TIL Haydn's "Surprise Symphony" was NOT written to wake up sleeping audience members; that was just a myth
TIL Haydn's "Surprise Symphony" was NOT written to wake up sleeping audience members; that was just a myth
Back in school I heard the story that Haydn wrote the "Surprise Symphony" because he was sick of people sleeping through his music, and wanted to startle them awake. It seems like this was a myth.
From the Wikipedia article:
In Haydn's old age, his biographer Georg August Griesinger asked him whether he wrote this "surprise" to awaken the audience. Haydn replied:
No, but I was interested in surprising the public with something new...
Why do all the cool stories from history end up being made up?
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Aw man, in the tenth grade we had to do a music recital and this was the song I chose. Specifically because I knew thirty kids would have to play some music whether they were interested in the course or not, and I thought the whole sleepy thing was a funny bit.
All the cool stories really are made up :(