Daniel Heartz has noted Haydn's use of a "repeated D motif", from the very beginning of the symphony throughout the work.[1] The second movement is structured as a theme with four variations. The finale is based on a traditional melody which was also used by Baroque composer Alessandro Poglietti in his composition "Canzona and Capriccio on the Racket of Hen and Rooster".[2] Here, the melody is adapted to a tarantella/saltarello dance rhythm similar to the previous Symphony No. 56.[3]
References
^Daniel Heartz, Haydn, Mozart, and the Viennese School, 1740-1780 (New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1995) (ISBN0393965333), pp. 368–71.
^H. C. Robbins Landon, Haydn: Chronicle and Works, 5 vols, (Bloomington and London: Indiana University Press, 1976– ) v. 2: "Haydn at Eszterhaza, 1766–1790".[page needed]
^A. Peter Brown, The Symphonic Repertoire (Volume 2) (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2002) (ISBN025333487X), pp. 157–159.