Aaron Rabushka wrote:

>HC Robbins Landon corrected many long-standing errors in scores for the
>Haydn symphonies.  Two that come to mind: the use of woodwinds in the
>opening chords of Symphony #102, and the use of harmony in the second
>violins in the beginning of the finale of #92.  It's interesting that there
>are still performers who ignore these changes--I heard some such a couple
>of years ago in Kansas City.

The errors are legion, and many weren't inadvertent, either.  HCRL says
they were deliberate alterations made by publishers/editors in the 19th
century, who considered Haydn's compositional quirks and orchestrations
to be "wrong" (for want of a better word).  No wonder the "Papa Haydn"
myth was perpetuated, rather than his originality and boldness.

I played 1st clarinet in my high school orchestra, and it was a bitter
disappointment to me when they decided to play the "Drumroll" symphony,
using the old hack Breit(dumm)kopf und Haertel score.  For one thing, it
omits the clarinet doublings of the main melody in the Trio of the Menuet.
I knew it was wrong then (I had recently gotten Dorati's set of the
Londons), and I should have offered (insisted) on copying the proper parts
so I could really feel a part of the action.  But I suppose it's a heck of
a lot cheaper for an orchestra to keep on using the old stuff in the back
stacks than to get a new, corrected score.

>Heretical as this may sound, Beecham's Haydn is one of the few things of
>his (B's) that I've heard that I don't like.

Psychologically, the old scores are a big hurdle for me too when listening
to these recordings....gads, even the keyboard solo in the finale of #98 is
totally missing!  It doesn't help that EMI recorded the first half dozen of
the Londons in mono in 1958, when they were perfectly capable of giving Sir
Thomas a stereo take.

Bill H.