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Author
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809: German)
- father was a wheelwright and served as the village mayor
- at age 29 he entered the service of the Esterhazys, a wealthy family of Hungarian royalty
- spent almost 30 years there
- Wikipedia Article
About the Piece
(much of thedescription comes from elements that were brought out by Forney and Machlis, The Enjoyment of Music, and the accompanying DVD)
- Genre is
- Begins with exposition of two themes, both very simple themes
- 4 variations in development
- Switches between C major and C minor
- several very loud accented notes (hence the name, surprise)
- calm ending
- quiet piece throughout, for the most part (excepting loud accented notes)
Purpose
Reflections
On the whole, I find this piece interesting, but not all that thrilling. The accents are quite startling, as they were intended to be, but the rest of the piece is just too quiet and simple to hold my attention (perhaps this is the composer's intent, to lull the listener to sleep and shock them awake)