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Josef Haydn's
Oxford Symphony No. 92 in G, |  |
In the month of July 1792 Josef Haydn was invested with
the Oxford Doctor of Music degree. Haydn's
noted, "I had to pay one and a
half guineas for the bell peals at Oxforth [sic] when I received
the doctor's degree, and half a guinea for the robe." He seems to
have found the ceremonies a little trying, and not unlikely he
imagined himself cutting rather a ridiculous figure in his
gorgeous robe of cherry and cream-coloured silk. At the concert
following the investiture he seized the gown, and, raising it in
the air, exclaimed in English, "I thank you." "I had to walk
about for three days in this guise," he afterwards wrote, "and
only wish my Vienna friends could have seen me." Haydn's
"exercise" for the degree was "Canon cancrizans, a
tre," set to the words, "Thy voice, O harmony, is divine."
This was subsequently used for the first of the Ten Commandments,
the whole of which he set to canons during his stay in London.
Three grand concerts formed a feature of the Oxford
Commemoration.
At the second of these a symphony in G, written in 1787 or 1788,
and since known as the Oxford Symphony was performed, with the composer
at the organ. He had taken a new symphony with him for the
occasion, but owing to lack of time for rehearsals, the earlier
work was substituted. Of this latter, the Morning Chronicle wrote
that "a more wonderful composition never was heard. The applause
given to Haydn was enthusiastic; but the merit of the work, in
the opinion of all the musicians present, exceeded all praise."
Josef Haydn Facts and Information
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