Comedy and structure in Haydn's symphonies

Summary

That then which seems generally the cause of laughter is the bringing together of images which have contrary additional ideas, as well as some resemblance in the principal idea: this contrast between ideas of grandeur, dignity, sanctity, perfection and ideas of meanness, baseness, profanity, seems to be the very spirit of burlesque; and the greatest part of our raillery and jest are founded upon it.

Francis Hutcheson, Thoughts on Laughter (1758)

The foundations of humor

“Lowliness” and humor

As the second movement of Haydn's Symphony No. 93 draws to its conclusion, the exquisite opening subject is stated for the first time by the full orchestra in a resounding forte(bar 71). But the expected peroration is soon cut short. After two bars the music becomes increasingly quiet, increasingly broken up into shorter and shorter fragments. Eventually it becomes immobilized on the third C–E, sounded by flutes and violins, whose entrances are separated by delicate pauses, much as if the incomplete theme is nodding off to sleep. In bar 80, however, it is rudely awakened by the two bassoons, who interrupt the reverie with a unison low C, played fortissimo. The sound is reminiscent of someone attacked by a bout of flatulence – a striking contrast with the refinement of the rest of the movement.

This well-known passage exemplifies the humor for which Haydn has long been celebrated. Yet one might well wonder how such coarseness can find a place within a serious work of art.