Symphony No. 60 (Haydn)

The Symphony No. 60 in C major, Hoboken I/60, was written by Joseph Haydn. It is sometimes given the nickname Il Distratto (The Distracted), or in German, Der Zerstreute.

It was completed in or by 1775 (most likely November 1774). The symphony makes use of music Haydn wrote for a play, Le Distrait, by Jean-François Regnard, given a German revival in 1774 by Karl Wahr under the German title Der Zerstreute (Il Distratto is the title that appears on Haydn's incidental music, however). Symphony no. 60 contains the overture, four entr'actes and finale from the music composed for the five-act play.

The symphony is scored for two oboes, bassoon, two horns, two optional trumpets, timpani, and strings.

The slow introduction to the first movement overture opens with a fanfare similar to the one that opens the 50th symphony which also served an overture to a stage work. The ensuing Allegro is in sonata form. The second theme has a section that is notably marked perdendosi ("dying away") which Sisman associates with the absent-mindedness of the main character of the play. In the development section, the falling arpeggio motif that opens the Farewell Symphony is quoted and repeated at different pitches. According to Giovanni Antonini, a conductor who has recorded the symphony, this quotation is Haydn portraying the orchestra performing the incorrect composition due to distraction.

The slow movement features an alternation between a lyrical string motif and an oboe/horn fanfare. From a theatrical standpoint, this suggests a dialogue between two characters in the play—a well-bred young lady and a carousing soldier—but Haydn had also juxtaposed these types of themes in the slow movements of his 28th and 65th symphonies. The development section contains a parody of a French folk dance.

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