Notes for: July 23, 2019
By the time Haydn wrote the Divertimento a tré, he had settled into what he considered a plum job: Kapellmeister and composer at the court of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy. Although Haydn was considered a servant, and although he was expected to produce staggering amounts of music along with his other duties, for nearly 30 years the Prince gave him great creative freedom. As Haydn later memorably described his time at the court, “My employer was satisfied with everything I produced; I received applause and praise. As the director of the orchestra I was allowed to experiment…and thus had the chance to improve, to make additions and cuts, to take risks. I was isolated from the world, there was no one nearby to confuse or irritate me, and so I had no choice but to be original.”
One of Haydn’s earliest improvements was to increase the size of the court orchestra, which he did by recruiting new woodwind, string, and horn players. Among the musicians Haydn hired were several gifted hornists, including Carl Franz, a virtuoso who was renowned for his four-octave range. By then the horn, long associated with the hunt, had evolved from a brassy outdoor instrument into a colorful and versatile addition to indoor musical evenings. It may have been for Franz that Haydn wrote the brilliant Divertimento a tré, an early work that is a highly entertaining illustration of Haydn’s imaginative writing for the horn.
Divertimentos were, as the name suggests, a diversion – a musical entertainment that provided a pleasant background for other activities. Haydn wrote several early divertimentos for a variety of instrumental combinations, all of them charming and good-natured, with plenty of robust writing. But the Divertimento a tré takes virtuosity to a whole new level. It’s a good example of how Haydn, even in his earliest compositions, liked to take a familiar form and put his own original stamp on it. Written for an unusual combination of instruments, it makes stunning demands on the hornist. It begins simply, with the horn introducing an unassuming folk-like air. Nothing after that is simple, however. The theme is followed by three variations and a cheerful finale, each more challenging than the previous one. The horn is pushed to its limits in a dizzying succession of rapid notes and scales, wide leaps, and arpeggios that travel from the highest to the lowest notes (a tip of the hat, perhaps, to Carl Franz’s four-octave range).
The Divertimento a tré is marked by the geniality, wit, and love of surprise for which Haydn would be known throughout his life. For the hornist, it’s a challenge; for the listener, it’s simply great fun.