedom to travel and perform elsewhere.
  • Haydn & Salomon’s collaboration marked the beginning of Haydn’s “English Period,” with Haydn composing and conducting symphonies for Salomon’s concert series.
  • Salomon gave Haydn the idea of writing a “Creation” oratorio. In 1797 Salomon gave Haydn a libretto on the creation story which was (supposedly) written for Handel, but never used. This became the basis for Haydn’s Creation.¹²
• The symphony premiered at Hanover Square Rooms on February 10, 1794.

“It rouses and affects every emotion of the soul.—It was received with rapturous applause.”

“The effect of the wind instruments in the second movement was enchanting.”

Review of Haydn’s Symphony no. 99 in the London Morning Chronicle, Feb. 10, 1794³

1. Karl Geiringer et al, “Joseph Haydn,” Encyclopædia Brittanica (May 27, 2019), accessed October 23, 2019, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Joseph-Haydn.
2. 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.
3. Quoted in Richard Wigmore, “Symphony No 99 in E flat major, Hob I:99,” Hyperion, accessed March 11, 2020, https://www.hyperion-records.co.uk/dw.asp?dc=W12192_311702.