Opus 1 No.5 - a little sympony

A symphony in oil - Martin Johnson Heade's "Magnolias on Light Blue Velvet Cloth"

Magnolia ashei, Ash’s Magnolia, is the rarest of the big-leafed Native American magnolias.

The difference between Heade's work of art and a "real" magnolia?

Is it real? Haydn's three movement work, listed by Hoboken as No. III:5 or Opus 1 No. 5, is actually more like Heade's work, a little symphony. But just maybe the string quartet and the symphony in oil are just as real. Haydn's Opus 1 No. 5 has since been identified as Symphony A scored for 2 oboes, bassoon, 2 horns in B-flat alto, strings and continuo.

Here it is played as a string quartet by the Dekany String Quartet


Find more music like this on Haydn String Quartet




And, in full, the first movement, alegro as originally conceived here by Philharmonia Hungarica Antal Dorati, conductor