Symphony No. 103 in E flat major

The successful orchestral premiere of Haydn’s Symphony No. 103, the celebrated ‘Drumroll’, took place in London on 2 March 1795.

As The Morning Chronicle reported: ‘Another new Overture [Symphony], by the fertile and enchanting HAYDN, was performed; which, as usual, had continual strokes of genius, both in air and harmony. The Introduction excited the deepest attention, the Allegro charmed, the Andante was encored, the Minuets, especially the Trio, were playful and sweet, and the last movement was equal, if not superior to the preceding.’

The enthusiastic, and discriminating, audience reception of the new symphony was reported thus in The Morning Chronicle