The four symphonies here included range in date from 1758 to 1768. Symphony No. 37, surviving in a manuscript of 1758, precedes Haydn’s employment with the Esterházy family, while Symphony No. 40 was written during his early years as Vice-Kapellmeister at Eisenstadt and is notable, not least, for its final fugue. The other two symphonies were written for Esterháza. Symphony No. 38 includes remarkable oboe solos, presumably intended for a virtuoso performer briefly employed there in the autumn of 1768. The minor-key Symphony No. 39, whose turbulent opening movement is punctuated by sudden dramatic silences, is a precursor of Haydn’s so-called Sturm und Drang (‘Storm and Stress’) period.