Symphony no. 49 in F minor 'The passion', Hob. I:49
Haydn wrote his Symphony no. 49 in 168, in the midst of what has been called his 'Sturm und Drang' period. Popularly known as The passion, the composer himself did not name it that way: there are a number of different theories about how the name originated, one of them relating the word passion to its eclesiastical meaning. The four movements follow the what was by then archaic Sonata da chiesa pattern: slow, fast, slow (minuet), fast. It was the last time Haydn was to follow this scheme in a symphony. The scoring of the symphony is typical of Haydn in this period: two oboes, bassoon, two horns, strings and continuo.
