Symphony no. 45 "Farewell" in F-sharp minor, Hob. I:45

The Farewell Symphony was written at Eszterháza in 1772, when Prince Nikolaus had kept his musicians at the summer palace far longer than usual and they wanted to return to their families in Eisenstadt. Haydn put the request musically: after the finale the music slows into a second slow movement and the players stop one by one, snuff out their candles and leave, until two violins are left. The prince took the point and the court moved the next day. The symphony is in F sharp minor, a key that required specially crooked horns.