When Prince Nikolaus Esterházy completed a lavish country palace in 1766, the workload for his tireless Kapellmeister, Joseph Haydn, increased dramatically. The “summer” seasons at the estate stretched to be nearly year-round, and all the while Haydn had to produce operas, provide music for church services, mount concerts, and attend to any other musical needs for his insatiable patron.

Some of Haydn’s most original efforts in the late 1760s and 1770s reflected an artistic trend that has been dubbed Sturm und Drang (“Storm and Stress”) after a play of the same name. From literature to painting to playwriting, artists dared to explore emotional extremes and dark discomfort; for Haydn, it led to his first symphonies constructed in minor keys.

The Symphony No. 49 was among Haydn’s earliest minor-key symphonies, and it is arguably his darkest. Instead of the usual order of movements, the symphony begins with a devastating Adagio, a practice in line with the older “church sonatas” that arranged the movements slow-fast-slow-fast. A rather fast second movement continues in the home key of F-minor, its main theme marked by aggressive leaps and driving counterpoint. The key persists for the Menuet, at least until the contrasting trio section in F-major provides the symphony’s only substantial relief. The brisk, throbbing finale confirms the symphony’s F-minor fate.

This symphony has been known as “The Passion” ever since it was advertised as such for a performance during Holy Week in 1790, but there is nothing specifically religious about the work, and the nickname didn’t come from Haydn. In a fascinating twist, another early source labels this symphony “Il quakuo di bel’humore” (“The Waggish Quaker”), the name of a popular play that satirized a pious Quaker character. Haydn often recycled the incidental music he wrote for plays into symphonies, so it’s possible that, in its original setting, this music’s over-the-top emotion actually played as farcical comedy.

Two oboes, bassoon, two horns, strings, continuo