Franz Joseph Haydn was born in Rohrau, Austria, on March 31, 1732, and died in Vienna, Austria, on May 31, 1809. The Symphony No. 92 is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings. Approximate performance time is twenty-eight minutes.

For a quarter-century (1766-90), Franz Joseph Haydn served as First Kappellmeister to the Hungarian Prince, Nikolaus Esterházy. After the Prince’s death on September 28, 1790, Haydn returned home to Vienna. There, Haydn received a visit from Johann Peter Salomon, a German-born violinist, composer, and impresario who resided in London. Salomon offered Haydn an extremely lucrative contract to supervise a series of London concerts, featuring new works by the esteemed Austrian composer. 

On New Year’s Day, 1791, Haydn sailed to England. Haydn remained in London until June 1792. It proved to be the first of two visits to that city, the second lasting from February 1794 to August 1795. Haydn had long been revered in England, and the London public seized the opportunity to lavish its adulation upon the composer. 

Haydn acknowledged that the journeys to England provided him with the happiest years of his life. It was most certainly a period of tremendous productivity. Haydn’s most famous compositions from that period are his twelve magnificent final Symphonies (Nos. 93-104). Known as the “London” Symphonies, they form one of the great monuments of the Classical era.

But a prior and equally superb Haydn Symphony is also associated with his London years. In 1791, Oxford conferred an honorary doctorate upon Haydn. Haydn was extremely proud of this recognition, although he was not entirely pleased that expenses associated with the event “cost six guineas.” In celebration of the doctorate, a series of concerts took place at Oxford on July 6, 7, and 8, 1791. For the July 7 concert, Haydn conducted a Symphony that was new to England, but one he had composed in 1789, and used to fulfill a pair of commissions. A review in the Morning Herald reported: “The applause given to HAYDN, who conducted this admirable effort of his genius, was enthusiastic; but the merit of the work, in the opinion of all the Musicians present, exceeded all praise.” In the early 19th century, the Symphony acquired the nickname “Oxford.”

The “Oxford” Symphony opens with a delicate slow-tempo introduction (Adagio). That introduction resolves to the principal Allegro spiritoso, with the first violins offering the movement’s principal theme. In the ensuing development and recapitulation, Haydn subjects the central thematic material to varied treatment, capped by the emphatic final bars. The slow-tempo second movement (Adagio) contrasts delicate lyricism with a stormier episode. The third movement is a Minuet (Menuet. Allegretto), a stately dance in triple meter. The finale (Presto), with its irrepressible high spirits and delightful twists and turns, is quintessential Haydn, a joyous close to a symphonic masterpiece.