Franz Joseph Haydn on Music Theory Print

Armida (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Libretto#

The text of Nunziato Porta’s libretto for Haydn’s Armida was principally taken from Antonio Tozzi’s opera Rinaldo, first performed during Ascension 1775 at the Teatro San Salvatore in Venice with a libretto by an unknown adapter that was chiefly based on an Armida written by and set to music by Pasquale Anfossi for Turin in 1770 (see List of operas by Pasquale Anfossi) and Antonio Sacchini for Milan in 1772 (see Armida (Sacchini)). Rinaldo also incorporated elements from Niccolò Jommelli’s opera Armida abbandonata, first performed in 1770 at the Teatro San Carlo in Naples with a libretto by , who had adapted it from his earlier drama based on Tasso’s Gerusalemme liberata. Jommelli’s opera featured ballet, chorus, and machine spectacle. A recitative in Act 3, relating Rinaldo’s visit to the enchanted forest of Armida, was set by several other composers before it was included in Haydn’s opera. Rinaldo also incorporated material from Giovanni Bertati’s libretto for Johann Gottlieb Naumann’s 1773 opera Armida that was also used in Haydn’s version.

Baryton trios (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The baryton#

The baryton is a bowed string instrument of the viol family played in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries. It has six or seven strings of gut, arranged over a fretted fingerboard, plus a lower set of wire strings. When the gut strings are bowed, the wire strings vibrate sympathetically, enriching the tone. The wire strings may also be plucked by the performer’s left thumb, creating a contrasting tonal quality.

Cello Concerto No. 1 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Although the full work was discovered in 1961, Haydn had written the beginning of the principal theme of the first movement in his draft catalogue of 1765. This early work, nearly contemporaneous with Symphonies Nos. 6, 7 and 8 and predating his D major cello concerto by around twenty years, already shows Haydn as a master of instrumental writing. The solo cello part is thoroughly idiomatic. The concerto reflects the ritornello form of the baroque concerto as well as the emerging structure of the sonata-allegro form. As in the baroque concerto grosso, the accompanying ensemble is small: strings, two oboes, and two horns. It is possible that Weigl was the only cellist in the Esterházy Orchestra when Haydn composed the concerto, since there is only one cello line in the score, marked alternately “solo” and “tutti.” There is also, however, a basso continuo line, that might have been played by another cellist, or by Haydn himself on the harpsichord, or by a string bass player.

Cello Concerto No. 2 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The concerto is structured in the usual three movements: In the first movement of the D Major Concerto, the tone is leisurely and soothing. However, the piece soon enters the development phase, where another theme, building upon the opening theme, is discovered. Finally, the recapitulation returns to the main theme. In the second movement, the key shifts to the dominant, A major. The tempo marking is “Adagio”, slower than many of Haydn’s slow movements which are marked “Andante”. In the middle of the second movement, there is an episode in the rather distant key C major. The final movement is the shortest movement of the concerto. It is in rondo form, featuring an episode in the dominant key of A major and a more somber digression in D minor. The work ends with a rather cheerful affirmation, less overtly virtuosic than Haydn’s First Cello Concerto.

Der krumme Teufel

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Description#

The title Der krumme Teufel is often translated as “The Lame Devil”, or The Crooked Devil, or altered to The Deceitful Devil. The opera was in the genre of Singspiel, with spoken dialogue rather than recitative. The music was intended as a vehicle for Joseph Felix von Kurz, who wrote the text under the stage name “Bernardon”. Kurz was a leading comic actor at the time in Vienna, whose troupe performed at the Kärntnertortheater. The text is often seen as a satire of the limping Italian but others dispute that he was already in Vienna around 1751 and also consider unlikely that the revised version’s 1770 performance was about him.

Die Schöpfung & Harmoniemesse (Leonard Bernstein recording)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Recording#

Die Schöpfung was recorded using analogue technology on 17, 18 and 20 May 1966 in the Philharmonic Hall – afterwards renamed the Avery Fisher Hall, and then the David Geffen Hall – in the Lincoln Center, New York City. The Harmoniemesse was recorded using analogue quadraphonic (four-channel) technology in February 1973 in the Manhattan Center, also in New York City.

Packaging#

The cover of the album, designed by C. C. Garbers, features a photograph by Lesley Donald of a 1991 watercolour by the Prince of Wales: View of Ben Avon, Balmoral. (The back of the album credits the painting to A. G. Carrick Ltd, a company set up by the Prince of Wales to exploit his intellectual property rights for the benefit of The Prince of Wales’s Charitable Fund. A. G. Carrick is an alias that the Prince derived in jest from his full, formal title: His Royal Highness Prince Charles Philip Arthur George, Prince of Wales, Earl of Chester, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay, Earl of Carrick, Baron of Renfrew, Lord of the Isles and Prince and Great Steward of Scotland.) Also on the album’s cover are a photograph of Bernstein by Ludwig Schirmer and a photograph of the Prince by dpa/Camera Press.

Divertimento in G major

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The keyboard divertimento resembles the sonata, but its purpose was more for entertainment. Haydn’s divertimentos tend to have three movements in a quick-slow-quick form, but the 18th century divertimento can have up to nine movements. The opening and closing allegro movements are usually in sonata form and are characteristically galant. Georg Feder groups this divertimento with nine others, calling them, “Nine small early sonatas.” Feder believes Haydn wrote them for his students or amateurs, as they are not technically challenging. In a letter from Haydn to the Prince Nikolaus Esterházy on December 6, 1766, Haydn references six new divertimenti that he had composed. This divertimento, seeing as it is classified by Landon as Divertimento No. 1, might be among the divertimenti that he is referencing: “The most joyous Name Feast (which, Your Highness, with the grace of God, may spend in most complete fortune and felicity) obliged me most duly…to deliver to Him, in all humbleness, 6 new divertimenti…. Furthermore, I received the high order to have the divertimenti composed by me (twelve pieces in all) bound. but since Your Highness had returned to me some of them to be changed and I did not annotate those changes into my score, I ask you most obediently to let come to me the first 12 pieces only for the duration of three days, thereafter also the others, one by one, so that everything, including the changes, could be copied well and correctly, and bound.”

Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Lyrics and music#

\new Staff > \layout indent = #0 \midi \tempo 4 = 90

History#

The song was written when Austria was seriously threatened by Revolutionary France and patriotic sentiments ran high. The story of the song’s genesis was narrated in 1847 by Anton Schmid, who was Custodian of the Austrian National Library in Vienna: Saurau himself later wrote: I had a text fashioned by the worthy poet Haschka; and to have it set to music, I turned to our immortal compatriot Haydn, who, I felt, was the only man capable of creating something that could be placed at the side of … “God Save the King”. “Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser” was first performed on the Emperor’s birthday, 12 February 1797. It proved popular, and came to serve unofficially as Austria’s first national anthem.

Harmoniemesse

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

References#

Heartz, Daniel (2009). Mozart, Haydn and Early Beethoven: 1781 — 1802 W. W. Norton & Co. New York.
Hughes, Rosemary (1974). Haydn. J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. London.
Larsen, Jans Peter; Feder, Georg (1997). The New Grove Haydn W. W. Norton & Co. New York.
Schenbeck, Lawrence (1996). Joseph Haydn and the Classical Choral Tradition. Hinshaw Music. Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Sisman, Elaine Rochelle (1997). Haydn and His World. Princeton University Press. Princeton.
Strimple, Nick (2008). Choral music in the nineteenth century. Hal Leonard. New York.

Haydn Symphonies (album)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Track listing#

; Symphony No. 53 in D Major (The Imperial) # I. Largo maestoso; Vivace # II. Andante # III. Menuetto # IV. Finale: Capriccio, Moderato ; Symphony No. 64 in A Major (Tempora Mutantur) # I. Allegro con spirito # II. Largo # III. Menuetto: Allegretto # IV. Finale: Presto ; Symphony No. 96 in D Major (The Miracle) # I. Adagio; Allegro # II. Andante # III. Menuetto: Allegretto # IV. Finale: Vivace assai Track listing adapted from AllMusic.

Haydn, Hummel, L. Mozart: Trumpet Concertos

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Reception#

AllMusic awarded the album 4 stars and its review by Richard S. Ginell states: “His first classical album having been released simultaneously with his second jazz album, Think of One, the 21-year-old Wynton Marsalis found himself in the position of being the most celebrated purveyor of both the classical and jazz repertoire since Benny Goodman”. He also states that Marsalis “makes up his own marvelous cadenza in the first movement of the Haydn concerto, beginning with a pair of musical questions which he boldly proceeds to answer and continuing with other dialogues and wide leaps, all thoroughly within the classical style”. Ivan March reviewed the album on cassette in the December 1983 edition of Gramophone and describes Marsalis’s trumpet playing as “very impressive indeed”.

Hoboken catalogue

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The catalogue#

The catalogue is a massive work; a currently available version runs to 1936 pages. Each work is given with an identifying incipit, printed on a single musical line. There is discussion of manuscript sources, early editions, listing in previous catalogues (including the two Haydn prepared), and critical commentary.

Organization#

Catalogues of composers’ works typically follow either a chronological arrangement (sorting by date of composition) or a sorting by musical genre. Hoboken’s catalogue is of the latter type; thus the symphonies, for example, are in category I, all string quartets are in category III, keyboard sonatas are in category XVI, and so on.

Il mondo della luna

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Roles#

The roles of Ecclitico and Lisetta were written for Guglielmo Jermoli and his wife Maria Jermoli, but they left Eszterháza shortly before the premiere. The opera is scored for two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, strings, and continuo.

Synopsis#

Time: early 18th century Place: near Florence

Act 1#

A terrace in the house of the bogus astronomer Ecclitico; an observatory tower with a telescope. A starlit night, with full moon Ecclitico and his four students sing a hymn to the Moon, and Ecclitico boasts of how he can dupe the foolish – such as Buonafede, who now appears. Buonafede does not have a clue what the Moon is. Ecclitico explains to him that through his powerful telescope he will be able to see the Moon’s transparent surface all the way through the houses and able to spy on ladies as they undress before going to bed. Buonafede then attempts to view the Moon through Ecclitico’s telescope while Ecclitico’s servants move caricatures in front of the telescope’s lens. The trick works: Buonafede describes what he thinks he has seen: a very beautiful young girl caressing an old man, a husband ready to punish his wife for her infidelity, and a man who completely dominates his female lover. He rewards Ecclitico with some coins and leaves. Alone, Ecclitico muses that it is not the old man’s money he wants, but to wed his daughter Clarice. Ernesto, a nobleman who is in love with Clarice’s sister Flaminia, and his servant Cecco (in love with Buonafede’s servant, Lisetta) now join Ecclitico. Buonafede intends to marry the sisters off to rich suitors. Ecclitico assures Ernesto and Cecco that with a little money all their difficulties will be solved. In a more serious aria (“Begli occhi vezzosi”), Ernesto sings of Flaminia’s eyes and awaits impatiently the moment in which the two of them will spend their lives together. Cecco, for his part, is convinced that everyone’s playing games and insistently points out the comic side of life. A room in Buonafede’s house The sisters Clarice and Flaminia dream of escaping their tyrannical father. In a long aria, Flaminia recognises that even if reason is to dominate the soul, when love intervenes it takes control of everything. Buonafede mocks Clarice’s stubbornness but she answers back, threatening him that she will find a husband for herself if he is not capable of providing one for her. The two sisters are clearly differentiated: Clarice is down to earth and her arias are full of determined pragmatism. Buonafede invites Lisetta (his daughters’ maid) to share the wonders he has seen through the telescope, in an attempt to win her over. Interested in his money, she reassures him of her love for him, her fidelity and her virtues, none of which is true. Ecclitico arrives and tells Buonafede that the Emperor of the Moon has invited him to his court. By drinking an elixir he will be transported to the Moon. Buonafede is tempted to travel with him and, therefore, asks for some of the liquor. Ecclitico agrees and, pretending to drink half of it, gives the rest to Buonafede who drinks it, falls asleep, and dreams of flying to the Moon. Clarice and Lisetta believe at first that he is dead, then console themselves with the inheritance they will be getting.

Il mondo della luna (Antal Doráti recording)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

At the time when the album was taped, no complete autograph score of the opera was known to exist. There were fragmentary autographs in collections in Berlin, Budapest, Cracow and Paris, and scholars had also found three contemporary copies – one, lacking Act 3, in Brussels, and two, complete, in Brno and Vienna. There are many inconsistencies between these various documents, reflecting the numerous revisions of his opera that Haydn undertook. The Vienna score was the principal source of the edition used by Doráti.

Il ritorno di Tobia

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Setting#

Soloists: * Tobia (tenor) * Anna, Tobia’s mother (alto) * Tobit, Tobia’s father (bass) * Sara, Tobia’s wife (soprano) * Raffaele, an angel (soprano) Hebrew choir (SATB) and orchestra The venue of the event is the Tobias parents’ house in Nineveh.

Recordings#

1975 – Magda Kalmár (Raffaelle), Veronika Kincses (Sara), Klára Takács (Anna), Attila Fülöp (Tobia), Zsolt Bende (Tobit) – Budapest Madrigal Choir, Budapest State Orchestra, Ferenc Szekeres – 4 LPs/3 CDs (Hungaroton)
1980 – Barbara Hendricks (Raffaelle), Linda Zoghby (Sara), Della Jones (Anna), Philip Langridge (Tobia), Benjamin Luxon (Tobit) – Brighton Festival Chorus, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Antal Doráti – 4 LPs/3 CDs (Decca Records)
2006 – Roberta Invernizzi (Raffaelle), Sophie Karthäuser (Sara), Ann Hallenberg (Anna), Anders J. Dahlin (Tobia), Nikolay Borchev (Tobit) – VokalEnsemble Köln, Capella Augustina, Andreas Spering – 3 CDs (Naxos)

References#

Notes Sources *Olleson, Edward (2009) “Il ritorno di Tobia”. Article in David Wyn Jones (2009) Oxford Composer Companions: Haydn. Oxford University Press. *Smither, Howard E. (1977) A History of the Oratorio. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.

Kaiserquartett

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The string quartet has four movements:

External links#

- - , Alban Berg Quartett

Keyboard Concerto No. 11 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Form#

The work has three movements, the last of which is a lively Hungarian rondo: The first and second movements contain cadenzas which have been preserved in the original score, handwritten by Haydn. The work is scored for solo keyboard and an orchestra consisting of two oboes, two horns in D, and strings. Nowadays, it mostly is played on piano.

External links#

*, Ronald Brautigam on fortepiano, Concerto Copenhagen, conducted by Lars Ulrik Mortensen

L'anima del filosofo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

After his patron Prince Nikolaus Esterházy had died in 1790, Haydn travelled to London where he received a commission to write several symphonies. The impresario John Gallini offered him a contract to write an opera for The King’s Theatre but due to a dispute between King George III and the Prince of Wales he was refused permission to stage it in May 1791. There are some uncertainties about why the opera was banned at the time. The score was nearly completed but was not published in its complete form before the 20th century. It was partially published by Breitkopf & Härtel in c. 1807. Various manuscripts were scattered in several European libraries. H. C. Robbins Landon did much to assemble the available scores.

L'incontro improvviso

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition and Performance History#

The libretto by Karl Frieberth was adapted and translated from a French opéra comique by L. H. Dancourt, already set by Gluck in 1764 as the La rencontre imprévue. In keeping with Italian practice, Friberth constructed longer buffo finale texts at the end of Acts I and II. It is not known if any further performances followed the Eszterháza production, although a German translation was made for Bratislava. Danish musicologist Jens Peter Larsen discovered the autograph score in Leningrad in 1954, and the opera was subsequently broadcast in Russian in 1956. It was first staged in the UK at the Camden Festival in 1966. The first complete recording was made by Philips in 1980 in association with the Radio Suisse Romande and the European Broadcasting Union, conducted by Antal Doráti. The first performance of the German translation was staged by Jakob Peter-Messer for the Wuppertal Opera in 2010 in cooperation with the Haydn-Institut in Cologne.

L'infedeltà delusa

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Performance history#

The earliest recorded performance, which may have been the premiere, was at Eszterháza (in modern Hungary) on 26 July 1773. This was the name day of the Dowager Princess Estaházy and this date is given in the printed libretto. Haydn was asked by his employer, Nicolaus Esterházy, to write an opera specifically for the Dowager Princess’ name day; he originally intended to rewrite his previous opera Acide e Galatea, but the project was abandoned after he had written several sketches. It was revived for the visit of Empress Maria Theresa on 1 September 1773, and again on 1 July 1774. It was revived in a modified form in Vienna in 1930; a radio performance was given in Budapest in 1952, and the original version was staged in the same city in 1959 as part of a Haydn Congress. The work was performed as part of the 2008 Aix-en-Provence Festival, conducted by Jérémie Rhorer. In 2014, it was performed by New Chamber Opera at New College, Oxford. Sarasota Opera gave the work in March 2024.

L'isola disabitata

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Act 1#

Using the crudest of tools, Costanza is on the verge of completing an inscription on a rock next to her cave: “Abandoned by the traitor Gernando, Constanza finished her days on these strange shores. Friendly traveler, unless you be a tiger, either avenge or pity…” Her young sister Silvia enters, rejoicing that a lost pet deer has returned, and asks why Costanza is unhappy, being on such a pleasant island far from the world wicked men she has often described, but cannot cheer her. Silvia, alone, watches a ship arrive and runs to ask her sister what monster swims and flies at the same time. Her way is blocked by Gernando and his friend Enrico, and she hides, not being able to overhear their conversation. Both had been captives of pirates, Gernando seized on this very beach while his wife was recovering from seasickness. They split up to search the island, Enrico first singing of his unending gratitude to his friend for helping his escape. Silvia has managed to get a good look at him, too kind-looking to be a man, but not wearing a skirt either. She marvels as well at a new kind of fear that causes gladness: yet more questions for Constanza.

La canterina

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Synopsis#

Gasparina, the songstress, and her mother, Apollonia, are visited by Don Ettore, a young man who attempts to woo Gasparina with fabric and jewels stolen from his mother. When Don Pelagio, Gasparina’s singing instructor and benefactor, arrives, the women attempt to disguise Don Ettore as a merchant and send him away. Don Pelagio teaches Gasparina a new aria he has written for her and asks her to marry him. When Don Pelagio leaves, Gasparina calls Don Ettore back in. Don Pelagio has left something behind, however, and returns to catch Gasparina and Don Ettore together. Don Pelagio and Don Ettore are both angry at having been deceived and taken advantage of by the women. Don Pelagio decides to throw the women out of their apartment, which he had given them, and begins to carry away their belongings. Gasparina pleads for forgiveness and mercy, and Don Pelagio is swayed. Not only does he allow her to stay in the apartment, but he brings his own belongings to the women. Gasparina continues to take advantage of the situation, pretending to faint. The men lavish her with money and diamonds, which have a curiously restorative effect. In the end, the men recognize Gasparina’s greed, but nonetheless willingly hand over their riches. The comic potential is enhanced by Don Ettore being played as a Breeches role – that is, by a woman. The soprano role of Apollonia was originally sung by a man. There are two quartets, and all characters but Don Ettore have arias to sing.

La fedeltà premiata

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition and performance history#

The main opera house adjoining the palace at Eszterháza had been destroyed by fire in November 1779; La fedeltà premiata, composed in 1780, inaugurated the new state-of-the-art theatre in the grounds which opened after major delays 15 months later. The opera was written during the most prolific period of Haydn’s operatic composition between 1773 and 1783 when he composed eight Italian operas. The libretto was adapted by Haydn and an anonymous colleague from Giambattista Lorenzi’s L’infedeltà fedele, which had been set by Cimarosa in 1779. Haydn had access to Cimarosa’s score, although the Neapolitan dialect and crude jokes were removed and the nine characters in the former setting reduced to eight by the conflation of two female roles. In its revised (and shortened) version, La fedeltà premiata is designated a dramma pastorale giocoso (a comic opera with pastoral elements). The opera was revived twice in Eszterháza after 1782. In December 1784, Mozart attended a German-language production at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna, the work of his future collaborator Emanuel Schikaneder. However, after some performances in Bratislava from 1785–87, The first modern performance took place at the Holland Festival in 1970 and the first complete recording was made by Philips in 1976 in association with the Radio Suisse Romande and the European Broadcasting Union. The opera received its Munich première at the Cuvilliés Theatre on 25 March 2011 – 230 years after Mozart’s Idomeneo, its exact contemporary, premièred at that venue. Christopher Ward led a performance by the Bavarian State Orchestra and singers of the Bavarian State Opera’s Opera Studio.

La fedeltà premiata (Antal Doráti recording)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

La fedeltà premiata was first performed in 1781. When it was revived in 1782, Haydn shortened and rearranged his opera and introduced extensive transpositions to accommodate recasting: Celia was changed from a mezzo-soprano to a soprano and Count Perrucchetto from a bass to a tenor, the Count gaining another aria in the process. The score used in Doráti’s album is the edition compiled by the Haydn scholar H. C. Robbins Landon, which is based on Haydn’s original version. The album presents Haydn’s music in its entirety, except for some minor cuts to recitativo secco marked as optional by Haydn himself.

La vera costanza

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Performance history#

The work was written for the Eszterházy court and was first performed on 25 April 1779. It was revived there in April 1785 when Haydn apparently had to re-create much of the opera from memory, the original having been largely lost. It was given in Bratislava, Budapest, Vienna and Brno between 1786 and 1792 under the title Der flatterhafte Liebhaber. The Vienna performance was directed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In Paris in 1791, it was performed as Laurette. The opera was recorded in May 1976 by Philips in association with the Radio Suisse Romande & European Broadcasting Union. In 1980 the opera was given its United States premiere at the Caramoor Summer Music Festival with Kathryn Day as Rosina. Since 1980 the opera has revived on stage in Lyons (1980), Assisi (1982) Vienna (1982) Amsterdam (1990) and more recently, Reggio (2010) and London (2012). Bampton Classical Opera gave performances in 2004, in English, as did New Chamber Opera in 2020 (as a studio performance) and in 2024 in a new translation by Simon Rees.

Le pescatrici

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background and performance history#

Le pescatrici was the second of the three Goldoni libretti that Haydn set to music — the other two were Lo speziale (1768) and Il mondo della luna (1777). However, Haydn was not the first to use Goldoni’s libretto. It had previously been used for operas by Ferdinando Bertoni (Venice, 1751) and Niccolò Piccinni (Rome 1766) and was later used by Florian Leopold Gassmann (Vienna, 1771). Haydn composed Le pescatrici as part of the lavish celebrations for the marriage of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy’s niece, Maria Theresa Countess Lamberg to Alois Count Poggi at Eszterháza where the opera was first performed on 16 September 1770. The roles of Lesbina and Frisellino were first sung by Maria Magdalena Spangler and her husband, Carl Friberth, two prominent court singers at Eszterháza. Carl Friberth may also have had a hand in adapting Goldoni’s libretto for Haydn. A third of the original score was then destroyed in a fire at Esterháza in 1779. It was later reconstructed in 1965 by the Haydn scholar by H.C. Robbins Landon and the composer Karl Heinz Füssl. Since then the opera has had occasional revivals, most notably in Amsterdam on 15 June 1965; in Paris on 29 June 1967 when it received its first radio broadcast; in Metz on 1 February 1985; and at Garsington Opera in June 1997. The bicentenary of Haydn’s death in 2009 saw several performances of the work. In February 2009, it was performed at the Vienna Kammeroper. It was also performed by Bampton Classical Opera in English translation in July of that year, followed by performances in London’s Wigmore Hall in September. The opera received its US premiere in New Brunswick, New Jersey at the Rutgers University Nicholas Music Center on 30 October 2009.

Lo speziale

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Performance history#

It was composed and first performed to popular and critical acclaim at Eszterháza in the autumn of 1768. It was performed twice more during Haydn’s lifetime, on 21 and 22 March 1770. The opera has probably been performed more than all of Haydn’s other operas put together. A German edition (as Der Apotheker) was published in 1895.

Synopsis#

An old man, Sempronio, is determined to marry a young woman, Grilletta, more for her money than for any other reason. Sempronio however has two rivals: his apprentice, Mengone, who has taken the job only to be near Grilletta, and Volpino, a young man about town. Mengone has entered the service of the apothecary Sempronio, though he does not possess the slightest knowledge of chemistry. His love for Sempronio’s ward Grilletta is the reason, and in the first scene he mixes drugs while making melancholy reflections on his lot, which has led him to a master who buries himself in his newspapers instead of attending to his business, and allowing his apprentices get on as best they may. Sempronio relates that the plague is raging in Russia. The news that an old cousin of his has married his young ward is more interesting to him than all his drugs and pills; he intends to act likewise with Grilletta. This young lady has three suitors, one of whom, a rich young coxcomb, enters to order a drug. His real intention is to see Grilletta. He notices that Mengone loves her too, so he sends him out, in order to have Grilletta to himself. But she only mocks him, and on Mengone’s return Volpino is forced to retire. Alone with Mengone, Grilletta encourages her timid lover, whom she likes, but just when he is about to take her hand Sempronio returns, furious to see them so intimate. He sends Mengone away to work and the young girl to her account books, while he buries himself once more in the papers. Missing a map, he is obliged to leave the room: the young people take advantage of the situation, and when Sempronio, having lost his spectacles, goes to fetch them, Mengone grows bolder and kisses Grilletta. The old man returns at the supreme moment, and in a rage sends each to their room. Mengone’s effrontery emboldens Sempronio to marry Grilletta at once. He is however detained by Volpino, who comes to bribe him by an offer from the Sultan to go to Turkey as apothecary at court, war having broken out in that country. The wily young man insinuates that Sempronio will soon grow rich, and offers to give him 10,000 ducats at once, if he will give him Grilletta for his wife. Sempronio is quite willing to accept the Sultan’s proposal, but not to cede Grilletta. So he sends Mengone away to fetch a notary, who is to marry him to his ward without delay. The maiden wracks her brains on how to rouse her timid lover to action. Sempronio, hearing her sing sadly, suggests that she wants a husband and offers her his own worthy person. Grilletta accepts him, hoping to awaken Mengone’s jealousy and rouse him to action. The notary comes, in whom Grilletta at once recognizes Volpino in disguise. He has hardly sat down, when a second notary enters, saying that he has been sent by Mengone and claiming his due. The latter is Mengone himself, and Sempronio, not recognizing the two, bids them sit down. He dictates the marriage contract, in which Grilletta is said to marry Sempronio by her own free will; the two false notaries distort every word of old Sempronio’s, and each puts his own name instead of the guardian’s. When the contract is written, Sempronio takes one copy, Grilletta the other and the whole fraud is discovered. Volpino vanishes, but Mengone promises Grilletta to do his best in order to win her. In the last scene Sempronio receives a letter from Volpino, telling him that the Pasha is to come with a suite of Turks to buy all his medicines at a high price, and to appoint him solemnly as the Sultan’s apothecary. Volpino indeed arrives, with his attendants, all disguised as Turks, but he is again recognized by Grilletta. He offers his gold, and seizes Grilletta’s hand, to carry her off, but Sempronio interferes. Then the Turks begin to destroy all the pots and glasses and costly medicines, and when Sempronio objects, the false Pasha draws his dagger, but Mengone intervenes and induces the frightened old man to promise Grilletta to him, if he succeeds in saving him from the Turks. No sooner is the promise written and signed, than Grilletta tears off the Pasha’s false beard and reveals Volpino, who retires baffled, while the false Turks drink the young couple’s health at the cost of the two defeated suitors.

London symphonies

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Haydn’s first journey to London#

Haydn was called on by Johann Peter Salomon, and was told he would be going to London. Haydn himself had thought of going to London before, saying that symphonies nos. 76–78 were composed for the English gentlemen, and that he intended to bring them over himself and produce them. London was quite cosmopolitan, and had an active music scene, which was enriched by a stream of artists from abroad. Haydn plunged into a chaotic professional life, giving fortepiano lessons, arranging concerts complete with royal invitations, and choral performances in Westminster Abbey. It was this immersion into the London musical culture that began to inspire his composing as well. The first six London symphonies were written between 1791 and 1792, and included symphony nos. 93–98. They were also premiered in those years, although nos. 95 and 96 were the only ones performed in 1791, despite 93 and 94 being completed prior. The reception was overall positive, and the concerts garnered profits nearly double what he had been guaranteed. The symphonies were seen as grand productions, surpassing any of Haydn’s previous performances. As a result of this success, Salomon and Haydn agreed that, following the end of the 1791 season, Haydn would stay for another year.

Missa brevis (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition#

Dack (2009) suggests that Haydn originally composed the work when he was still a teenaged chorister at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, singing under the direction of Georg Reutter. In its original form, the mass was scored for fairly rudimentary forces: two violin parts, continuo, a four-part chorus, and solo parts for two trebles. When the young Haydn, newly unemployed after being dismissed from the choir at St. Stephen’s, made a pilgrimage to Mariazell, the Missa brevis was one of the works he showed the music director there. The work is a clear example of the Austrian missa brevis form. Redlich writes of “the Austrian type of the Missa Brevis, notorious for the hurried expediency with which large tracts of the text of the Mass are musically disposed of. In the Creed the text from “Patrem omnipotentem” to “Et vitam venturi” is dealt with in no more than twenty-nine bars. This is managed by the simultaneous singing of different sentences—the profession of catholic faith, “Et unam sanctam catholicam … ecclesiam”, tucked away in the contralto.” Redlich adds that, like similar instances of the missa brevis, Haydn repeats the music for the Kyrie in the final “Dona nobis pacem” section.

Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Haydn composed four or five short masses, depending on the Missa brevis Rorate coeli desuper being composed by him or not. The Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo is his last . All these short masses share a modest orchestra. Haydn lived in Eisenstadt, working for the court of Nikolaus II, Prince Esterházy. The composition was written in 1774. Because of an extensive organ solo in the Benedictus, it is known as the (Little Organ Mass), in the hospital chapel of the Brethren in Eisenstadt. “Kleine” (little) may refer to the organ as well as to the composition, because the instrument there was a positive with six stops without pedal.

Missa Cellensis

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

Compared to Haydn’s late masses, the structure of Hob. XXII:8 is rather traditional: fugues at the ends of the Gloria, Credo and Agnus Dei, solo passages in the Gloria and Credo, and a soloistic Benedictus. On the other hand, Haydn included many innovations, such as the slow symphonic introduction at the beginning of the Kyrie, where the setting is built on the low voices of the choir and orchestra. The fugues are very rhythmic and syncopated, the solo passages appear very theatrical. This Mass may therefore be considered a link between Haydn’s early and late masses. Scoring: * Soloists (SATB) * Choir (SATB) * 2 oboes, bassoons, 2 trumpets, timpani, violins I and II, viola, cello, double bass, organ Sections: # , , C major, common time #: , , C major, 3/4 # , , C major, common time #: , , F major, 3/8 #: , , F minor, 3/8 #: , , C major, common time # , , C major, 3/4 #: , , A minor – C minor, common time #: , , C major, 3/4 #: , , C major, 6/8 # , , C major, 3/4 #: , , Allegro, C major, 3/4 # , , G minor, 2/4 #: , , Allegro, C major, 3/4 # , , C minor, common time #: , , C major, common time A typical performance lasts ca. 45 minutes.

Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

References#

Dack, James (1982). “The Dating of Haydn’s Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae: An Interim Discussion”, Haydn Yearbook 13
Green, Jonathan D. (2002). A Conductor’s Guide to Choral-Orchestral Works, Classical Period: Volume 1: Haydn and Mozart, Scarecrow Press, New York
Hugues, Rosemary (1974). Haydn, J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd, London.
Larsen, Jens Peter and Feder, Georg (1997). The New Grove Haydn, W. W. Norton & Co., New York
Schenbeck, Lawrence (1996). Joseph Haydn and the Classical Choral Tradition, Hinshaw Music, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Sisman, Elaine Rochelle (1997). Haydn and His World, Princeton University Press, Princeton
Strimple, Nick (2008). Choral music in the nineteenth century, Hal Leonard, New York

Missa in tempore belli

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Haydn composed this mass at Eisenstadt in August 1796, at the time of Austria’s general mobilisation into war. Four years into the European war that followed the French Revolution, Austrian troops were doing badly against the French in Italy and Germany, and Austria feared invasion. Reflecting the troubled mood of his time, Haydn integrated references to battle in the Benedictus and Agnus Dei movements. The Mass was first performed on 26 December 1796, in the Piarist Church of Maria Treu in Vienna. Haydn was a deeply religious man who appended the words “Praise be to God” at the end of every completed score. As Kapellmeister to Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy, Haydn’s principal duty in the last period of his life, beginning in 1796, was the composition of an annual mass to honour the name day of Prince Nicholas’ wife, Princess Maria Hermenegild, 8 September, the birth of the Blessed Virgin. In a final flowering of his genius, he faithfully completed six magnificent masses (with increasingly larger orchestras) for this occasion. Thus Missa in Tempore Belli was performed at the family church, the Bergkirche, at Eisenstadt on 29 September 1797. Haydn also composed his oratorio The Creation around the same time and the two great works share some of his signature vitality and tone-painting. This piece has been long thought to express an anti-war sentiment, even though there is no explicit message in the text itself, and no clear indication from Haydn that this was his intention. What is found in the score is a very unsettled nature to the music, not normally associated with Haydn, which has led scholars to the conclusion that it is anti-war in nature. This is especially noticed in the Benedictus and Agnus Dei. During the time of the composition of the Mass, the Austrian government had issued a decree in 1796, that “no Austrian should speak of peace until the enemy is driven back to its customary borders.” Whether this is enough to call it anti-war in nature is certainly debatable because most of the mass is of a lyrically joyful nature.

Missa Sancti Bernardi von Offida

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

References#

Hawkshaw, Paul (2004). “Bruckner’s large sacred compositions” The Cambridge Companion to Bruckner edited by Williamson, John. Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
Heartz, Daniel (2009). Mozart, Haydn and Early Beethoven: 1781 — 1802 W. W. Norton & Co. New York.
Hugues, Rosemary (1974). Haydn. J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. London.
Larsen, Jans Peter; Feder, Georg (1997). The New Grove Haydn W. W. Norton & Co. New York. .
Schenbeck, Lawrence (1996). Joseph Haydn and the Classical Choral Tradition. Hinshaw Music. Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
Strimple, Nick (2008). Choral music in the nineteenth century. Hal Leonard. New York.

Nelson Mass

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Haydn’s chief biographer, H. C. Robbins Landon, has written that this mass “is arguably Haydn’s greatest single composition”. Written in 1798, it is one of the six late masses by Haydn for the Esterhazy family composed after taking a short hiatus, during which elaborate church music was inhibited by the Josephinian reforms of the 1780s. The late sacred works of Haydn are regarded as masterworks, influenced by the experience of his London symphonies. They highlight the soloists and chorus while allowing the orchestra to play a prominent role. Owing to the political and financial instability of this period in European history, Haydn’s patron Nikolaus II dismissed the Feldharmonie, or wind band octet, shortly before Haydn wrote the Missa in angustiis for the Princess’s name day. Later editors and arrangers added what they perceived to be missing woodwind parts, but the original scoring has again become the accepted choice for modern performances. Though Haydn’s reputation was at its peak in 1798 when he wrote this mass, his world was in turmoil. French forces under Napoleon had won four major battles against the Austrian army in less than a year. The previous year, in early 1797, French armies had crossed the Alps and threatened Vienna itself. In May 1798, Napoleon led an expeditionary force which invaded Egypt with the stated aims of securing French commercial interests in the Middle East, cutting off British trade routes to the East Indies and establishing a scientific presence in Egypt. The summer of 1798 was therefore a terrifying time for Austria, and when Haydn finished this mass, his own title, in the catalogue of his works, was Missa in angustiis (Mass for troubled times). What Haydn did not know when he wrote the mass, but what he and his audience heard (perhaps on September 15, the day of the very first performance), was that on 1 August, the French Navy had been dealt a crushing defeat at the Battle of the Nile by a British fleet under Rear-Admiral Horatio Nelson. Because of this coincidence, the mass gradually acquired the nickname Nelson Mass. The title became indelible when, in 1800, Nelson himself visited the Palais Esterházy accompanied by his mistress Emma, Lady Hamilton, and may have heard the mass conducted by Haydn whom he would meet shortly afterwards. Haydn’s original title may also have come from illness and exhaustion at that time, which followed his supervision of the first performances of The Creation, completed a few months earlier. More simply, it may have sprung from the challenge of composing without the desired instrumentation. The solo parts for two of the vocal quartet are virtuosic: the bass line was perhaps written for the accomplished Christian Specht, and the soprano line, even more demanding, could have been written for Barbara Pilhofer or Therese Gassmann. The piece was premiered 23 September 1798 at the town parish church (now cathedral), a last minute venue change from the Bergkirche in Eisenstadt.

Oboe Concerto (attributed to Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The work is composed of three movements: Charles-David Lehrer believed that the first movement of the concerto was similar to the oboe concertos of Johann Christian Fischer, Johann Christian Bach, and Carl Stamitz, also arguing that it was similar in structure to the Johann Stamitz and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, even though the Haydn concerto had a contrasting B theme.

Authorship#

Though commonly attributed to Haydn, the authorship of the concerto has come into dispute. In the 1950s, Anthony van Hoboken included the concerto in his catalogue of Haydn’s work. However, when Haydn’s worklist was discovered in 2008, the concerto was not included. The MGG and the Haynes Catalog of oboe music list the concerto as being the work of Ignaz Malzat.

Orlando paladino

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background of the text#

The adventures of Roland (Orlando in Italian), the nephew and paladin of Charlemagne, formed already during the Middle Ages the basis for a great work of art. The Chanson de Roland, written around the year 1100, praises the knight’s valour in his fight against the Saracens and his noble death at Ronceval, where he was ambushed by vastly superior forces. The Renaissance added a romantic note to this heroic narrative. Matteo Maria Boiardo’s unfinished epic poem Orlando innamorato and still more its sequel describe an amorous episode which reputedly took place during an earlier part of Roland’s life. The paladin falls passionately in love the beautiful princess Angelica, who came to the court of Charlemagne from distant Cathay. The maiden rejects his entreaties, however, as she feels strongly attracted to the gentle knight Medoro. Thereupon sorrow clouds Roland’s mind and he turns into a ferocious madman. Eventually the intervention of higher powers restores his sanity.

Paris symphonies

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Symphonies#

The symphonies are: *Symphony No. 82 in C major, L’Ours" (“The Bear”) (1786) *Symphony No. 83 in G minor, La Poule (“The Hen”) (1785) *Symphony No. 84 in E major, In Nomine Domini (1786) *Symphony No. 85 in B major, La Reine (“The Queen”) (1785) *Symphony No. 86 in D major (1786) *Symphony No. 87 in A major (1785)

History#

Parisians had long been familiar with Haydn’s symphonies, which were being printed in Paris as early as 1764. H. C. Robbins Landon writes: “All during the early 1780s Haydn’s symphonies were performed at the various Parisian concerts with unvarying success, and numerous publishing houses – among them Guera in Lyon, Sieber, Boyer, Le Duc and Imbault in Paris, etc. – issued every new symphonic work by Haydn as soon as they could lay hands on a copy.” The works were composed for a large Parisian orchestra called Le Concert de la loge Olympique (Orchestra of the ‘Olympic’ (Masonic) Lodge). This organization consisted in part of professionals and in part of skilled amateurs. It included 40 violins and ten double basses, an extraordinary size of orchestra for the time. (Haydn’s own ensemble at Eszterháza was never larger than about 25 total.) According to Robbins Landon, “The musicians wore splendid ‘sky-blue’ dress coats with elaborate lace ruffles, and swords at their sides.” They performed in a large theater with boxes in tiers. The performances were patronized by royalty, including Queen Marie Antoinette, who particularly enjoyed the Symphony No. 85, giving rise to its nickname. The individual responsible for commissioning the symphonies from Haydn was Claude-François-Marie Rigoley, Comte d’Ogny (i.e., Count of Ogny), an aristocrat still in his twenties (his life dates were 1757–1790). The Count, who played in the cello section of the orchestra, was the Intendant Général des Postes (postal service superintendent) and grew up in a very musical household. His father kept a great collection of musical manuscripts, used as the library of the Concert des Amateurs dissolved in 1781, and its successor, the Concert Olympique. Patronage of music may have been an extravagance for the Count, since at his death he left a huge debt of 100,000 livres. The actual negotiations with Haydn were carried out at Ogny’s request by Joseph Bologne the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, celebrated conductor of the Loge Olympique orchestra. Haydn was paid 25 louis d’or for each symphony plus 5 louis for the French publication rights; the sum was apparently very satisfactory from Haydn’s point of view, since the lack of copyright laws had generally prevented him from profiting much from his popularity as a composer. Symphonies 85-87 were republished in Britain soon afterwards, in 1788, by the company Longman & Broderip, rededicated to the Duke of York and given opus number 52.

Philemon und Baucis (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition history#

Premiering in 1773 for a visit from Empress Maria Theresa, Philemon und Baucis is Haydn’s first puppet-opera, and the first known to be written for the Eszterháza Marionettentheater (puppet theater). Philemon und Baucis was revised to be a traditional opera in 1776. In 1950, an original manuscript was uncovered at the Paris Conservatoire by musicologist and Haydn scholar Jens Peter Larsen. Until this discovery, all that remained of the work was its overture and a single aria. The rest of the puppet-opera, including the arrival of Jupiter, the pageant, and the epilogue, which glorified the Empress and the Habsburgs, remain lost, likely destroyed in the Eszterháza fire of 1779.

Piano Sonata Hob. XVI/18

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Haydn’s keyboard composition style changed in 1766. He had just been appointed full Kapellmeister in the service of the Esterházy family, after the death of Gregor Werner, the previous Kapellmeister. He had new responsibilities overseeing church music and the production of opera. While he was still writing keyboard sonatas for the court, he decided to keep a group of sonatas aside for himself, including Hob. XVI/18, along with XVI/20, XVI/45 and XVI/46, perhaps because they were experimental. The style in these sonatas signify Haydn’s move away from the galant style, and towards more expressive themes.

Piano Sonata Hob. XVI/20

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The work was the first of Haydn’s that he titled Sonata. He had called his earlier multi-movement works for solo keyboard “divertimentos” or “partitas”. It was not until later that these works also assumed the title of Sonata. The sonata was published by Artaria in 1780 in a set of six sonatas dedicated to the sisters Katharina and Marianna Auenbrugger.

Structure#

The sonata is in three movements: The first movement is in sonata form. The movement’s exposition and recapitulation are in tripartite structures, the parts of which the Finnish musicologist Lauri Suurpää classifies as “initiating, medial and concluding”. In the exposition, the initiating passage is from measures 1 to 8, the medial passage is from measures 9 to 31, and the concluding passage is from measures 32 to 37. The exposition and recapitulation both contain quasi-cadenzas that Haydn wrote into the score. The second movement, marked “andante con moto”, is in A major and time, and features multiple passages of syncopation. The finale returns to the sonata’s home key of C minor. Its opening is redolent of a minuet, but the movement is no minuet and trio. Instead it is a sonata form movement that develops with increasing intensity and difficulty, incorporating virtuosic cross-handed passages in which the left hand leaps from one extreme of the eighteenth-century keyboard to the other.

Piano Sonata Hob. XVI/33

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

This sonata was first officially published in London in 1783 by Beardmore & Birchall without Haydn’s knowledge, but copies had been circulating for several years earlier. Haydn seemed to have made the piece not technically challenging, most likely due to the increased demand for pieces for amateur keyboard players in the 1770s. Haydn’s keyboard sonatas evolved with the development of the keyboard through the late eighteenth century. The harpsichord was eventually replaced with the fortepiano, capable of gradual dynamic changes. The first thirty of Haydn’s keyboard sonatas are scored for harpsichord, while the next nine are scored for either harpsichord or fortepiano. This keyboard sonata, being the 33rd according to the Hoboken-Verzeichnis classification, is scored for harpsichord or fortepiano, leaving the choice to the performer.

Piano Sonata Hob. XVI/34

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Haydn’s keyboard sonatas evolved with the development of the keyboard through the late eighteenth century. The harpsichord was eventually replaced with the fortepiano, capable of gradual dynamic changes. The first thirty of Haydn’s keyboard sonatas are scored for harpsichord, while the next nine are scored for either harpsichord or fortepiano. This keyboard sonata, being the 34th according to the Hoboken-Verzeichnis classification, is scored for harpsichord or fortepiano, leaving the choice to the performer. The keyboard sonatas written after 1770 show Haydn’s increased awareness of the dynamic and timbral possibilities on the fortepiano.

Piano Sonata Hob. XVI/49

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

This work has three movements. Each is in , a time signature sequence unique in Haydn’s keyboard sonatas. The first and the third movement were written in 1789, with the second movement a later addition. The autograph score of the complete work bears the date June 1, 1790.

Backdrop#

At the time he wrote the sonata, Haydn was 58 years old and nearing a pivotal point in his career. For 28 years he had served the Esterházy family as their director of music, spending an ever-increasing amount of his time isolated in the family’s palace at Esterháza in rural Hungary. As of 1779 he had been allowed to publish his own works, which proved popular throughout Europe, generating new commissions from afar: Paris, Cadiz, Naples. A magazine noted (1784) “the universality of Haydn’s genius cannot be more strongly proved than by the vast demand for his works all over Europe.” Yet he was little seen in the musical world, apart from two or so months of the year when he was able to visit Vienna, the imperial capital and great musical center. In Vienna he was able to interact with many other musicians, for instance, in playing chamber music with his friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He was also invited into cultivated homes, such as that of Maria Anna von Genzinger, who ended up playing a major role in the creation of the H. XVI/49 sonata. But the joys of visiting Vienna served to focus Haydn’s sense of discontent with his exile in Esterháza. Although Haydn didn’t know it, all this was about to change drastically with the death of his patron Prince Nikolaus Esterházy on 29 September 1790. Haydn was released to move to Vienna, then journey to London, launching the most successful phase of his career.

Piano Sonata Hob. XVI/52

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Haydn wrote the work for Therese Jansen, an outstanding pianist who lived in London at the time of Haydn’s visits there in the 1790s. Haydn served as a witness at her wedding to Gaetano Bartolozzi (16 May 1795). Haydn also dedicated three demanding piano trios (H. XV:27–29) and another two piano sonatas (H. XVI:50 and 51) to Jansen. With regard to the E sonata, Jansen was evidently the dedicatee of the autograph (hand-written) score but not the first published version. On the title page of the autograph Haydn wrote in Italian, " Lond. 794, " which means “Sonata composed for the celebrated Miss Theresa Jansen … by myself Joseph Haydn in my own hand, London 1794.” Daniel Heartz implies that Haydn may have left the sonata unpublished for some time so that Jansen could have the work for her exclusive use. Ultimately, Haydn had the work published in Vienna in 1798, three years after he had returned there from London. The publisher was Artaria, and the dedicatee for the published version was the pianist Magdalena von Kurzbeck (1767–1845). A London edition, perhaps instigated by Jansen, appeared with Longman and Clementi in 1800 with the title “A grand new sonata for the piano forte composed expressly for Mrs. Bartolozzi, Op. 78.”

Piano Trio No. 39 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Piano Trio No. 40 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Piano Trio No. 41 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

- *, Beaux Arts Trio: Menahem Pressler (piano), Isidore Cohen (violin), Bernard Greenhouse (violoncello)

Piano Trio No. 42 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Structure#

The trio is in three movements: The first movement’s broad opening theme is stated in piano, accompanied by arpeggiated fragments in the strings. This develops into a variety of thematic ideas, including a gently lilting violin melody, before the exposition reaches the dominant key, B major. The second half of the exposition includes a minor-mode episode in which another quietly flowing theme is introduced, giving way to rapid sixteenth-note figuration. The development section presents several unexpected harmonic turns before the home key is reached again. This is the longest movement, often taking over eight minutes to perform. The second movement, in triple time and in the fairly remote key of C major (the submediant major), involves an alternation between a slow, stately dance and a more animated middle section with a lyrical melody. The movement closes with a pause on the dominant chord that suggests a return to the courtly dance in C, but instead we move straight on to the lively triple-time finale back in the key of E major. The opening theme of the final movement traces a chromatically rising line, and the frequent up-beat accents lend a quirkiness to the rhythm. Like the first movement, this one contains numerous harmonic surprises. This finale has been said to anticipate the Beethovian scherzo.

Piano Trio No. 44 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

References#

Citations Sources * * * * *

External links#

- , played by Trio Wanderer

Piano Trio No. 45 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

External links#

- , Jonian Ilias Kadesha (violin), Jonathan Bloxham (cello), Louis Schwizgebel (piano)

Schöpfungsmesse

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

References#

Heartz (2009) Daniel. New York. Mozart, Haydn and Early Beethoven: 1781 — 1802 W. W. Norton & Co.
Holoman (1992) D. Kern. New York Evenings with the Orchestra: a Norton Companion for Concertgoers W. W. Norton & Co.
Hughes (1974) Rosemary. London. Haydn J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd

External links#

Haydn, Joseph: Masses, V (4), Coro, orch, org, Hob XXII:13, B-Dur - BSB Mus.ms. 6563. “Autograph manuscript”, Bavarian State Library * *

Sinfonia Concertante (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The composition was written during the first of the composer’s two visits to London. It is believed that Johann Peter Salomon asked Haydn to compose the work because of the success of similar works written by Pleyel and performed in a rival concert series. The first performance was given on 9 March 1792, with Salomon as lead violinist in the solo group. The other members of the solo group are only known by their surnames, Harrington (oboe), Holmes (bassoon) and Menel (cello). The Oracle was also enthusiastic, giving the performance this notice: “Haydn directed for the first time the Performance of a New Concertante – the third movement of which seemed expressly calculated to shew the brilliancy of SALOMON’S, and the sweetness of his tone. The prevailing manner of this Master pervaded every movement – it had all his usual grandeur, contrasted by the levity of airy transition, and the sudden surprises of abrupt rests… The Company were very brilliant.”

Stabat Mater (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Joseph Haydn achieved sole leadership of the music at the court of Eszterháza in 1766, where he had already been responsible for chamber music and musical theatre. He had already served for six years, under Gregor Joseph Werner, and had composed for the court 15 symphonies and two operas. When he became responsible also for sacred music, which Werner had reserved for himself until his death, he set the Stabat Mater sequence as his first major sacred composition, completing it in 1767. While the autograph score is lost, a 1778 letter refers to the work. The first performance was probably on Good Friday that year, on 17 March 1767, at the palace chapel as part of the regular oratorio performance. The letter also refers to a performance in Vienna in 1768; Haydn had sent the score for Johann Adolph Hasse, who praised the music and organised the performance. Haydn applied for a leave of three days for himself and three musicians around Good Friday, and possibly the four took part in the performance at the which began the circulation of the work. The first public performance was also in Vienna, on Good Friday 1771 at the Piarist Church. According to the church’s chronicle, Haydn conducted an ensemble of 60 musicians. His work spread to churches and concert halls. 180 copies are extant. Haydn called the work an oratorio in 1805. For a performance in 1803, Haydn’s pupil Sigismund von Neukomm composed additional parts for flute, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets and timpani. Haydn offered this version to the publisher Gottfried Christoph Härtel, but it is not regarded as authentic.

String Quartet, Op.103 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Haydn had intended this quartet as the third in a series he was composing on a 1799 commission from Prince Lobkowitz. The custom of Haydn’s time, and indeed his own practice, was to compose quartets in sets of six. However, work was delayed, and in the end only two completed quartets were presented to the Prince and submitted for publication; these were the two quartets of Opus 77, published in 1799. Haydn retained hopes of writing more, and he did finish the slow movement and minuet that comprise the present quartet. But soon, the decline in his health blocked further progress. For three years, the ailing Haydn attempted to finish the quartet, often working just fifteen minutes at a time. Finally, in August 1805, Haydn threw in the towel and permitted his friend Georg August Griesinger to forward the unfinished quartet to Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig for publication. With his gradual decline, Haydn caused to be printed a set of calling cards, on which appeared the opening notes and words of a four-part song from earlier in his career, called “Der Greis” (“The old gray-haired man”); that is: (Gone is all my strength, Old and weak am I). These cards were given to visitors who appeared at Haydn’s home in suburban Vienna. With Haydn’s permission, the first edition of Opus 103 appended at the end a copy of this calling card, serving as an apology for the two missing movements.

String Quartets, Op. 20 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

The quartets#

The set of quartets, along with their incipits are shown below in order of Haydn’s own catalog .

No. 1 in E major#

Minuetto: Allegretto \tempo 4 = 120 \set Score.tempoHideNote=##t \set Staff.midiInstrument = “violin” \relative es’ \key es \major \time 3/4 \partial 4 es8.( \f g16) bes4-. bes( es) d4( bes) bes8.( d16) es4-. es( g) as2 as,,4 \p g4( as bes) c4( d es) f2 d8.( bes16) es4 r \bar “: .” Affettuoso e sostenuto \tempo 8 = 100 \set Score.tempoHideNote=##t \set Staff.midiInstrument = “violin” \relative as’ \key as \major \time 3/8 as4.~ _\markup \italic “mezza voce” as4 des8 c8( des f) es8( des c) \appoggiatura c16 bes8( as g) as4.~ as4 des,8 \appoggiatura c16 as'4.~ as4 des8 c8( des f) es8( des c) bes8( f’ as,) g8( es’ d) Finale: Presto \tempo 4 = 144 \set Score.tempoHideNote=##t \set Staff.midiInstrument = “violin” \relative bes’ \key es \major \time 2/4 \partial 8 bes8-. \p c8( bes as g) f4. as8-. g8( es’) bes-. bes-. c8( bes as g) f4.( as16 f) es4 r

String Quartets, Op. 3 (attributed to Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

String Quartets, Op. 33 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Opus 33 No. 1#

This quartet in B minor is numbered variously as No. 31, Hob. III:37, and FHE No. 70. Scherzo: Allegro di molto, \relative b \key b \minor \time 3/4 \partial 4 b4-. \mf d4( fis) b-. ais4( cis) fis,-. b4( d) fis-. fis2 fis4-. fis4-. fis-. fis-. fis2 > \oneVoice fis2( \p g4) \ 2( \sf > g4) ! e4( cis) a-. d4-. r \bar “: .” \layout \context \Score \override SpacingSpanner.common-shortest-duration = #(ly:make-moment 1/4) Andante, in D major \relative d’ \key d \major \time 6/8 \partial 8 d8-. \p fis8-. a-. d-. fis-. a-. d-. a8..( \sf b32) g16.( b32) e,8-. r cis,-. \p e8_. g-. cis-. e-. g-. e’-. g,8..( \sf a32) fis16.( a32) d,8-. r Finale: Presto, \relative b \key b \minor \time 2/4 \partial 4 b8-. \mf b-. b8( \trill d) fis-. fis-. fis4 b,8-. b-. b8( \trill e) g-. g-. g4 ais,8-. ais-. ais8( cis) fis-. e-. \acciaccatura e8 \afterGrace d4( \trill cis16 d) cis4 b4. d8-. d4( cis8) e-. e4( dis8) fis-. e8.( \trill fis16) g8-. g-. fis8-. b,-. d16( cis b ais) b4 \layout \context \Score \override SpacingSpanner.common-shortest-duration = #(ly:make-moment 1/4) The first movement pretends to start in D major before settling in the home key of B minor, echoed by Haydn’s later quartet in B minor, Op. 64, No. 2.

String Quartets, Op. 50 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Haydn conceived of what became the Opus 50 set in a letter to the publishing house Artaria in 1784, although he then put the project on hold for the Paris symphonies and The Seven Last Words of Christ. He started work in 1787, composing the first two quartets in February. In April, Haydn received a letter from King Frederick William II of Prussia, praising Haydn for the copies of the Paris symphonies that he had sent. The letter enclosed a golden ring. Haydn sought to return the favour by dedicating the Opus 50 set to the King, and Artaria acceded to Haydn’s request to do so. The history of the publication of Opus 50 set betrays one of the more remarkable examples of Haydn’s financial and commercial impropriety. Haydn hurriedly completed the set by September 1787, when he sent the fifth quartet to Artaria. Meanwhile, in August, he had offered the set to the English publisher William Forster, who duly printed the six quartets before Artaria did. Haydn was deceiving both publishers: the offer to Forster was unbeknown to Artaria, while Haydn misled Forster into believing that no one else had been offered the set. Artaria learned of the Forster deal but published the set anyway, in December 1787, as Haydn’s Opus 50. In 1982, the original autograph manuscripts of the Nos. 3 to 6 of the set were discovered at a festival arranged in Melbourne, Australia, for the 250th anniversary of Haydn’s birth. After a concert at the festival, a woman presented the manuscripts in a plastic shopping bag to the conductor Christopher Hogwood. The Haydn scholar Georg Feder, who was visiting Australia at the time, then verified the scores to be the authentic original manuscripts of the four quartets. It emerged that the woman who presented the manuscripts to Hogwood had inherited them, through successive generations, from an English colonel who had purchased them at an 1851 auction before emigrating to New Zealand. The colonel’s heirs were evidently unaware that they owned the only original versions of the quartets in Haydn’s pen. Until the 1982 discovery, publishers had been working from incomplete or non-original editions.

String Quartets, Op. 64 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

List of Opus 64 quartets#

Quartet No. 48 in C major, Op. 64, No. 1, FHE No. 31, Hoboken No. III:65
Allegro moderato \relative g \key c \major \time 2/2 \partial 4 g4 \p c2 e8.( c16) g'8.( e16) g4..( \fz e16) \p c8 r e16( d c d) e8-. _\markup \italic “cresc.” r f-. r g-. r a-. r b4( \mf c8) r r4#
Menuetto: Allegretto ma non troppo \relative g, \key c \major \time 3/4 \clef “bass” \partial 4 g4 \f ^“Vc.” c4( e) g-. c4( e) d16( c b a) g4-. g( gis) gis4( a) f,-. a4( cis d) f4( g! a) g2. c,4-. c’-. \bar “: .”#
Allegretto scherzando quasi andante \relative c’ \key f \major \time 2/4 \partial 8 c8 _\markup \italic “dol.” f8( c16) r a'8( f16) r g8( c) c-. c-. a8( d) d c32( b a b) b4( c8) cis-. d8( f,16) r c’!8( f,16) r e8( bes’!) bes-. a-. f8( \grace g16 f e f16. g32) a8-. b-. b4( c8) \bar “: .”#
Finale: Presto \relative c \key c \major \time 6/8 \partial 8 c8-. \p c8-. r c-. c-. r c16-. c-. c8-. b-. a-. g-. r f-. f4( e8) d( f a) c,4.( b8) r#
Quartet No. 49 in B minor, Op. 64, No. 2, FHE No. 32, Hoboken No. III:68
Allegro spiritoso \relative d \key b \minor \time 4/4 d4. \p e32( d cis d) fis8( cis d) g-. fis8( cis d) b’-. a-. g-. fis-. e-. \f e2( d8) ais( b \appoggiatura d16 cis8) b2( ais4-.) r#
Adagio ma non troppo \relative fis \key b \major \time 3/4 fis2.( _\markup \italic “mezza voce” gis2.) ais,2. b2 r4 fis'2.( eis2 fis4) dis4( cis4. eis,8) fis4 r r#
Menuetto: Allegretto \relative fis’ \key b \minor \time 3/4 \partial 4 fis4-. \p b4-. cis-. d-. \acciaccatura d8 cis4-. \fz cis8-. b-. cis4-. \acciaccatura d8 cis4-. \fz cis8-. b-. cis4-. \acciaccatura cis8 fis4-. \f fis8-. e-. d-. cis-. b4-. r#
Finale: Presto \relative fis’ \key b \minor \time 2/4 \partial 4 fis8-. \mf fis-. b8.( cis16) d8-. d-. d8-. r \acciaccatura eis16 fis8 \acciaccatura eis16 fis8 cis8.( d16) cis8-. cis-. cis8-. r a'16( g) a-. g-. fis16( e) d-. cis b( ais) cis-. e-. d8( b)#
Quartet No. 50 in B major, Op. 64, No. 3, FHE No. 33, Hoboken No. III:67
Vivace assai \relative d \key bes \major \time 3/4 \partial 4. d8-. \f es-. d-. d8( c bes-.) f’( \p e f) c16( b c d) c8-. d-. \f es!-. f_ fis8( \acciaccatura a g f )d’(\p a bes) fis8( g) c,( es) d16( c bes a) bes8-. f-. d-.#
Adagio \relative bes’ \key es \major \time 2/4 bes2~ _\markup \italic “mezza voce” bes16.( es32 g16. es32) bes8( c32 bes as g) f8( es) as( g16. \turn as32) g4( f16) g( as a)#
Menuetto: Allegretto \relative a \key bes \major \time 3/4 \partial 4 a8( \f bes) f4-. r a8( bes) f8( d’ c bes a g) f4-. f8( d) es( g) f4-. r a,8( \mf bes) f4 d’( b) c8( \ g-. g4-. ! r#
Finale: Allegro con spirito \relative es \key bes \major \time 2/4 \partial 8 es16( \mf a,) bes8-. f'16( a,) bes8-. g'16( a,) bes8-. a'16( f) bes8-. f~ f8 e( es d) c16( bes c d) c8-.#
Quartet No. 51 in G major, Op. 64, No. 4, FHE No. 34, Hoboken No. III:66
Allegro con brio \relative b \key g \major \time 4/4 \partial 8 b16( \f d) g4. b8 d4. g8 g4(( \sf fis16) g e fis) d8-. r r c-. \appoggiatura b16 d c4( \sf b8 a) g-. g-. a-. a-. d,8-. r e-. \p e16( fis) d8-. r r#
Menuetto: Allegretto \relative d \key g \major \time 3/4 \partial 4 d8( \f b) fis8( g) d4-. b8( g) fis8( a) c,4 a8( c) c16( b) r8 d16( c) r8 e16( c) r8 a2 d,4 \p g2( b8 gis) b8( a) c4-. c8( b) \appoggiatura b16 a4 a8( g a d,) g4 r \bar “: .”#
Adagio: Cantabile e sostenuto \relative g’ \key c \major \time 2/4 \partial 8 g8 _\markup \italic “dol.” c8.( d32 c) b8( c) d8( g) \sf e( c) d8( e) \appoggiatura g16 f8( e) d8( \acciaccatura f8 e16. d32) d8-.#
Finale: Presto \relative d’ \key g \major \time 6/8 \partial 8 d8-. \f \acciaccatura a'8 g-. fis-. g-. a4( d8) \acciaccatura a8 g-. fis-. g-. a4( d8) \acciaccatura a8 g-. fis-. g-. c4( e8) d8-. fis-. g-. b-. r#
Quartet No. 52 in E major, Op. 64, No. 6, FHE No. 36, Hoboken No. III:64
Allegretto \relative es’ \key es \major \time 4/4 \stemUp es2( \p f) d4( bes’ g es) c4( es) bes( es) f8.( g16) as8.( g16) f4-. r#
Andante \relative bes \key bes \major \time 3/4 bes8-. \p d( f bes d f) f2 es8( d) d2 c8( bes) bes4 a8( g f es)#
Menuetto: Allegretto \relative c \key es \major \time 3/4 \partial 4 \appoggiatura c32 bes a bes4-. \f es4-. es-. es-. es-. es-. es-. s s s4 s ! s » es,8( \mf d) es( d) c’( bes) as8( g f es)#
Finale: Presto \relative g’ \key es \major \time 2/4 \partial 8 g16( \p as) bes8-. bes-. bes-. as16( bes) c8-. c-. c-. d16( es) f8-. f16( g) as8-. g16( as) bes16( as g f) es8-.#
Quartet No. 53 in D major (“The Lark”), Op. 64, No. 5, FHE No. 35, Hoboken No. III:63 # Allegro moderato \new StaffGroup > # Adagio cantabile \relative cis \key a \major \time 3/4 cis8.( _\markup \italic “dolce” d32 cis) b4( a) a4( gis8) a( b cis) d8.( e32 d) cis4( \sf b) fis'8( e) r4 # Menuetto: Allegretto \relative cis’ \key d \major \time 3/4 \partial 4 \acciaccatura cis8 d4 \f fis4( a) \acciaccatura ais,8 b4 e4( g) cis,8( d) e8( fis g a b cis) d4-. d-. cis8( d) e8( fis) g( a) b( cis) d4-. d-. dis( \sf e4) e -. 4-. r \bar “: .” # Finale: Vivace \relative fis’ \key d \major \time 2/4 \partial 8 fis16 _\markup \musicglyph #“p” \italic “e sempre staccato” g a fis g a b cis d b a d fis e d cis b a g a fis g e fis d e cis d b cis a e’ fis g

References#

Notes References Sources * * * *

String Quartets, Op. 76 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

List of Opus 76 quartets#

Hoboken catalogue and First Haydn Edition (FHE, Ignaz Pleyel) numbers *No. 1 in G major, Hob. III:75 (FHE No. 40) *No. 2 in D minor (“Fifths”), Hob. III:76 (FHE No. 41) *No. 3 in C major (“Emperor”), Hob. III:77 (FHE No. 42) *No. 4 in B major (“Sunrise”), Hob. III:78 (FHE No. 49) *No. 5 in D major, Hob. III:79 (FHE No. 50) *No. 6 in E major, Hob. III:80 (FHE No. 51) Each quartet consists of four movements.

Symphony No. 100 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, triangle, cymbals, bass drum and strings (violins, violas, cellos and basses). In several editions, there is only one flute. It is in standard four-movement form:

I. Adagio – Allegro#

The first movement is in sonata form with a slow introduction that hints at motifs that will appear later in the movement. The Allegro begins with a dancing theme which is unexpectedly scored only for flutes and oboes. The strings respond by repeating the theme an octave lower. The tutti then transitions the music to the dominant key for the second subject area, which begins with the first theme transposed to D major. This theme is briefly developed in D minor before a new subject in the dominant is stated with a rocking motif in the violins. Haydn’s use of themes and keys here demonstrates an important point about sonata form: the second subject is defined by the new key, not (only) a new theme. The repetition of the 1st subject in the dominant in this movement, at bar 75, is therefore the beginning of the 2nd subject area, even though the new theme does not appear until some twenty bars later. A tutti codetta brings the first movement exposition to a close. Following a repeat, the development begins with a grand pause of two measures, the rocking motif appears in the distant key of B major and is developed upward through several keys. The first theme then returns in E major and is development in tandem with the rocking motif back towards the tonic for the recapitulation. In the recapitulation, the response to the dancing flute/oboe theme is by the full tutti instead of just the strings. The rocking motif returns several times and a full tutti brings the movement to a close without a coda. :

Symphony No. 101 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition, premiere, and reception#

Haydn completed the symphony in 1793 or 1794. He wrote it for the second of his two visits to London. Having heard one of his symphonies played in London with an orchestra of 300-strong, his Clock Symphony has that large scale grandeur written in it. On 3 March 1794, the work was premiered with an orchestra of 60 personally gathered by Haydn’s colleague and friend Johann Peter Salomon, who also acted as concertmaster, in the Hanover Square Rooms, as part of a concert series featuring Haydn’s work organized by Salomon; a second performance took place a week later. As was generally true for the London symphonies, the response of the audience was very enthusiastic. The Oracle reported that “the connoisseurs admit it to be his best work.” Additionally, the Morning Chronicle reported: As usual the most delicious part of the entertainment was a new grand Overture that is, symphony by HAYDN; the inexhaustible, the wonderful, the sublime HAYDN! The first two movements were encored; and the character that pervaded the whole composition was heartfelt joy. Every new Overture he writes, we fear, till it is heard, he can only repeat himself; and we are every time mistaken. The work has always been popular and continues to appear frequently on concert programs and in recordings. An average performance lasts about 27 minutes.

Symphony No. 102 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The symphony was completed in the summer of 1794, and premiered at benefit concerts at the King’s Theatre in May 1795 with Haydn himself conducting. It is now believed by many scholars to be the symphony at the premiere of which a chandelier fell from the ceiling of the concert hall in which it was performed. According to the Morning Chronicle (3 February 1795), “The last movement was encored; and not withstanding an interruption by the accidental fall of one of the chandeliers, it was performed with no less effect.” The audience escaped unharmed, supposedly because they had rushed the stage to get a better view of Haydn. It was long believed that this “miracle” event took place at the premiere of his Symphony No. 96, which had happened in 1791.

Symphony No. 103 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nickname#

“Drumroll” is not Haydn’s own, like with most of his symphonies with nicknames. It comes from the long roll on the timpani with which the symphony opens.

History#

The symphony was the eleventh of twelve that were composed for performance in England during Haydn’s two journeys there (1791–1792, 1794–1795), arranged and organized by the impresario Johann Peter Salomon. Haydn’s music was well known in England well before the composer traveled there, and members of the British musical public had long expressed the wish that Haydn would visit. The composer’s reception in England was in fact very enthusiastic, and the English visits were one of the most fruitful and happy periods of the composer’s life. Haydn composed the Drumroll Symphony while living in London during the winter of 1794–1795.

Symphony No. 104 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in A, two bassoons, two horns in D and G, two trumpets in D, timpani, violins 1 & 2, violas, cellos, and double basses. It has four movements:

I. Adagio – Allegro#

The symphony opens with a slow and grand introduction in D minor, whose first two bars are as follows: : 4 8.. 32 2\fermata 4 8.. 32 2\fermata \new Staff \relative a, \key d \minor \clef bass 4 8.. 32 2\fermata 4 8.. 32 2\fermata » Note that since the only notes used are the tonic and dominant, it is not clear whether the movement is in the major or minor key. This heralds a lengthy introduction in the minor key – in performance, the introduction is typically two minutes of the movement’s overall nine-minute length. The introduction transitions to the main body of the movement in D major, which is in sonata form. Its opening theme is as follows: : \relative a’ \key d \major \time 2/2 \tempo “Allegro” \tempo 4 = 230 fis2\p (g4 e) d2~ d8 e fis g a4\staccato a\staccato a\staccato a\staccato b2 (a) d (cis b a~) a8 g (b a) g4 fis4 a4. (fis8 e4\staccato) r 4 fis2\p (g4 e) d2~ d8 e fis g a4\staccato a\staccato a\staccato a\staccato b2 (a) d (e fis g~) g8 fis (g e) d4 cis4 2\f b4 g a d,,16 (cis d cis) d4 d4 The movement is monothematic: the second theme is simply the first theme transposed to A major. The exposition is in D major, with the strings playing the first theme. The theme goes straight into A major with the woodwinds to form a second theme. The exposition closes with a codetta and is followed by the development which begins in B minor, using the rhythmic pattern of the second half of the theme. The development ends with the full orchestra. In the recapitulation, the first theme is heard again in D major. It uses imitative patterns of the woodwinds in the second theme. The movement closes with a coda, also in D major.

Symphony No. 13 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

A typical symphony at this time was written for a pair of oboes and horns and strings, but the Eisenstadt orchestra had recently taken on two new horn players, and Haydn wrote this symphony for an expanded ensemble of one flute, two oboes, four horns, timpani and strings (violins divided into firsts and seconds, violas, cellos and double basses), with bassoon doubling the bass-line. The timpani part in the autograph score is not in Haydn’s hand, but it is quite possibly authentic: he may have written it on a separate sheet, with somebody else adding it to the score at a later date. The work has four movements: The first movement opens with held chords in the winds and the strings playing a simple figure based on an arpeggio: : The movement can be considered to be in sonata form, with a repeated first half beginning in the home key of D major and modulating to A major, then a second half beginning with a development of previously heard material (passing through B minor) followed by a recapitulation of the first half, now entirely in D major (this second half also repeated). However, there is little “second subject” to speak of – following the key change in the first half, the music is mainly based on simple scale passages. The second movement, marked adagio cantabile (slowly, singing), in G major, features a solo cello playing a melody against simple chords from the rest of the strings. The winds do not play in this movement. In Haydn’s day, the cello part would have been played by the principal cellist of the Eistenstadt orchestra, Joseph Franz Weigl. The D major third movement is a minuet and trio in ternary form, with the flute prominently featured in the trio. The last movement is based around a four-note figure which sounds like the last movement of Mozart’s Jupiter Symphony: : The figure, which appears in various keys throughout the movement, is treated in a manner which hints at fugue. Near the end it is heard in the strings in stretto (overlapping entries, a new one beginning before the last has ended).

Symphony No. 21 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The symphony is in four movements and is scored for two oboes, two horns in A, and strings.

I. Adagio#

The entire first movement is in slow tempo, marked adagio. In Haydn’s early career he would occasionally arrange the movements of a symphony in the manner of a Baroque church sonata, with the slow movement first; this is true, for instance, of symphonies no. 18 and 22, “The Philosopher”. Later on, Haydn also might begin a first movement with a slow tempo, but only as an introduction, with the main body at a faster tempo. The first movement has a structure that corresponds with no formal type, and sharply contrasts with Haydn’s usual style of structuring movements. Wigmore writes “Though it has the vague outlines of sonata form, this lovely movement sounds like a free fantasia on its gracious opening theme.” The piece quickly reaches the dominant (m. 13), in which the opening ritornello is restated, but soon reverts to the tonic (m. 16). The dominant is suggested again in m. 26, but then segues into a development-like passage around mm. 29–41. However, it does not conclude with a cadence. Instead of a half cadence on dominant, the development ends with a V–I 6 progression that does not return to the opening theme. The tonic key immediately returns with an authentic cadence soon afterwards (m. 48).

Symphony No. 22 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition and premiere#

The composition date of 1764 appears on the autograph manuscript, which survives. Haydn composed the work during his tenure as Vice-Kapellmeister at the court of Prince Nicolaus Esterházy. As Vice-Kapellmeister Haydn was in charge of all but religious music in the Esterházy household; in particular he was the leader of the orchestra and was expected to compose symphonies for it to perform. This ensemble numbered about fifteen players. The intended audience (except on special occasions such as the Prince’s name day) consisted only of the Prince and his guests; thus “very often Haydn’s orchestra would have outnumbered the listeners.” (Jones 1990:18). Jones suggests that the first performance venue may have been what is today called the “Haydnsaal”, a large hall at the family palace in Eisenstadt “having a very resonant acoustic”. Other candidates were somewhat smaller halls in the other primary Esterházy palaces, at Vienna and Kittsee.

Symphony No. 23 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Symphony No. 26 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

Haydn wrote the symphony for Easter week. H. C. Robbins Landon has dated it to 1768 (possibly 1769). In the absence of the original autograph, it is impossible to verify the date of composition, although this dating is consistent with the work’s appearance in the Entwurf Katalog (Haydn’s own catalogue of his works). An earlier tradition suggested the symphony had been written for Christmas (at the time a much less significant religious holiday), but the oldest original extant manuscript indicates clearly that the piece was indeed intended for Easter celebrations. It is an early example of the Sturm und Drang style that would characterize much of Haydn’s symphonic output during the period from 1774 to 1775. Because of its association with Easter week, Haydn incorporates a melody derived from an old plainsong chant of the Passion of Christ, interpolating (as the second theme) this familiar liturgical setting to contrast with the furious opening theme. The same lament is also picked up in the second movement, reinforcing the symphony’s link to the Passion through evocation of a melody that would have been familiar to audiences of the time.

Symphony No. 27 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nickname (Hermannstädter)#

In 1946, a copy of the symphony was discovered in the summer palace of Baron Samuel von Brukenthal near the city of Hermannstadt (now Sibiu, Romania). Originally thought to be an original discovery, the symphony briefly acquired the nickname Hermannstädter after it was recorded under that title by the Prague Symphony Orchestra with the Romanian conductor Constantin Silvestri. Because of the political climate in Eastern Europe following the Second World War, it was some time before musicologists were able to examine the find and realize that the manuscript was a copy of a work that had already been published by Breitkopf & Hartel in 1907.

Symphony No. 28 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Composition#

When Haydn wrote the symphony, he was about 33 years old and had been working since 1761 as Vice-Kapellmeister (assistant music director) at the court of the princely Esterhazy family, centered on their palaces in Vienna and Eisenstadt. Haydn’s job was to cover secular music, in particular the directorship of the house orchestra. At the time, his patron Prince, Nikolaus I, had not yet discovered his two main musical obsessions, firstly playing the baryton and later putting on opera productions, so Haydn was able to channel much of his time for composition into symphonies, which were appearing at a rate of about four per year (Jones 1989). Jones suggests that the premiere of the 28th Symphony took place at the Eisenstadt palace, in what is today called the Haydnsaal, before the Prince and his guests (who may have been outnumbered by the orchestra). The players were the ensemble of courtly employees, some of them eminent performers, who served as Haydn’s laboratory as he continued to explore the potential of the classical symphony. The autograph of the work survives (though missing the final movement) and is kept in the University Library of Tübingen. Atop the first page, Haydn wrote: “Sinfonia / in nomine Domini / dal Giuseppe Haydn 1765”. The work was published by Bailleux in Paris in 1766–1767 (Wheelock 1982:40) as part of a set six symphonies, five of them by Haydn.

Symphony No. 29 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Discography#

In the LP era, neither Antal Doráti with the Philharmonia Hungarica nor Leslie Jones with the Little Orchestra of London provide a tune for the trio of the Minuet. Loibner has the Vienna Academy Chamber Orchestra’s harpsichordist Christa Fuhrmann give “the outline of a melody—a convincing example of improvisation which suits the music well.” Moving on to the CD era, on Naxos Records, Nicholas Ward and the Northern Chamber Orchestra pair No. 29 with Nos. 22 and 60. Ward’s recording has no tune in the trio of the minuet. Neither has that of Adam Fischer conducting the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra in Haydn’s complete symphonies. The recording by Christopher Hogwood conducting the Academy of Ancient Music also omits a harpsichord melody in the third movement.

Symphony No. 30 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Description#

The Alleluia chant of the first movement has been confused with the principal melodic line in the finale of Mozart’s Symphony No. 41 in C major. Mozart did use this Alleluia chant melody for his Alleluia Canon, K. 553, written shortly after he completed his C major symphony. The work is scored for flute, two oboes, bassoon, two horns, trumpets, timpani, and strings with continuo. The use of timpani in this symphony remains an unresolved matter. In his cycle, for example, Antal Doráti omits them. Several more recent performances, however, have included timpani. The work is in three movements: The Alleluia motif dominates the first movement. It is the first theme; the second theme is also derived from it and it is also included in the closing material of the exposition. In the development, after the first theme is restated, the first three notes of the motif (do-re-mi) are repeated seven times at different pitch levels against sixteenth-note accompaniment. The second movement contains numerous solo concertante passages for the flute. The rare choice of the dominant key for a second movement (subdominant was more common in Haydn) was likely because G major was a favorable key for the flute.

Symphony No. 31 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The backdrop of this and other early Haydn symphonies was a patron who loved music and wanted his household music to be performed by top musicians – but whose budget did not accommodate anything like the orchestras of the size seen in modern times. Personnel fluctuated, and thus also the forces Haydn had available to work with. Haydn himself sought to retain the best instrumentalists, and he did so in part by writing interesting and challenging solos for them in his early symphonies. Prince Nikolaus’s orchestra had included a large horn section (four players) earlier in the 1760s, but one horn player, Franz Reiner, left in 1763 and was not replaced. A further loss is reported in a letter by Haydn dated 23 January 1765 (the earliest preserved letter of the composer). This informs the Prince of the death of a horn player named Knoblauch. Haydn suggested a replacement, but his suggestion was not accepted. The same letter serves as an illustration of Haydn’s role as lobbyist for his men (see Papa Haydn): he requests that the Prince provide a fringe benefit for the musicians by covering the cost of their medications. This too was (temporarily) turned down. Prince Nikolaus brought the horn section back to full strength in May 1765, when hornists Franz Stamitz and Joseph Dietzl were engaged to fill the missing places. The “Hornsignal” Symphony evidently was written to celebrate this event. (Other four-horn symphonies from roughly the same time are No. 13, No. 39, and the misnumbered No. 72.) The exact date of the symphony is not known, other than the year. However, the symphony must have been premiered no earlier than May (since that is when Stamitz and Dietzl arrived) and before September 13, 1765. The latter date is known since the symphony includes a flute part, and the flautist (Franz Siegl) was dismissed on this date for having carelessly started a fire while shooting birds; it was only the following year that Haydn was able to persuade his patron to reinstate Siegl.

Symphony No. 34 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Theatrical origins#

It is possible that this symphony is the one referred to in an inscription accompanying Haydn’s Symphony No. 49 which reads: questa Sinfonia (i.e. 49) serve di Compagna a quella / del Philosopho Inglese dell’ istesso autore. (This symphony serves as a companion to the “English Philosopher” by the same author.) The English Philosopher or II filosofo inglese, was a play written in 1754 by Carlo Goldoni. It was performed at Vienna’s Karntnerthortheater in December 1764 in German translation under the title Die Philosophinnen, oder Hannswurst, der Cavalier in London zu seinen Unglücke, and featured two mock-Quakers as characters. The provenance of Symphony no. 49 is likely also to have originated as a theatrical piece for a German translation of Nicolas Chamfort’s popular play La jeune indienne which also featured overly solemn Quakers for comedic purposes. This symphony is the only one that shares exactly the same movement plan as Symphony No. 49, namely an extended sonata-form opening Adagio in time; an Allegro di molto with a wide-leap principal theme; a Minuet and a Presto finale. The symphony is homotonal (i.e. all movements are in the same tonic), following the custom associated with the sonata di chiesa. The thematic similarity in musical style combined with the conjuncture of character portrayals in both Chamfort’s and Goldoni’s works suggests a deliberate use of musical themes to portray theatrical elements common to both. Further, the jig motif of the finale was associated with an English style.

Symphony No. 37 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The work is scored for two oboes, bassoon, two horns (or two trumpets, timpani) and strings possibly with continuo. It is possible the trumpet and timpani parts were added later. The work is in four movements: The key organization limited to C major and C minor in the four movements indicates perhaps a reliance on the Baroque suites as a guide for tonal organization of the movements, the influence of the first three symphonies by C.P.E. Bach, or an early simplicity of tonal language. (Haydn was in his mid-20s at the composition of this symphony.)

Symphony No. 38 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nickname (Echo)#

It is typically referred to as the Echo Symphony because of the use of mimicry motif (or echo) in the cadential phrasing of the second movement. The echo effect is created by scoring the leading line for unmuted first violins and the response from muted second violins. This innovation in scoring expands upon an earlier common baroque practice of cadential phrase-repetition.

Music#

The work is scored for two oboes, bassoon, two horns, trumpets, timpani and strings, with continuo. There are four movements: The “Echo” slow movement is scored for strings only. The trio of the minuet contains a virtuosic solo oboe part that spans the entire range of the instrument and contains leaps of almost two octaves. The finale is another showpiece for the solo oboe which includes virtuosic display, notes held fermata and a spot for a cadenza. It is not in typical concerto form, but is a mixture between concerto and sonata forms. It has been suggested that the first two movements were composed before Haydn knew of the engagement with the soloist Colombazzo as they have a completely different character than the two oboe-centric movements that round up the work.

Symphony No. 39 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

It is written for an orchestra consisting of two oboes, four horns (two in B alto and two in G), and strings (violins divided into two, violas, cellos and double basses). There are four movements: The opening movement features a nervously excited main theme interrupted by frequent pauses. Felix Diergarten has specifically analysed the pauses in the first movement in the symphony, with respect to symphonic form of the time. Both the first and second theme groups begin with the same two bars of melodic material. In contrast to the Sturm und Drang of the opening movement, A.P. Brown describes the Andante as “one of Haydn’s most galant slow movements, with its small meter signature, sixteenth triplets, slides, weak resolutions, echoes, and generally thin texture”. The minor mode returns for the Menuet which is contrasted by a bright major-mode Trio which features high notes for the first horn. The movement is in two-part counterpoint. Douglas Townsend opined that this movement “wears a little thin” because of the two-part writing. The frenetic Sturm und Drang finale brings the symphony to an energetic conclusion, with significant changes in harmony and dynamics as well as wide melodic disjunct motion.

Symphony No. 43 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

H. C. Robbins Landon describes the work as “the Austrian chamber symphony par excellence”. The work is in four movements: The first movement’s first theme is “one of the longest of its kind that Haydn ever wrote”. The movement lacks a true second subject. The slow movement is scored for muted violins with sparing use of woodwind. Robbins Landon describes the movement as having “a strong sense of nostalgia”. It is the only movement of any of Haydn’s symphonies to be in the key of A major. The menuetto is “marvellously kinetic and very Austrian”. The final movement has a long coda in which “finally everything dies away except for the first violin, which goes up to an enigmatic G. There follows one of Haydn’s magnificent silences, and then the music plunges into a last tutti and this elegant chamber symphony is at an end”.

Symphony No. 44 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for two oboes, bassoon, two horns (in E and G), strings, and basso continuo. It is in four movements: The piece is typical of Haydn’s Sturm und Drang (storm and stress) period. The first movement, which is in sonata form, begins with a four-note motif played in unison which occurs throughout the movement. After a brief period of E minor, the second subject, in G major, in its fullest form, appears abruptly. The development section develops both themes, especially the first half of the second theme. The development of the second theme becomes unstoppable and hyperactive and eventually climaxes before modulating back to E minor for the recapitulation. The first subject gets its repeat in the tonic in its fullest form. The second theme, this time in the tonic, only gets the second half of itself repeated, because the first half was widely used in the development section, as it is written above. Instead, there is a brief episode in the middle, which helps the second theme’s length to stay the same as the exposition. The second movement, unusually, is a minuet in E minor and trio in E major; thus the work is one of the few symphonies of the Classical era to place the Minuet second (others include Haydn’s 32nd and 37th, and his brother Michael’s 15th and 16th). The minuet is in the form of a “Canone in Diapason” between the upper and lower strings with the lower strings trailing the upper strings by a single bar. Haydn would later use a similar double canon with the lower strings trailing the upper strings by one measure in the famous “Witches Minuet” of his D minor quartet from Op. 76. The third movement is slow, also in E major, and with strings muted. The finale, like the first movement, is in sonata form and is dominated by a figure which opens the movement in unison. It is quite contrapuntal, and ends in E minor rather than finishing in a major key as was usual in most other minor key works of the time. Since all of the movements have the same tonic, the work is homotonal.

Symphony No. 45 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

The tale of how the symphony was composed was told by Haydn in old age to his biographers Albert Christoph Dies and Georg August Griesinger. At that time, Haydn’s patron Nikolaus I, Prince Esterházy was resident, together with all his musicians and retinue, at his favorite summer palace at Eszterháza in rural Hungary. The stay there had been longer than expected, and most of the musicians had been forced to leave their wives back at home in Eisenstadt, about a day’s journey away. Longing to return, the musicians appealed to their Kapellmeister for help. The diplomatic Haydn, instead of making a direct appeal, put his request into the music of the symphony: during the final adagio each musician stops playing, snuffs out the candle on his music stand, and leaves in turn, so that at the end, there are just two muted violins left (played by Haydn himself and his concertmaster, Luigi Tomasini). Esterházy seems to have understood the message: the court returned to Eisenstadt the day following the performance.

Symphony No. 46 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The work is scored for two oboes, bassoon, two horns and strings. The work is written in standard four-movement form: The key of B major, which is highly unusual in the Classical period, sets the tone of the work, which is one of unease, restlessness and searching. The first movement starts with a four-note motif in unison, reminiscent of Symphony No. 44 (Trauer), but quasi-inverted. It is developed in various keys, with frequent modulations into the minor and to other remote keys. In a deliberate ‘surprise’, the movement seems to enter the recapitulation seconds after the development begins, before jumping back to a dramatic development passage. The recapitulation continues the development still further, moving into dissonance, before an abrupt ending. The second movement is in B minor. It is a rhapsodic pastorale, rocking along over a running figure in the bass, with a syncopated figure in the muted violins maintaining the tension. The minuet is more assertive in tone, but its confidence is undermined by a plaintive, almost solemn, trio, again in B minor. The trio is “tuneless”, similar to the Trio of the minuet in Symphony No. 29, and Haydn may have intended for a solo instrument to improvise a theme over the accompaniment. Many of Haydn’s symphonies contain more startling surprises than the one which has made his Surprise Symphony famous. The surprise here comes in the final movement. The opening is a typical energetic theme in the violins which is rapidly taken up and developed, with the horns prominent. The music rushes on only to break off suddenly, interrupted by the closing passage of the minuet, followed by the repeat of the whole of the second half of the minuet. The horns then burst in again with the main finale theme, but fade away and the music stutters almost to a halt. Then, on an underlying pedal on the horns, the strings take the movement and symphony to a rapid and abrupt close. Although it is not known if he was familiar with this symphony, Ludwig van Beethoven would later do the same thing in the finale of his Fifth Symphony, interrupting the work with a reprise of material from the preceding movement before returning to the current movement’s theme. Since all of the movements have the same tonic, the work is homotonal.

Symphony No. 47 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

Scored for two oboes, bassoon, two horns, and strings. , it is in four movements: The opening movement begins with a hammerstroke and a dotted-rhythm fanfare of repeated notes which serves as the first theme for the sonata-form movement. The line between the development and recapitulation is blurred by the reappearance of the dotted-rhythm in G minor (the home tonic but the wrong mode) followed by standard recapitulation of the second theme group. The first theme is finally resolved in the concluding coda. The slow movement is a theme with four variations in invertible counterpoint. Through the third variation, each appearance of the ternary theme with winds appearing only in the middle section features muted strings in the outer sections. In the second outer section, the theme in two voices is inverted. Also, through each of the first three variations the surface rhythms are accelerating from eighth notes to sixteenth notes to triplet-sixteenths to thirty-seconds. The fourth variation varies from this pattern in that it is fully scored for the entire variation and serves as a recapitulation for the movement. What follows is a coda where the theme slowly dies away.

Symphony No. 48 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for two oboes, bassoon, two horns (first, third and last movement in C alto, second movement in F), and strings. Parts for two trumpets and timpani were added later but it is uncertain whether or not these really are by Haydn. Some copies of the Eulenburg edition include two different timpani parts on the same staff, the more doubtful version differentiated by stems down and written in a facsimile of handwriting. The work has four movements: The first movement “contains a development section more complex than the minor-keyed symphonies of the same period, but not as complex as the C major Fürnberg-Morzin symphonies,” and the finale has a “secondary development” in the recapitulation that compensates for the brevity of the actual development. Haydn later quoted the opening of the first movement in his “Laudon” Symphony (No. 69).

Symphony No. 49 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instrumentation#

The scoring of the symphony is typical of Haydn in this period: two oboes, bassoon, two horns, and strings.

Nickname#

As with all the other titles that have become attached to Haydn’s symphonies, this did not originate with the composer himself. It was long believed that the nickname "" or The Passion derived from the nature of the music itself: the slow opening movement of the sinfonia da chiesa, its minor key modality and its association with the Sturm und Drang period of Haydn’s symphonic output. Drawing from this traditional reading, H.C. Robbins Landon has described it as “dark-hued, sombre – even tragic.” However, the nickname can be traced back to a single source from a performance given during Holy Week in the Northern German city of Schwerin in 1790, where performance of secular music was banned between 1756 and 1785. This suggests that the name was derived circumstantially and not thematically and that reading the symphony as having a Passion-related motif is post-facto interpretation. As Elaine Sisman has discovered: This suggests that, far from being a passion-related work, the symphony has, in part at least, a theatrical provenance – a fairly common origin for Haydn’s symphonic works (See, e.g. Symphonies No. 59 and 60). There was, in fact, a popular play to which this inscription likely refers. was the title under which Chamfort’s 1764 comedy was published in German. It was a popular stage piece in Vienna during the late 1760s and early 1770s. It is possible, therefore, that the “dark-hued” reading of the symphony was, in fact, an insouciant characterisation of the earnest Quaker figure from Chamfort.

Symphony No. 50 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Symphony No. 52 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for two oboes, bassoon, two horns, continuo (harpsichord) and strings. It has four movements: The symphony has several distinct features. The first movement, written in sonata-allegro form, establishes a contrast between an agitated and forte opening theme in C minor, and a lyrical and piano second theme in the relative major (E). Somewhat unusually, Haydn presents the second theme twice with transitional material in between its appearances. As with his Symphony No. 45, the movement employs deceptive progressions in both the exposition (mm. 36–37) and recapitulation (mm. 130–131). The “anger and vehemence” established by the minor mode of the symphony surpasses Haydn’s earlier minor key symphonic efforts.

Symphony No. 53 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Symphony No. 55 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nickname (The Schoolmaster)#

H. C. Robbins Landon notes that while Haydn’s autograph manuscript of the symphony contains no reference to this title, the work has been known by this name since the early nineteenth century. Landon suggests that the dotted rhythm of the second movement calls to mind the wagging finger of a schoolmaster, and points out that in the catalog of his works that Haydn helped prepare in the final years of his life, there is a fragment of a lost Divertimento in D containing a similar dotted rhythm entitled (the schoolmaster in love). Landon goes on to propose a program for the symphony’s second movement in which the sections marked semplice represent the “strict, pedantic” teacher and the dolce sections depict the same teacher overwhelmed by love.

Symphony No. 58 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for two oboes, two horns, two violins, viola, cello, and double bass. Modern performers continue to debate whether a bassoon, and – contentiously – a harpsichord should be added. It is in four movements: The unique distinction alla zoppa on the Menuet literally means “limping” which Haydn accomplishes with a dotted rhythm pushed into all sorts of asymmetrical patterns. This movement was also used in Haydn’s Baryton Trio in D major (Hob 11/52). A. Peter Brown has noted how the character of the first movement is very reminiscent of a minuet, and can be regarded as an “expanded Minuet”. Brown has also commented that the overall nature of the work highly resembles a suite where all four movements are dance-like in nature.

Symphony No. 59 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nickname (Fire)#

The symphony has long been popularly known as the Feuer or Fire symphony. The nickname likely derives from the use of several movements as accompanying music to a performance of the play Die Feuersbrunst by Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm Großmann, which was performed at Eszterháza in either (depending on the source) 1774

Music#

The symphony is scored for two oboes, two French horns, continuo (bassoon, harpsichord), and strings. It is in standard four-movement form: The opening movement starts off energetically on an upbeat followed by octave drop. Following the initial outburst, the music dramatically relaxes and comes to a full stop. This was a technique he used to an even greater effect in his 48th symphony from about the same time period. The relaxation also appears at the end of the movement giving the listener the quiet curtain raising music that often occurs at the end of an opera overture. In the slow movement, the winds are silent for most of the movement—leaving the listener to expect that the movement is scored for strings alone. These expectations are quelled when full orchestration enters for the second theme in the recapitulation. Haydn rarely used the same meter for consecutive movements as he did with the inner two movements in this work. There are melodic links between these movements, both in A minor, as well as both start with the same sequence of pitches. The second theme of the slow movement is also alluded to. The finale begins with a horn call followed by a response in the oboes and at the end of the exposition it is the strings and oboe that have a dialogue. Haydn uses a similar horn call to start the finale of his 103rd symphony over twenty-five years later. Following a brief development, the return of the horn call is only hinted at in the strings in the start of the recapitulation which then follows in a relatively straightforward manner. The horn call in its proper instrumentation is saved for the movement coda.

Symphony No. 6 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background and scoring#

Haydn wrote this, his first symphonic work for his new employer Prince Paul II Anton Esterházy, in the spring of 1761, shortly after joining the court. He had signed his employment contract with him on 1 May 1761. Prince Paul gave Haydn the three times of day as a theme for composition. The Esterházys maintained in permanent residence an excellent chamber orchestra and with his first contribution for it in the symphonic genre, Haydn fully exploited the talents of the players. In this, Haydn was consciously drawing on the familiar tradition of the concerto grosso, exemplified by the works of Antonio Vivaldi, Giuseppe Tartini, and Tomaso Albinoni then much in vogue at courts across Europe. All three symphonies (Nos. 6, 7 and 8) feature extensive solo passages for the wind, horn and strings, including rare solo writing for the double bass and bassoon in the third movement of No. 6. The work is scored for flute, two oboes, bassoon, two horns in D, violin I, violin II, viola, cello, double bass, and harpsichord ad libitum. It has been commonly suggested that Haydn’s motivation was to curry favour both with his new employer (by making reference to a familiar and popular tradition) and, perhaps more importantly, with the players upon whose goodwill he depended. Typically during this period, players who performed challenging solo passages or displayed unusual virtuosity received financial reward. By highlighting virtually all of the players in this regard, Haydn was, literally, spreading the wealth.

Symphony No. 60 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nickname#

The symphony was adapted from incidental music that Haydn composed in 1774 for a German-language performance at Eszterház of a comedy by the French playwright Jean-François Regnard called Le Distrait (The Absent-Minded Gentleman). Written in 1697, the play was revived by Karl Wahr’s touring company under the German title Der Zerstreute. (Il Distratto is the Italian translation and the title that appears on Haydn’s incidental music.) The comedy—about a man so absent-minded that he nearly forgets his own wedding—was evidently perfect material for Haydn’s wit and humour, and his music was an instant hit. The Pressburger Zeitung, the leading regional newspaper, wrote on July 6th 1774 of the “original music which connoisseurs consider to be a masterpiece. One observes, here in a vein of musical comedy, the same spirit that enlivens all Haydn’s works. To the admiration of connoisseurs and the sheer delight of listeners, he displays masterly variety, switching from the most affected pomposity to low humour, so that H aydn and Regnard vie with one another as to who is the more capriciously absent-minded.“ Another performance on 22 November in Pressburg itself (now Bratislava, Slovakia) elicited another rave review from the same newspaper: The incidental music fizzes with invention and hilarity and mixes an array of musical styles ranging from stately Baroque to a movement described by the great Haydn scholar H. C. Robbins Landon as “a medley of Balkan folk tunes”. Its success ensured that Haydn was quick to adapt it as a six-movement symphony, perhaps as early as 1775. Symphony No. 60 contains the overture, four entr’actes and finale from the music composed for the five-act play.

Symphony No. 62 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, bassoon, two French horns, and strings. There are four movements: The first movement contains material which Haydn reworked from an earlier Sinfonia (Overtura) in D, Hob. Ia/7. This movement appears to be remarkably aligned with the harmonies of the Finale of his 53rd symphony, except that the latter symphony has a Finale present in many versions. They were both written at a time when Haydn was integrating his symphonic works with the operas he was writing for the theater at Esterhaza, with the result that many of the symphonies written from 1774 to 1781, have the mood of stage works he wrote during the period. The slow movement has a barcarole-like accompaniment, but instead of the typical Venetian gondolier melody over the top, Haydn presents only melodic fragments, teasing the listener into thinking a melody is near always interrupting before one takes shape. The trio of the minuet features violins and bassoons and frequently loses the downbeat, a trick Haydn would later play to greater effect in the corresponding trio of his Oxford Symphony. The finale proceeds in Italian style. The second theme group contains Lombard rhythms which are worked extensively in the development.

Symphony No. 63 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Instrumentation#

There are two versions of this symphony: the so-called “first version” is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two French horns, two trumpets, timpani, and strings, while the “second version” has the same scoring but with only one bassoon and no trumpets or timpani. Part of the reason for this re-scoring was the departure of bassoonist Ignatz Drobny from Eszterháza, leaving Haydn’s orchestra with only one bassoon.

Movements#

The two versions are not only differently scored; the third and fourth movements of the two versions are also totally different. The first version of the finale is based on an old fragment from and is viewed by some musicologists as a stop-gap to perhaps complete the symphony early to fulfill the need for a performance. First version Second version The first movement is derived from the overture to Haydn’s opera Il mondo della luna. This was done by transforming the curtain-raising transitional ending into one that is more cadential, adding the appropriate expositional repeats to conform more to sonata form and transposing one of the overture’s two bassoon parts up an octave so that it could be played by the flute. The exposition still retains some of its overture-like feel as the first theme group is in ternary form and it lacks a true second theme, transitioning straight into an expositional coda. In the recapitulation, only the third part of the ternary first theme group is restated. The “La Roxelane” second movement is in double variation form (ABA 1 B 1 A 2 B 2 ). The trio of the minuet features solo oboe and solo bassoon playing over pizzicato string accompaniment.

Symphony No. 64 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nickname#

The nickname is Haydn’s own. On the orchestra parts prepared for this symphony at Esterházy, he placed the heading “. The full version of this Latin adage is . Haydn likely knew this in the form, , which translates to “Times change, and we change with them. How? Time passing makes mankind worse.” by John Owen, from his popular collection of Epigrammata published in 1615.

Movements#

The symphony is scored for two oboes, two horns, and strings. There are four movements: The opening of the first movement begins with two lyrical measures played pianissimo followed by a tutti outburst of four chords which is the reverse order of the declamatory question/lyrical answer openings that Haydn had used in recent symphonies such as nos. 44, 46 and 65. A wealth of transitional material follows before the second theme arrives in the dominant key, colorfully scored for violins and violas played in octaves. High horn parts add brilliant color appear throughout the movement. The Largo as so often in this period has muted strings. Its broad melody is punctuated by frequent short pauses, demonstrating an understated pleading and yearning quality which is so typical of Haydn. We are tricked into thinking the movement is for strings alone until the wind instruments interject powerfully half way through.

Symphony No. 69 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nickname#

The nickname originated with Haydn’s publisher Artaria, who issued a version for solo piano in the mid-1770s. As a device for increasing sales, Artaria attached to the work the name of a popular Austrian war hero, General Ernst Gideon Freiherr von Laudon. Haydn agreed to make the keyboard arrangement, but insisted on omitting the final movement as inappropriate for keyboard performance. However, he endorsed Artaria’s sales maneuver, writing to his publisher on April 8, 1783 that the title “wird zu Beförderung des Verkaufes mehr als zehen Finale beytragen” (will produce more sales than ten finales). H. C. Robbins Landon’s view that the title “is Haydn’s own … to honour the famous Austrian Feldmarschall who conquered the Turks and made Europe safe for Austrian monarchism” is inaccurate. As a post-facto addition, the title was borne from purely economic motivation and does not reflect any conscious military theme in Haydn’s original conception. Instead, the similarities of the festive opening with the composer’s earlier 48th symphony was likely the inspiration for Artaria’s idea.

Symphony No. 7 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

It is scored for two flutes, two oboes, bassoon, two horns, strings, and continuo, and exhibits many concertante features; indeed, the principal players of each of the string sections have solos, while the winds are given fairly difficult parts. The work is in four movements: Unlike the sunrise of Le matin, the slow introduction to the opening movement here is a ceremonial march. The first movement begins with a fanfare style, ten bar passage in C major, followed by the allegro part of the movement in D major. The second andante movement begins with an extended “recitative” in C minor featuring a solo violin, which ends in B minor to give way for the main Adagio section. The Adagio follows in G major with solo violin and solo cello with prominent obbligato flute parts coloring the accompanying orchestration. The movement ends with an extended cadenza for the solo violin and cello. As is the case with symphonies 6 and 8, the double bass has an extensive solo in the trio of the menuet. Like the previous symphony, the finale contains passages for almost all the instruments, but here it is intensified even more with solos and tuttis often exchanging every other bar. The recapitulation is notably accentuated with horn fanfares.

Symphony No. 70 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, bassoon, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. The first draft had neither trumpet nor timpani parts; Haydn added those later. The work is in standard four-movement form:

I. Vivace con brio#

The first movement is a sonata-allegro form in time, dominated by a motif established in the opening bars and consisting of two descending pairs of notes, firmly establishing the home key by using only notes in the D major triad. : The exposition is marked for repeat, as are the development and recapitulation. The development begins with a repetition of the exposition’s ending, but on unison Cs in the woodwinds and strings. The Cs come as a surprise to the listener: the note does not appear at all in the exposition. The rest of the development consists mainly of sustained notes for the woodwinds and opening descending pairs of notes in three-part counterpoint in the strings. In the recapitulation, the second half of the first theme group is heard in canon.

Symphony No. 72 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

It is scored for flute, two oboes, bassoon, four horns and strings. It is one of the few classical-era symphonies to include four horns rather than two. This work is closely related to the Hornsignal Symphony because of its many soloistic horn passages and is also related to the “Day Trilogy” symphonies 6, 7 and 8 because of the concertante passages for other instruments. The symphony is in four movements: The horns are silent in the second movement. In their place are solo passages for flute and violin. The minuet begins and ends with the same phrase piano with the ending as an echo. The strings are silent in the trio which is scored for all the winds minus the flute. The finale is a set of marching variations that features many soloists accompanied by strings. The first variation features solo flute, the second a solo cello, the third a solo violin and the fourth a solo violone. The fifth variation is scored for oboe, two horns and strings while the sixth variation is for flute, oboe, bassoon, four horns and strings. The movement concludes with a Presto coda in and featuring a final horn flourish.

Symphony No. 73 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, bassoon, two horns, and strings. Some versions also include two trumpets and timpani which appear only in the Finale. The work has four movements: The first movement follows a sonata form with a slow introduction. Notably, although the introduction ends on a dominant chord, the Allegro does not open in the tonic key. This movement displays one of Haydn’s favorite musical devices, turning accompaniment into melody. Here, this is done in the simplest possible manner by constructing the main theme out of repeated notes. Once the repeated-note theme is established, then any time repeated notes are used in accompaniment, it sounds to the listener like thematic counterpoint. The second movement is based on Haydn’s song Gegenliebe, Hob. XVIIa:16. The final movement was originally composed as the overture to Haydn’s opera La fedeltà premiata (“Fidelity Rewarded”), a detail which has helped secure the dating of the symphony. The hunting melody of the finale is a quotation from La Chasse du cerf, a Divertissement for solo voices, chorus, and instrumental ensemble by the eighteenth century French composer Jean-Baptiste Morin. Morin himself drew upon the popular Sourcillade (or Vue) penned by André Danican Philidor in the first decade of the 18th century. Haydn’s theme was therefore widely recognisable as a hunting motif. Along with the famous coda to the Farewell Symphony, La Chasse is one of the few Haydn symphonies to end quietly.

Symphony No. 75 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony was originally scored for flute, two oboes, bassoon, two horns, and strings. Later, parts for two trumpets and timpani were added. The work is in four movements: The opening slow introduction is marked Grave. The first theme features a lyrical rising half-step motif followed by three loud chords. Mozart wrote down this theme along with the openings of symphonies 47 and 62, presumably, as Charles Rosen noted, “with an eye to conducting them at his concerts.” The second theme is very brief and also contains a rising half-step. The second theme is omitted from the recapitulation. The second movement is a theme in muted strings followed by four strophic variations. The second variation features a dialogue between wind & brass fanfares with simple string writing. The third features a solo string trio against a pizzicato accompaniment. Here, the solo cello plays continuously weaving sixteenth notes under the melody in the two other solo strings. Elaine Sisman has postulated that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart modeled the slow movement of his Piano Concerto No. 15 on the second movement of this symphony. The fourth movement is “a rounded binary form with repeats of both halves,” sometimes mistaken for sonata form.

Symphony No. 76 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early set of symphonies for London#

In 1782, almost a decade before Haydn composed the first of his famous London symphonies, he composed a trio of symphonies – 76, 77 and 78 – for a trip to London which fell through. Haydn wrote the following to his Paris music publisher Boyer on 15 July 1783: Last year I composed 3 beautiful, magnificent and by no means over-lengthy Symphonies, scored for 2 violins, viola, basso, 2 horns, 2 oboes, 1 flute and 1 bassoon – but they are all very easy, and without too much concertante – for the English gentlemen, and I intended to bring them over myself and produce them there: but a certain circumstance hindered that plan, and so I am willing to hand over these 3 Symphonies. It is not known how much Haydn knew of the tastes of English audiences, but the three symphonies do possess a polish and style typical of London composers such as Johann Christian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel. As noted in the letter, the winds have very few measures where they do not support the strings, they are used primarily to add color.

Symphony No. 78 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Early set of symphonies for London#

In 1782, almost a decade before Haydn composed the first of his famous London symphonies, he composed a trio of symphonies – 76, 77 and 78 – for a trip to London which fell through. Haydn wrote the following to his Paris music publisher Boyer on July 15, 1783: Last year I composed 3 beautiful, magnificent and by no means over-lengthy Symphonies, scored for 2 violins, viola, basso, 2 horns, 2 oboes, 1 flute and 1 bassoon – but they are all very easy, and without too much concertante – for the English gentlemen, and I intended to bring them over myself and produce them there: but a certain circumstance hindered that plan, and so I am willing to hand over these 3 Symphonies. It is not known how much Haydn knew of the tastes of English audiences, but the three symphonies do possess a polish and style typical of London composers such as Johann Christian Bach and Carl Friedrich Abel. As noted in the letter, the winds have very few measures where they do not support the strings: they are used primarily to add color.

Symphony No. 79 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Symphonies No. 79–81#

Symphony No. 79 was composed as part of a trio of symphonies that also includes symphonies 80 and 81. Unlike the previous three symphonies that were composed for London or the next six that were composed for Paris, symphonies 79 through 81 were written for a Lenten concert performed in Vienna in March 1785. For whatever purpose they were written, in these three symphonies Haydn experiments openly and widely with rhythms, pauses, tutti, minimal polyphony, occasional dissonance, theme and variations and dance-like structures. All three symphonies share the same structure of movements, and for the most part they have similar chord structures, at least in the first movements of each symphony.

Symphony No. 8 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Orchestration#

The orchestration used in Symphony No. 8 is very similar to the concerto grosso style of the Baroque period, where a small group of solo instruments was set against a larger ensemble. In Symphony No. 8, the small group consists of two solo violins, solo violoncello and a solo violone and the large ensemble contains one flute, two oboes, bassoon, two horns, strings, and harpsichord. Haydn’s use of the bassoon and harpsichord is reminiscent of the basso continuo used extensively throughout the Baroque period; however it is not as constantly driving.

Symphony No. 80 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns and strings The work is in the typical four movements: The first movement opens with a theme in the cellos accompanied by tremolos in the strings evoking a strong sense of Sturm und Drang. After the second theme provides a brief respite in the relative major, the music becomes turbulent as it transitions again. What follows is a very striking expositional coda which is a light, dancing theme featuring Lombard rhythms and scored for solo flute and first violin against a pizzicato bass. The development begins with a quirky coda theme in the remote key of D major and then slowly works it up the scale until it reaches A major followed by another grand pause and then the theme is repeated again in the relative major of F major. From there, Haydn blurs the lines between development and recapitulation as he did in earlier minor key symphonies. The first theme reappears in D minor, but it still appears to be part of the development. By the time the second theme appears in the parallel major of D major, it is evident that this is indeed the recapitulation and the movement drives home with odd expositional coda theme finishing the movement off in the appropriate key of D major. Haydn does not mark the second half of this movement with repeat signs. The lyrical second movement is in B major and has little trace of the storminess of the opening movement, although there are some darker passages toward the end of the movement. The third movement returns to D minor with some emphasis on F major, like in the first movement. The trio is in D major and uses a derivative (almost the reverse) of the Gregorian incipit lamentatio melody previously used in his 26th symphony “Lamentatione”. The finale is a sonata form in D major, with both halves marked for repeat. There is a lot of syncopation throughout the movement, particularly amongst the strings where the first violins play an eighth-note ahead of the second violins and the rest of the orchestra. The last movement contains very little negative melodies and ends with a passage similar to that he used to end his Symphony No. 84 in E.

Symphony No. 81 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns and strings. It is composed of four movements: In the first and third movements, Haydn explores “ambiguities of tonality … which eventually reach their peak of subtlety” in the first movement of Symphony No. 94. The first movement begins “with an unusual and exciting pedal point … and uses a subsidiary subject that appears like a cordial greeting to the newly won friend Mozart.” The pedals and dissonances point to Mozart’s K. 465. The second movement is a siciliano theme with three variations. The variations are for the most part strophic and straightforward with the exception of a minor-key interlude in the center of the movement between the first and second variations. The final variation contains the fullest orchestration with pizzicato accompaniment and serves to recapitulate the movement.

Symphony No. 82 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The symphony was one of a series of six symphonies commissioned in 1786 by the Concert de la Loge Olympique, a popular concert subscription in Paris (hence the name for the series as a whole). Like the other Paris symphonies, the Bear Symphony was written for the largest orchestral ensemble that Haydn had written for up until that time, including reinforced woodwind parts and a large string section. Despite its number, the symphony was actually the last of the six Paris symphonies to be composed. It was completed in 1786. It was first performed in 1787 in Paris by the Concert de la Loge Olympique, directed by Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges. The work was published in Paris by the Imbault firm. Haydn’s manuscript became the property of the Comte d’Ogny, who had commissioned the work; it resides today in the Bibliothèque Nationale of France.

Symphony No. 83 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns and strings. It is in standard four-movement form: The symphony opens in stormy G minor with the minor triad further intensified by the added dissonance of the C. The dotted rhythms that answer are transformed into fanfares later in the first theme group of the sonata form movement. The second theme in B major features dotted repeated notes in a solo oboe against jerky acciaccaturas in the first violins. This is the “Hen” motif that gives the symphony its nickname, although it is also related to the dotted rhythm response in the first theme. The development features the exploration of the two themes in different keys. It opens with the first theme in C minor, followed by the second theme in E major and F minor. The first theme is then heard contrapuntally leading towards the dominant allowing for a retransition to the tonic for the recapitulation. The first theme is recapitulated in G minor while the second theme is recapitulated in G major.

Symphony No. 84 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, and strings. It is in standard four-movement form: The slow second movement is a hybrid between ternary and variation form. The main theme is similar in shape to the introduction to the first movement. After the theme is stated, there is a contrasting passage in the minor which is only loosely based melodically on the main theme. Then two more strophic variations follow, the first lyrical and the second more grand. The movement then segues to a cadenza passage that features the full wind band over pizzicato strings before the full tutti concludes the movement with one last statement of the theme.

Symphony No. 85 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, and strings. It is in standard four-movement form The first movement contains a reference to Symphony No. 45 “Farewell”.

A source in folk song?#

The second movement is described by the eminent Haydn scholar H. C. Robbins Landon as “a set of variations on the old French folk-song ‘La gentille et jeune Lisette’. This assertion frequently appears in program notes for recordings and symphonic performances. Robbins Landon’s own source was the biography of Haydn (1875-1927) written by C. F. Pohl, who provides the text of the putative folk song. The modern musicologist Daniel Heartz disputed Pohl’s claim: “Pohl cites no source for this song and none has been found since.” Heartz suggests instead that the “folk song” was the result of someone providing words in folk style to a tune original with Haydn. The dispute reflects a wider pattern in the interpretation of folk-like material in Haydn’s compositions; see Haydn and folk music.

Symphony No. 86 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The work is in standard four movement form and scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two trumpets, two horns, timpani and strings (violin I, violin II, viola, cello, double bass). Out of the six Paris symphonies, the 86th and 82nd are the only two to use percussion and trumpets. There are four movements: The first movement is in sonata form and is broadly conceived. An unusual feature is that the primary theme of the exposition begins “off-tonic” and does not resolve to the D major until five bars in. Similarly the secondary theme group also delays establishment of the dominant key. The slow movement’s “Capriccio” marking is used only one other time in Haydn’s symphonic output; in the finale of the “A” version of the 53rd symphony. The sonata-form finale is characterized by themes contain the rhythmic motif of five eighth-notes leading into the next bar. In most cases, these five notes are also repeated and staccato.

Symphony No. 87 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, and strings. It is in standard four-movement form: The trio of the Minuet prominently features the solo oboe which rises to a high E.

References#

Robbins Landon, H. C. (1963) Joseph Haydn: Critical Edition of the Complete Symphonies, Universal Edition, Vienna.
Steinberg, Michael (1995) The Symphony: A Listener’s Guide. Oxford University Press.
Harrison, Bernard Haydn: The “Paris” Symphonies (Cambridge University Press, 1998)

Symphony No. 88 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, continuo (harpsichord) and strings. It is in standard four-movement form: The first movement begins with a brief introduction which quickly settles to the dominant chord to prepare for the main body of the movement. The strings open the Allegro stating the main theme and the rest of the movement develops from there, with almost every statement deriving from a previous idea. The exposition is monothematic and the development continues to make use of that single melodic idea. In the recapitulation, the initial statement of the theme is embellished by a solo flute. The slow movement in D major consists mainly of embellishments of the legato oboe and solo cello theme which opens it, though every so often is punctuated by chords played by the whole orchestra. After hearing this slow movement, Brahms is said to have remarked, “I want my Ninth Symphony to sound like this”. It is the second of Haydn’s symphonies to use trumpets and timpani in the slow movement, the first being the Symphony No. 60 “Il Distratto” of 1774. Haydn’s close friend Mozart had previously used trumpets and timpani in the slow movement of his Symphony No. 36 “Linz” of 1783. The minuet is in G major. The trio has an unusual feature to it: after stating a rather simple theme, the fifths held in the bassoons and violas shift down a fourth in parallel, an effect typically avoided by the classical composers. The finale is a sonata-rondo, with the rondo theme first presented in binary form. The first section of this movement is noteworthy for ending on an unusual cadence on the mediant. A “perpetual-motion finale,” it is considered one of the most cheerful Haydn ever wrote.

Symphony No. 89 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns and strings. It is in standard four-movement form: The first movement opens with five forte staccato chords followed by a flowing piano melody. The development section maintains the thematic order of the exposition, but develops the harmonic structure. Then in the recapitulation, the music stays in the tonic, but the themes themselves are developed. This has the effect of melodically interchanging the development and recapitulation sections while maintaining their harmonic roles. Haydn had previously used this effect in his 75th Symphony. The second movement is a siciliano in with a flowing theme. Because of the movement’s origins as a Lire Concerto (which could only play in a few key signatures), this is one of Haydn’s more straightforward siciliano movements. The third movement is a minuet in which the winds have the predominant role. No other symphonic minuet begins with the wind band alone. The trio highlights the solo flute. As noted above, the fourth movement is also derived from an earlier Lire Concerto. The ternary finale of the concerto is extended to a rondo (ABACA form) with an extended coda for the symphony. The new second episode is a contrapuntal F minor section which is quite turbulent and lends a symphonic weight to the movement that would be out of place in the earlier concerto. In the refrain, Haydn uses an unusual musical marking when the opening recurs in the second strain – strascinando – which instructs the performers to drag the beginning of this theme as it returns.

Symphony No. 90 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani, continuo (harpsichord) and strings. It is in standard four-movement form: The second movement is in double variation form with a corresponding theme in F minor and consisting of instrument solos for each variation of the first theme. The finale contains one of Haydn’s more famous jokes. Soon after the recapitulation starts, the music arrives at a rousing and unexpected “ending” in C major followed by four measures of silence which leads the audience to believe the symphony may have actually finished. Instead, the first theme quietly resumes in the remote key of D major.

Symphony No. 91 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, continuo (harpsichord) and strings. It is the last symphony that Haydn composed that is not scored for trumpets and timpani. The work is in standard four-movement form: The first movement opens with a slow introduction which Haydn works into the opening allegro assai. The Allegro’s first theme is derived from an idea Haydn used in his cantata Arianna a Naxos, Hob. XXVIa/2, composed the same year. The theme is chromatic, legato and in two-part inverted counterpoint. The second theme is dancelike. Both the themes are closely linked with the opening largo. The slow movement consists of a set of three variations on a theme. Listen to the bassoon and the accompanying string filigree in the first variation and the series of trills near the end of the movement. The minuet includes a trio for the bassoon accompanied by plucked strings. The finale opens quietly and builds gradually to a close.

Symphony No. 92 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

The symphony is called the “Oxford” because Haydn is said to have conducted it at the conclusion of a ceremony in 1791 in which the degree of Doctor of Music was conferred on him by Oxford University. A candidate for this doctorate was required to present a specimen of his skill in composition, and that presented by Haydn was not as is sometimes said this symphony, but a minuet al rovescio, i. e. a palindrome, though not one specially composed for the occasion, as it first appears in G major in Haydn’s 1772 symphony no. 47 (Hob. I:47), and in the following year in A major as the minuet of his keyboard sonata in that key (Hob. XVI:26), where the trio is also a palindrome. The “Oxford” nickname stuck, though the symphony had actually been written in 1789 for performance in Paris. The degree was conferred fairly soon after Haydn’s first arrival in England, and as he had not by then finished composing any of the twelve “London” symphonies which he ultimately wrote for England, he brought to the Oxford ceremony his most recently completed example in the form. Haydn’s appearance at Oxford is evidence of the international success he attained in his late fifties. It was Charles Burney, himself a graduate of University College and an Oxford doctor of music, who suggested that the degree should be conferred on Haydn and who made all the arrangements. As the composer had arrived from London later than expected, he had to conduct a symphony already familiar to the Oxford musicians, who were to play it at sight. As Haydn had agreed to conduct three concerts in Oxford in connection with receiving his degree, a rehearsal was scheduled for the second morning, and the same evening the symphony we now know as the Oxford was played to the same acclaim it had previously enjoyed at Johann Peter Salomon’s concerts in London. (Salomon was the impresario who had commissioned the composition of Haydn’s twelve “London” Symphonies, of which however only the last is called by German-speakers die Londoner Symphonie.)

Symphony No. 93 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. The work is in standard four-movement form:

I. Adagio – Allegro assai#

The first movement is in sonata form: after an introduction follows an exposition that ends with a repeat sign, a development, a recapitulation and a coda. The introduction is twenty measures long and marked “Adagio”. It opens with the orchestra playing the tonic note, D, in unison, avoiding the establishment of the home key of D major with root-position harmony. The introduction then proceeds on an harmonic excursion, through the dominant (A major), a Neapolitan chord (E major, built on G), a diminished seventh, the parallel minor (D minor), and the subdominant minor (G minor), before concluding with a dominant seventh chord. After the dominant seventh chord, the main body of the movement, marked “Allegro”, commences with the statement of the principal theme. The exposition then continues with a transitional passage before a secondary theme in the dominant, A major. The American musicologist A. Peter Brown compared the secondary theme to a Ländler. The development involves significant re-working of a motif from the secondary theme. The motif is inverted, and passed through a series of remote keys. Unusually for a late Haydn work, the recapitulation involves few surprises. It reprises the principal and secondary themes in the tonic before a short coda.

Symphony No. 94 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nickname#

Like with most of Haydn’s symphonies with nicknames, “Surprise” did not originate with him. In his old age, his biographer Georg August Griesinger asked him whether he wrote this “surprise” to awaken the audience. Haydn replied: No, but I was interested in surprising the public with something new, and in making a brilliant debut, so that my student Pleyel, who was at that time engaged by an orchestra in London (in 1792) and whose concerts had opened a week before mine, should not outdo me. The first Allegro of my symphony had already met with countless Bravos, but the enthusiasm reached its highest peak at the Andante with the Drum Stroke. Encore! Encore! sounded in every throat, and Pleyel himself complimented me on my idea. The work was popular at its premiere. The Woodfall’s Register critic wrote: The third piece of Haydn was a new Overture i.e. symphony , of very extraordinary merit. It was simple, profound, and sublime. The andante movement was particularly admired. The Morning Herald critic wrote: The Room was crowded last night… A new composition from such a man as Haydn is a great event in the history of music. – His novelty of last night was a grand Overture, the subject of which was remarkably simple, but extended to vast complication, exquisitly modulated and striking in effect. Critical applause was fervid and abundant. The symphony is still popular today, and is frequently performed and recorded. It is perhaps Haydn’s most popular one.

Symphony No. 95 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Movements#

The symphony is scored for flute, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. It is in standard four-movement form: The first movement opens with the main theme, which consists of two contrasting parts—the first is strong in character and the second is more lyrical. The transition to the relative major has elements of the head of the main theme. The secondary theme contrasts the main theme by being very subtle in nature, and has a dance-like rhythm. The exposition concludes with a strong codetta. The development is primarily built around the head of the main theme, which is thoroughly developed. The recapitulation omits the head of the main theme, and the secondary theme is recapitulated in C major, thus ending the movement in a major key. It is the only one of the London symphonies that does not begin with a slow introduction to the first movement. The trio of the minuet is a solo for the cello. The finale opens with the following theme: : The first two bars of this theme are the basis for an extensive section of counterpoint in the middle of the movement.

Symphony No. 96 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Nickname#

The nickname “Miracle” is not Haydn’s own. Rather, it originated from the story that, during symphony’s premiere, a chandelier fell from the ceiling of the concert hall in which it was performed. The audience managed to dodge the chandelier successfully as they had all crowded to the front for the post-performance applause, resulting in no casualties. More careful and recent research suggests that this event actually took place during the 1795 premiere of his Symphony No. 102.

Symphony No. 97 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The symphony is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. It is in standard four movement form: The symphony begins with a slow introduction which deliberately avoids establishing C major. The musicologist Daniel Heartz has described the opening bars as a direct quotation from Mozart’s Così fan tutte. The quotation is of a solo oboe passage (in melody and harmony) marking the climax of the opera’s plot, the moment Fiordiligi yields to Ferrando. It was while composing this symphony that Haydn learned, across the great distance from Vienna to London, of Mozart’s unexpected death. While still in Vienna in 1790, Haydn had attended the rehearsals of the opera at Mozart’s invitation. Following the introduction the first movement continues in faster tempo with a fanfare that emphasizes the three notes of the C major triad. : The second subject is a Ländler that makes use of pizzicato in the bass. : The second movement is a set of F major variations with an irregular episode in F minor and a coda. In the variation following the minore episode, Haydn used the unusual sul ponticello marking instructing the violins to play with the bow near the bridge creating a “glassy” or “metallic” sound. For the final eight bars of the Trio of the minuet, Haydn instructs the concertmaster (“Salomon Solo” in the score) to play an octave above the rest of the first violins. Indeed, this minuet is extraordinary in Haydn’s output: all of its repeats are written out because the scoring changes with each repeat.

Symphony No. 98 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Haydn composed the symphony in early 1792. At the time, Haydn was in the midst of the first of his two visits to London, under contract to perform a series of new symphonies with an orchestra led by Johann Peter Salomon as concertmaster. The symphony was performed on 2 March 1792 at the Hanover Square Rooms, with Haydn directing the orchestra from the keyboard. The premiere came two weeks after that of Symphony No. 93, and one week before that of the Sinfonia Concertante. Haydn recalled that at the premiere of No. 98, the first and fourth movements were encored.

Symphony No. 99 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Music#

The work is scored for two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets, two bassoons, two horns, two trumpets, timpani and strings. It is the first of Haydn’s symphonies to be scored for clarinets, which suggests the influence of his late friend Mozart. The symphony is in four movements:

I. Adagio – Vivace assai#

The introduction to the first movement contains much tonal complexity in its 14 measures. After the typical tonic-to-dominant opening, he prepares two successive minor-mode keys (E minor and C minor) before the introduction comes to a halt with a fermata on a G major chord (the dominant of C minor). The winds then play a single soft chord (dominant seventh) of E which resolves immediately to the opening theme of the Vivace assai. The movement proceeds in sonata form with considerable breadth. After exploring the opening theme, there is an extended transitional section. When the dominant key of B major is reached we hear not a new theme but the opening theme again transposed implying this may be a monothematic exposition. A true second theme played by the violins and a solo clarinet finally does appear 33 measures later before the exposition rapidly comes to close. The development starts with two false starts of the opening theme in G major before the second theme is developed in a variety of keys. The recapitulation is greatly condensed with much of the transitional movement music removed and second theme appearing much sooner. The movement coda features the first theme over a tonic pedal played by first bassoon and second horn.

The Creation (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Inspiration#

Haydn was inspired to write a large oratorio during his visits to England in 1791–1792 and 1794–1795 when, alongside his close friend English music historian Charles Burney, he heard oratorios of George Frideric Handel performed by large forces.

Libretto#

The text of The Creation has a long history. The three sources are Genesis, the Biblical book of Psalms, and John Milton’s Paradise Lost. In 1795, when Haydn was leaving England, the impresario Johann Peter Salomon (1745–1815) who had arranged his concerts there handed him a new poem entitled The Creation of the World. This original had been offered to Handel, but the old master had not worked on it, as its wordiness meant that it would have been four hours in length when set to music. The libretto was probably passed on to Salomon by Thomas Linley Sr. (1733–1795), a Drury Lane oratorio concert director. Linley (sometimes called Lidley or Liddel) himself could have written this original English libretto, but scholarship by Edward Olleson, A. Peter Brown (who prepared a particularly fine “authentic” score) and H. C. Robbins Landon, tells us that the original writer remains anonymous. When Haydn returned to Vienna, he turned this libretto over to Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who led a multifaceted career as diplomat, director of the Imperial Library, amateur musician, and patron of musicians including Mozart and Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach. He had already collaborated with Haydn as librettist, editing the text for the oratorio version of The Seven Last Words of Christ, premiered in Vienna in 1786. Swieten recast the English libretto of The Creation in a German translation (Die Schöpfung) that Haydn could use to compose. He also made suggestions to Haydn regarding the setting of individual numbers. The work was published bilingually (1800) and is still performed in both languages. For the quotations from the Bible, Swieten chose to adhere very closely to the English King James Version. According to Nicholas Temperley, “the German text corresponds to no known German Bible translation. Instead, it is so constructed that the word order, syllabification, and stress patterns are as close as possible to the English. Haydn and Swieten must have realized that English audiences would not easily accept changes in the hallowed text of their Bible; and there were the formidable precedents of Messiah and Israel in Egypt to bear in mind.” In the final form of the oratorio, the text is structured as recitative passages of the text of Genesis, often set to minimal accompaniment, interspersed with choral and solo passages setting Swieten’s original poetry to music. Swieten incorporated excerpts from Psalms for choral movements. Van Swieten was evidently not a fully fluent speaker of English, and the metrically matched English version of the libretto suffers from awkward phrasing that fails to fit idiomatic English text onto Haydn’s music. For example, one passage describing the freshly minted Adam’s forehead ended up, “The large and arched front sublime/of wisdom deep declares the seat”. Since publication, numerous attempts at improvement have been made, but many performances in English-speaking countries avoid the problem by performing the German version. The discussion below quotes the German text as representing van Swieten’s best efforts, with fairly literal renderings of the German into English; for the full versions of both texts see the links at the end of this article.

The Creation structure

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Libretto#

The origin of the libretto is not known. Haydn received the booklet in English in London on his second extended stay in 1795 from his impresario Johann Peter Salomon. According to Haydn, it was passed by a certain Lidley, or perhaps Thomas Linley, and was attributed to him, but may be written by an unknown author. Back in Vienna, Haydn passed it to his friend and sponsor Baron Gottfried van Swieten, who translated and organized it. The sources for the libretto are the two Creation narratives from the Book of Genesis, some Psalms, and John Milton’s Paradise Lost, an epic poem in ten volumes, first published in 1667. The libretto is structured in three parts, the first dealing with the Creation of the universe and the plants, the second with the Creation of the animals, and of man and woman, and the third with Adam and Eve in Paradise, showing an idealized love in harmony with the “new world”.

The Seasons (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

Haydn was led to write The Seasons by the great success of his previous oratorio The Creation (1798), which had become very popular and was in the course of being performed all over Europe.

Libretto#

The libretto for The Seasons was prepared for Haydn, just as with The Creation, by Baron Gottfried van Swieten, an Austrian nobleman who had also exercised an important influence on the career of Mozart (among other things commissioning Mozart’s reorchestration of Handel’s Messiah). Van Swieten’s libretto was based on extracts from the long English poem “The Seasons” by James Thomson (1700–1748), which had been published in 1730. Whereas in The Creation Swieten was able to limit himself to rendering an existing (anonymous) libretto into German, for The Seasons he had a much more demanding task. Olleson writes, “Even when Thomson’s images were retained, they required abbreviation and adaptation to such an extent that usually no more than faint echoes of them can be discerned, and the libretto often loses all touch with the poem which was its starting point. Increasingly during the course of the oratorio, the words are essentially van Swieten’s own or even imported from foreign sources.” Like The Creation, The Seasons was intended as a bilingual work. Since Haydn was very popular in England (particularly following his visits there in 1791–1792 and 1794–1795), he wished the work to be performable in English as well as German. Van Swieten therefore made a translation of his libretto back into English, fitting it to the rhythm of the music. Olleson notes that it is “fairly rare” that the translated version actually matches the Thomson original. Van Swieten’s command of English was not perfect, and the English text he created has not always proven satisfying to listeners; for example, one critic writes, “Clinging to the retranslation, however, is the heavy-handed imagery of Haydn’s sincere, if officious, patron. Gone is the bloom of Thomson’s original.” Olleson calls the English text “often grotesque”, and suggests that English-speaking choruses should perform the work in German: “The Seasons is better served by the decent obscurity of a foreign language than by the English of the first version.” Van Swieten’s words also show some inconsistency in tone, ranging from the rustically humorous (for instance, a movement depicting a wily peasant girl playing a trick on her rich suitor) to the uplifting (as in several large-scale choruses praising God for the beauty of nature).

The Seven Last Words of Christ (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Origin#

Haydn himself explained the origin and difficulty of writing the work when the publisher Breitkopf & Härtel issued (in 1801) a new edition and requested a preface: Some fifteen years ago I was requested by a canon of Cádiz to compose instrumental music on the Seven Last Words of Our Savior On the Cross. It was customary at the Cathedral of Cádiz to produce an oratorio every year during Lent, the effect of the performance being not a little enhanced by the following circumstances. The walls, windows, and pillars of the church were hung with black cloth, and only one large lamp hanging from the center of the roof broke the solemn darkness. At midday, the doors were closed and the ceremony began. After a short service the bishop ascended the pulpit, pronounced the first of the seven words (or sentences) and delivered a discourse thereon. This ended, he left the pulpit and fell to his knees before the altar. The interval was filled by music. The bishop then in like manner pronounced the second word, then the third, and so on, the orchestra following on the conclusion of each discourse. My composition was subject to these conditions, and it was no easy task to compose seven adagios lasting ten minutes each, and to succeed one another without fatiguing the listeners; indeed, I found it quite impossible to confine myself to the appointed limits. The priest who commissioned the work, Don José Sáenz de Santa María, had reconditioned the Oratorio de la Santa Cueva, and paid Haydn in a most unusual way – sending the composer a cake which Haydn discovered was filled with gold coins.

Theresienmesse

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Scoring and structure#

The vocal parts of the mass are performed by four soloists (soprano, alto, tenor and bass) and a four-part choir. The soloists often appear as an ensemble, without arias. Haydn scored the mass for a large orchestra. In the following table of the movements, the markings, keys and time signatures are taken from the choral score, using the symbols for common time and alla breve. The choir is present in all movements, except the Et incarnatus of the Credo.

Trumpet Concerto (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Original instrument#

Anton Weidinger developed a keyed trumpet which could play chromatically throughout its entire range. Before this, the trumpet was valveless and could only play a limited range of harmonic notes by altering the vibration of the lips; also called by the name of “natural trumpet”. Most of these harmonic notes were clustered in the higher registers, so previous trumpet concertos could only play melodically with the high register (e.g., Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 2). Haydn’s concerto includes melodies in the middle and lower register, exploiting the capabilities of the new instrument. Haydn, fascinated by the invention, was inspired to write the concerto. He enjoyed experimenting with the instrument and its newly chromatic capabilities in all registers of the instrument. The concerto itself features a variety of chromatic shifts, achievable with the manipulation of the keys, to display Weidinger’s technical brilliance on the instrument. There were attempts all over Europe around the mid-classical era to expand the range of the trumpet using valves, but Weidinger’s idea of drilling holes and covering them with flute-like keys was not a success as it had very poor sound quality. Thus the natural trumpet still had continual use in the classical orchestra while the keyed trumpet had barely any repertoire. The valved trumpets used today were first constructed and used in the 1830s.

Twenty Variations in G major (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

History#

There are two versions of these variations: Twenty Variations in G major and a shorter piece, Twelve Variations in A major, and are both referred to as Hob. XVII/2. This is due to the fact that Haydn wrote the Twenty Variations in 1765, but since he was in the employment of the Esterházy family at the time, he was not the owner of the music that he wrote, and consequently was not able to have his pieces published (this situation persisted to 1779, when his contract was revised to let Haydn publish.) In 1788, Artaria published the Twenty Variations in G major as “Twelve Variations in A major”. They have the same theme but differ in the number of variations. Both pieces are still performed; for example, the Twenty Variations in G major on Haydn: Piano Variations by Jenő Jandó, Arietta con 12 Variazioni in A major on Haydn: Piano Sonatas Vol. 9 by Jenő Jandó, and Twenty Variations in A major on The Virtual Haydn by Tom Beghin. The version most commonly recorded is the Twenty Variations in G major. Gerlach (2007) offers a rather different view of the history of the text. In Gerlach’s view, the original key of the work was A major, and among the copies of this work circulating at the time, there were various versions “altered or shortened according to the users’ needs or tastes; sometimes the work was transposed to G major”. In support of this, Gerlach notes that in Haydn’s “Entwurf-Katalog”, a sketch catalog he made of his works in the 1770s, the work is listed and given an incipit in A major. Gerlach also suggests that the Artaria edition was made without Haydn’s authorization, and observes that it includes a new variation probably not by Haydn.

Variations in F minor

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Musical form#

The work takes the form of a set of double variations, a musical form particularly favored by Haydn. The first theme is in F minor and the second theme in F major. Each theme is in two parts, with each part repeated. After the two themes are played, both are varied, with two variations of each, arranged alternatingly. Once the variations are complete, the first theme returns in its original form, though without repeats. It is not played completely but interrupted near the end by an extended coda, which concludes the work. The coda is heard by many as expressing anguish; for instance, James Leonard describes it as an “enormous and heartrending coda, a rhapsodic outpouring of grief and rage that ultimately collapses into a quiet, final leave-taking at the end.” The critic Richard Wigmore describes the coda in more technical terms as follows: Haydn appended a long, disturbingly chromatic coda that draws unsuspected force from the pervasive dotted rhythms before dissolving in a feverish swirl of arpeggios. After a measure of equilibrium is restored, the dotted rhythms toll deep in the bass, like a funeral knell. Wigmore elsewhere mentions a widely noted theory about why Haydn wrote the long coda: Haydn was the least confessional of composers. But it is not far-fetched to suggest, as several commentators have done, that the tragic intensity of the coda may have been prompted by the sudden death of Maria Anna von Genzinger, at the age of forty-two, on 26 January 1793. Genzinger had been a close (Platonic) friend of Haydn, probably the closest friend in his lifetime, to whom he had addressed a series of sometimes confessional letters. The idea that the coda was provoked by the news of Frau von Genzinger’s death was first advanced by Robbins Landon (1955). A skeptical response was offered by Elaine Sisman (1982:472).

Violin Concerto No. 4 (Haydn)

Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000

Background#

There is some doubt as to whether or not Haydn wrote the violin concerto, although there is general agreement that he did earlier than assumed, as it is more “old fashioned” than his previously numbered violin concertos. As with his first violin concerto, it might have been written for Luigi Tomasini, concertmaster of the Esterházy orchestra, where Haydn was kapellmeister. Although having been called “uniquely beautiful,” Haydn remarked, “I was no wizard on any instrument, but I knew the potentialities and effects of all. I was not a bad pianist and singer and was also able to play a violin concerto.”

Franz Joseph Haydn on Music Theory Print

Armida (Haydn)

Libretto#

Baryton trios (Haydn)

The baryton#

Cello Concerto No. 1 (Haydn)

Background#

Cello Concerto No. 2 (Haydn)

Music#

Der krumme Teufel

Description#

Die Schöpfung & Harmoniemesse (Leonard Bernstein recording)

Recording#

Packaging#

Divertimento in G major

History#

Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser

Lyrics and music#

History#

Harmoniemesse

See also#

References#

Haydn Symphonies (album)

Track listing#

Haydn, Hummel, L. Mozart: Trumpet Concertos

Reception#

Hoboken catalogue

The catalogue#

Organization#

Il mondo della luna

Roles#

Synopsis#

Act 1#

Il mondo della luna (Antal Doráti recording)

Background#

Il ritorno di Tobia

Setting#

Recordings#

References#

Kaiserquartett

Movements#

External links#

Keyboard Concerto No. 11 (Haydn)

Form#

See also#

External links#

L'anima del filosofo

Background#

L'incontro improvviso

Composition and Performance History#

L'infedeltà delusa

Performance history#

L'isola disabitata

Act 1#

La canterina

Synopsis#

La fedeltà premiata

Composition and performance history#

La fedeltà premiata (Antal Doráti recording)

Background#

La vera costanza

Performance history#

Le pescatrici

Background and performance history#

Lo speziale

Performance history#

Synopsis#

London symphonies

Haydn’s first journey to London#

Missa brevis (Haydn)

Composition#

Missa brevis Sancti Joannis de Deo

History#

Missa Cellensis

Structure#

Missa Cellensis in honorem Beatissimae Virginis Mariae

References#

Missa in tempore belli

Background#

Missa Sancti Bernardi von Offida