The Symphony No. 60 in C major (Hoboken 1/60) was written by Joseph Haydn. It is sometimes given the nickname Il Distratto (The Distracted), or in German, »Der Zerstreute«.

Date of composition and scoring

It was completed in or by 1775 (most likely, November 1774.) The symphony makes use of music Haydn wrote for a play, Le Distrait, by Jean-François Regnard, given a German revival in 1774 by Karl Wahr under the German title »Der Zerstreute« (Il Distratto is the title that appears on Haydn's incidental music, however). Symphony no. 60 contains the overture, entr'actes and finale from the music composed for the play. ^[1]

The symphony is scored for two oboes, two horns, two optional trumpets, timpani, and strings.

Movements

1. Adagio - Allegro di molto
2. Andante
3. Menuetto - Trio
4. Presto
5. Adagio (di Lamentatione)
6. Finale: Prestissimo

The finale contains a famous Haydn musical joke: the Prestissimo opening grinds to a halt as the violins find that they need to retune their strings, which they do- on stage, noisily, before the music can continue.

Notes

1. ^ Sisman, Elaine R. (Summer 1990). "Haydn's Theater Symphonies". Journal of the American Musicological Society 43 (2): 293–298. ISSN 0003-0139, http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0139%28199022%2943%3A2%3C292%3AHTS%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y. Retrieved on 17 July 2007. 

See also

• List of symphonies by name

External links

• BBC Discovering Music (browse for .ram file for this work)
• Description of Il Distratto and its history
• Klassika page on the symphony Has instrumentation, composition date