Symphony No. 93 (Haydn)

Symphony No. 93 in D major, Hoboken I/93, one of the twelve London symphonies (numbers 93–104) written by Joseph Haydn.

It was completed in 1791 as one of the set of symphonies completed for his first trip to London. It was first performed at the Hanover Square Rooms in London on 17 February 1792.

Of the twelve London symphonies, the No. 93 appears first in the Hoboken-Verzeichnis catalogue. However, it was likely the third to be composed of the set, after the No. 96 in D major and the No. 95 in C minor.

The work is in standard four-movement form and scored for two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings.

The first movement is in sonata form: after an introduction follows an exposition that ends with a repeat sign, a development, a recapitulation and a coda.

The introduction is twenty measures long and marked "Adagio". It opens with the orchestra playing the tonic note, D, in unison, avoiding the establishment of the home key of D major with root-position harmony. The introduction then proceeds on an harmonic excursion, through the dominant (A major), a Neapolitan chord (E♭ major, built on G), a diminished seventh, the parallel minor (D minor), and the subdominant minor (G minor), before concluding with a dominant seventh chord.

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