Haydn, Tempesta and the myth of Sturm und Drang

• Published in: Haydn Society of Great Britain no. 39; pp. 14 - 25
• Main Author: McClelland, Clive
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Aldcliffe Haydn Society 01.01.2020
• Subjects: 18th century; Audiences; Composers; Emotions; Haydn, Franz Joseph (1732-1809); Musical composition; Opera; Romantic music (Classical)

Examples of musical storm depictions stretch right back to the operas of the early eighteenth century, where audiences could experience spectacular stage effects (including sounds provided by wind machines and thunder sheets) as well as powerful music for a true assault on the senses. The Age of Reason could well offer sound scientific reasons to explain extreme weather conditions, but superstitions persisted, and storms still offered a very real sense of danger to anyone unfortunate enough to be caught in one. The devices that eighteenth-century composers employed for storms in the theatre began to find their way into other kinds of music, including sacred music, where texts that dealt with storms and other terrifying events such as earthquakes and damnation gave rise to appropriately frightening music, although in a church context there were naturally some constraints on excess. In an age when audience members were easily distracted by the various social activities that might be in progress at the same time, tempesta was a useful way for composers to gain greater attention much has been written about the extraordinary symphonic works that Haydn composed in the late 1760s and early 1770s.