To this period belong five Masses, a dozen operas, over thirty clavier-sonatas, over forty quartets, over a hundred orchestral symphonies and overtures, a Stabat Mater, a set of interludes for the service of the Seven Words, an Oratorio Tobias written for the Tonkiinstler-Societe t of Vienna, and a vast number of concertos, divertimenti and smaller pieces, among which were no less than 175 for Prince Nicholas' favourite instrument, the baryton.
His most important works were the Missa hispanica, which he exchanged for his diploma at Stockholm, a Mass in D minor, a Lauda Sion, a set of graduals, forty-two of which are reprinted in Diabelli's Ecclesiasticon, three symphonies (1785), and a string quintet in C major which has been erroneously attributed to Joseph Haydn.
At the pianoforte his achievements culminate in the two books of studies, twice rewritten, and finally published in 1852 as Etudes d'execution transcendante, the Etudes de concert and the Paganini Studies; the two concertos and the Todtentanz, the Sonata the Hungarian Rhapsodies and the fine transcriptions of Beethoven's symphonies (the 9th for two pianofortes as well as solo), and of Berlioz's Symphonie fantastique, and the symphony, Harold en Italie.
Toute la lyre, his latest legacy to the world, would be enough, though no other evidence were left, to show that the author was one of the very greatest among poets and among men; unsurpassed in sublimity of spirit, in spontaneity of utterance, in variety of power, and in perfection of workmanship; infinite and profound beyond all reach of praise at once in thought and in sympathy, in perception and in passion; master of all the simplest as of all the subtlest melodies or symphonies of song that ever found expression in a Border ballad or a Pythian ode.
Thus there were no string-quartets, before Haydn - at least none that can be distinguished from: symphonies for string-band.
The method of presentation in both symphonies is by means of representative themes (Leitmotif), and their combination and interaction.
Haydn, thus released from his official duties, forthwith accepted a commission from Salomon, the London concertdirector, to write and conduct six symphonies for the concerts in the Hanover Square Rooms. He arrived in England at the beginning of 1791 and was welcomed with the greatest enthusiasm, receiving among other honours the degree of D Mus.
To these should be added the list of Haydn's symphonies printed in Alfred Wotquenne's Catalogue de la Bibliothbque du Conservatoire Royal de Bruxelles, vol.