Hyperion Records

The first recorded appearance of No 74 is its arrival in August 1781 at the London publisher William Forster, to whom Haydn had sold the rights through the intercession of the British Ambassador to the Viennese court, General Herningham. Forster issued it with the title ‘Overture I. Composed by Giuseppe Haydn of Vienna and Published by his Authority’. This score is fuller in editorial markings (crescendos, accents, and so on) than many of his surviving manuscripts, suggesting that back at Eszterháza he was used to giving such instructions verbally to his players (the original sets of parts of his works are always more copious in markings than the orchestral scores) and with publication he had to be more explicit in his requirements.

from notes by Matthew Rye © 1990