Symphony no. 73 "La chasse" in D major, Hob. I:73

Symphony no. 73 was assembled in 1781 partly from music Haydn already had: the finale is the overture to his opera La fedeltà premiata, staged at Eszterháza the previous year, where it accompanied a hunting scene. That movement, with its horn calls, gave the symphony its nickname. The first movement opens with a slow introduction, and the second is based on a song Haydn had set separately, Gegenliebe. The recycling was practical rather than casual — the opera would not travel, while symphonies could be sold to publishers in Paris and Vienna.