The year 1763 found Haydn under the happily encouraging patronage of Prince Nicolaus Esterházy, whose resources matched his enthusiasm. In contrast to the restricted orchestral forces with which we had to work under Count Morzin, the composer could now "stretch out." In addition to the regular complement of strings, Haydn's Symphony No. 13 from that year is scored for flute, two oboes, four horns, and tympani. The horns reflect a then-recent increase in forces implemented by the arrival of noted virtuoso Carl Franz and one Franz Reiner. The current work was apparently an opportunity for the proud composer to show their expressive possibilities. While Haydn would later explore these sonorities in Nos. 31 ("Hornsignal") and 72 with their hunting figurations, here the quartet is woven into the fabric for their expression and color.

From the start No. 13 marks a corner turned. The opening theme of the first movement possesses a bluff heartiness curiously suggestive of Haydn's future student, Beethoven, colored by the emergence of the horns. The andante cantabile which follows is virtually a concerto movement for cello, a beautiful reverie but a stone's throw from Romanticism. In its angular main theme and instrumental section leaping, the minuet hints of future scherzi in function if not tempo; the accompanying trio features a whimsical dialog between a coquettish flute and strings (one can almost envision a Fragonardian tryst). The contrapuntal finale bears resemblance to No. 3, premonitory of Mozart's "Jupiter" in its common theme and processes.

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