Symphony No. 85 (Haydn)

[1] It made its way to America early on, at first through a keyboard arrangement such as one played by Nelly Custis at the White House.

[2] The nickname La Reine originated because the work was a favorite of Marie Antoinette, at the time Queen of France.

[4] The symphony is in standard four movement form and is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, and strings.

[5] The second movement is described by the eminent Haydn scholar H. C. Robbins Landon as "a set of variations on the old French folk-song 'La gentille et jeune Lisette'.

[7] Robbins Landon's own source was the biography of Haydn (1875-1927) written by C. F. Pohl, who provides the text of the putative folk song.