Cocktail Party Fact: This is the sixth and last of the so-called “Paris” Symphonies, written specifically for a concert series in the French capital.
Commitment Factor: 20 - 25 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1786). A four-movement symphony without trumpets and drums, but with some especially lovely wind writing (for flute, oboes, bassoons and horns).
What to Listen [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: This is the fifth of the so-called “Paris” Symphonies, written specifically for a concert series in the French capital. It is also generally considered to be the finest.
Commitment Factor: 20 - 25 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1786). A four-movement symphony in the grand style, with trumpets and drums, and a long introduction [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: This is the fourth of the so-called “Paris” Symphonies, written specifically for a concert series in the French capital. The nickname was added because the work was supposedly a favorite with none other than Queen Marie Antoinette.
Commitment Factor: 20 - 25 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1786). A four-movement symphony with a stately [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: This is the third of the so-called “Paris” Symphonies, written specifically for a concert series in the French capital.
Commitment Factor: 20 - 25 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1786). A four-movement symphony, with a lovely introduction preceding the first movement proper.
What to Listen For: Haydn’s symphonies without nicknames tend to get short [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: This is the second of the so-called “Paris” Symphonies, written specifically for a concert series in the French capital. The title comes from the “clucking” sound of the first movements second theme. You can’t miss it.
Commitment Factor: 20 - 25 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1786). A four-movement symphony with an almost [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: This is the first of the so-called “Paris” Symphonies, written specifically for a concert series in the French capital. The title (which is not Haydn’s–none of them are) was inspired by the finale, which reminded someone at some point of a dancing bear.
Commitment Factor: 20 - 25 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1786). [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: This symphony comes with a story. Haydn’s patron, Prince Nicholas Esterhazy, built a huge palace for himself out on a Hungarian swamp. He loved it there–but he was the only one. Each year he spent more time at Esterhaza (as it was called), while his musicians suffered. You see, they had to [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: Haydn asked that the slow third movement of this symphony be performed at his funeral–hence the nickname.
Commitment Factor: 20 - 25 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1771). This is a standard, four-movement symphony composed during a time when the standard, four-movement symphony was anything but–it was in fact Haydn’s invention. Aside from the [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: This symphony has a companion, No. 72, which was actually written a bit earlier, and somehow got badly misplaced in the original chronology.
Commitment Factor: 20 - 25 minutes
Vital Statistics: Classical Period (1765). A four-movement symphony with spectacular solos for a quartet of horns. The finale is a Theme and Variations in which [...]

Cocktail Party Fact: “The twelfth that I have composed in England” Haydn wrote on the manuscript score–it was to be his last symphony, though he had another decade of productivity ahead of him. Taken as a whole, Haydn’s 106 symphonies represent a body of work unsurpassed in both quality and quantity in the history of [...]