Symphony No. 92 (Haydn)

It was Charles Burney, himself a graduate of University College and an Oxford doctor of music, who suggested that the degree should be conferred on Haydn and who made all the arrangements.

As the composer had arrived from London later than expected, he had to conduct a symphony already familiar to the Oxford musicians, who were to play it at sight.

As Haydn had agreed to conduct three concerts in Oxford in connection with receiving his degree, a rehearsal was scheduled for the second morning, and the same evening the symphony we now know as the Oxford was played to the same acclaim it had previously enjoyed at Johann Peter Salomon's concerts in London.

)[2] Haydn distinguishes each section of the sonata form in this movement by use of strong contrasts of stability and instability.

This is very unusual of symphonies of the time, and it reflects an aspect of Haydn’s unique compositional style.

He adds sections of subject change and digression from the original theme as well as moments of rest or silence.

Haydn’s final movement of the Oxford Symphony is centered on a feeling of tension and release.

The frequent chromatic inflections in the melodic line, as well as the use of woodwind and brass colour, are reminiscent of opera buffa, and seem to foreshadow the style of Rossini.