Arranged for Haydn’s Orchestra
Maurice Ravel composed Menuet sur le nom d’Haydn in 1909 to mark the centenary of Joseph Haydn’s death, constructing its primary themes from a musical cipher of Haydn’s name: B-A-D-D-G (H-A-Y-D-N). This arrangement sets Ravel’s keyboard work for a classical Haydn-era orchestra—paired oboes, bassoons, natural horns, and strings—bridging early 20th-century French harmonic color with late 18th-century Esterházy orchestration.