This book has presented the case for the critical revival of Haydn's music among a core group of familiar musical figures in France, Germany/Austria, Great Britain, the United States, and elsewhere in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Just as the reception of Haydn was not monolithically negative in the nineteenth century, his reputation did not become uniformly positive in the twentieth. Rather, both the 1840s and early decades of the 1900s, larger trend lines clearly reversed momentum as key precedents and opinions emerged. That is, the presumption of a positive reception of Haydn's music increased dramatically by the end of World War II in much the way that the presumption of a negative reaction increased after 1840.

In the brief survey of events after World War II that follows, the 1959 sesquicentennial of the composer's death stands out as the point at which overwhelming numbers of musical figures accepted a positive view of the composer. It is with Tovey's writings that the process of Haydn's revival might be thought of as essentially complete, and 1959 stands as the date of widespread acceptance. Later events, research, and the like would only build upon the foundation and momentum already present. The sheer volume and variety of material relating to Haydn from the post-1959 period would require a book of its own to cover in any detail. Providing a short examination of 1959 and a brief overview of seminal moments in the following few decades seems a fitting way to conclude this study and assess the long-term success of the new appreciations developed earlier in the century.

Haydn in Scholarship and Composition since Tovey

Musicological scholarship on Haydn increased in quantity and quality through the postwar era, but perceptions varied dramatically from person to person as to the exact moment when the composer was revived. Already in the 1940s some scholars were speaking of the Haydn revival in the past tense, citing Tovey's writings as the tipping point. Prominent critics increasingly noted their interest in Haydn's music as well. Olin Downes, for instance, rarely addressed Haydn's works, but a 1948 review addressed Symphony no.