Upon his return from his first trip to Paris, Haydn found an aging Prince Nicholas and thus a reduced demand for his services. Having tasted international fame, he was eager to venture forth into the world again, and at the urging of the London promoter Johann Peter Salomon, he began planning a trip to England. In the meantime, Haydn continued to compose in the service of Esterházy. It was during this comparatively slack time that he crafted the Symphony No. 89; it was dedicated to violinist Johann Tost, a former member of the Esterházy orchestra who had succeeded as a virtuoso in Paris. Haydn was still carrying on his close friendship with Mozart during this period, and the two would frequently spend hours together, playing music and exchanging ideas. The younger composer's influence may be heard in some of the scoring. An example would be the barking bassoon in the first movement—a device Mozart used extensively, but one not readily employed by Haydn. There is also a swirling transition at about the midpoint of this seven-minute Vivace movement which is eerie in its resemblance to passages of Mozart. The second-movement Andante is slow-stepping and stately, featuring the rhythmic surprises characteristic of Haydn but remaining harmonically conventional. The third-movement minuet is in some respects a throwback to the Baroque style, with its Bach-like horn calls, swirling continuo-like bass line, and complex counterpoint which at a few points even seems to resemble Baroque polyphony. The finale, a four-and-a-half minute Vivace assai, is full of simple stomping and effective dynamic contrasts. Although there are no exaggerated surprises or rude notes—these were not far in Haydn's future, but are not yet here—the movement has momentum, and a second theme provides a racy passage between introduction and recapitulation. The finale is one of the more ambitious that Haydn crafted up to this point, bringing the work to a satisfying conclusion. In one respect, the work represents a rebound from the less-than-ambitious "grand symphonies," numbers 82 through 87, which Haydn wrote during the Paris trip and which seem to reflect his insecurity at facing a new audience and a new culture. It is perhaps more comfortably Haydn and less self-conscious than those works.

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