Music Man

Many of Haydn's symphonies have nicknames - perhaps the best known are the "Farewell" and the "Surprise".  The Farewell was composed as a broad hint to his boss Prince Esterházy that it was time for them all to go back home after some months spent at his summer residence - the symphony ends with the players one by one blowing out the candles on their music stands and leaving the stage until there are only two violins left.  The Prince apparently took the hint.  The Surprise has an unexpectedly loud chord in the middle of a soft passage - it is said to wake up those who had dozed off.  But one I hadn't heard of until recently is The Palindrome - so called because the theme to the third movement is the same played backwards as forwards.  I think I would have liked Haydn.