Symphony No. 86 (Haydn)

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Symphony No. 86 in D major, Hoboken I/86, is the fifth of Haydn’s six Paris Symphonies (Nos. 82–87). He wrote it for Paris in 1787, for a larger orchestra at the request of Count Claude d’Ogny, though he composed it in Esterháza in 1786. The work is in four movements and is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two trumpets, two horns, timpani, and strings (violin I, violin II, viola, cello, double bass). Of the Paris set, Nos. 82 and 86 are the only ones to use percussion and trumpets.

Movements:
- First movement: in sonata form, broadly conceived. An unusual feature is that the primary theme of the exposition begins off-tonic and does not resolve to D major until five bars in; the secondary theme group also delays establishing the home key.
- Second movement: slow and marked Capriccio, a marking Haydn used only once more in his symphonic output (in the finale of the A version of Symphony No. 53).
- Third movement: a middle movement (not detailed here).
- Fourth movement: a sonata-form finale built around a rhythmic motif of five eighth-notes leading into the next bar, often repeated and played staccato.