Talk:Symphony No. 43 (Haydn)

nickname

Any idea what the nickname means or where it comes from? DavidRF (talk) 03:19, 19 July 2008 (UTC)

AllMusic says "no one knows exactly why". Certainly I do not hear anything of the winged messenger in this symphony; neither do I hear the equally slippery liquid metal, of course. In fact, I hear little speed, but a very calm, at-ease relaxedness in the spacious opening, with a beautiful melody that keeps melting into inconclusive cadences onto tonic chords in first inversion in the first subject (which is further extended in the recapitulation). But it certainly is helpful to distinguish #43 from a dozen other equally beautiful mannerist symphonies by Haydn in this pre-classical period – much better than what Mozart was writing at this time, IMHO. (Though maybe I remember #43 not so much for the nickname but because it was the first Haydn symphony I had the pleasure of hearing.) Double sharp (talk) 11:08, 4 September 2016 (UTC)

P.S. The Mercury also reminds me somewhat of the string quartet Op. 20 No. 1, which also has those tonic cadences in the first movement and has an almost equally beautiful slow movement (of which Mozart's KV 428 slow movement is a clear expy). Double sharp (talk) 11:16, 4 September 2016 (UTC)