ABSTRACT
When Haydn returned to Vienna in 1795, symphonic composition had ceased to be a priority for him. On the title-page of his last symphony (No. 104), he wrote, with a decisive note of finality, ‘The 12th which I have composed in England’, as though to draw a line under this aspect of his achievement. Henceforth Haydn had in mind grander projects to safeguard his reputation.
