Notes for: July 14, 2015
For 30 years Haydn wore the court livery of the Esterhazy family, members of the Hungarian landed aristocracy - a dying but still common working arrangement for composers in the last half of the 18th century. Living at the Esterhazys’ palace, Haydn directed the performance of all music, instrumental and vocal; supervised the musicians and the maintenance of their equipment; performed as leader and soloist, and “composed such works of music as His Highness may demand.” There he composed 92 symphonies, 16 concertos, 53 string quartets, 25 operas and 6 masses.
However, Prince Miklos Esterhazy was an enlightened patron, and he encouraged Haydn to seek supplementary patronage. In 1785 and 1786, consequently, the composer wrote six symphonies - those numbered 82 through 87 - for a public concert series in Paris. He also sent copies of the symphonies to Frederick William II, the new king of Prussia, who had inherited the throne from his uncle, Frederick the Great, as well as his uncle’s reputation as a patron of the arts.
The king responded to Haydn:
To His Majesty of Prussia the repeated attention that Herr Kapellmeister Haydn has wished to pay to His Highness by sending six new symphonies is an especial pleasure, and it is a fact beyond doubt that His Highness has ever known how to treasure and always will treasure the work of Herr Kapellmeister Haydn. That the latter may more effectively be shown this, we send him the accompanying ring as a sign of our royal satisfaction, being always graciously disposed toward him as well.
Frederick William was an accomplished cellist, and he enjoyed playing chamber music. On receiving the king’s letter and gift, Haydn reciprocated by dedicating to him his newest works - a set of six string quartets with an important role for the cello. (Mozart also wrote three quartets for Frederick William, and Beethoven, two cello sonatas.) The quartets were published six months later as Opus 50, and they became known as the “Prussian” quartets. Haydn thereafter made a habit of wearing the ring whenever he was composing an important work.
The six quartets were a milestone in the evolution of Haydn’s instrumental style. For one thing, before these quartets, Haydn cast his movements in no particular sequence of tempo and structure. In these six quartets, he decided on the four-movement sequence, fast–slow–minuet–fast, that was to become the prevailing pattern for the next two centuries.
Further, in these six quartets Haydn refined the “sonata form” that he had introduced in his six quartets of Opus 20, composed in 1772, and he now established them as the prevailing structure for all first movements. Typically, a sonata-form movement consisted of three sections – a statement or exposition of two themes; a development of those themes in different keys; and a repetition or recapitulation of the two themes. In the six new quartets Haydn experimented with a more subtle development of his themes and a more imaginative exploration of their elements and implications.
Finally, he cast the first movements of the six quartets in different time signatures. In the quartet heard tonight, the fifth of the series, the first movement, allegro moderato, has an unusual time signature of 2/4, a throwback to an earlier meter, which gives the music a folk-dance quality.
The movement begins with a simple duet between the two violins, but in the sixth measure the viola and cello enter with a repeated “wrong” note (C sharp). The other instruments pick up the “error”, and the repeated note pattern becomes the seasoning for the entire movement. A continuing passage is introduced involving rapid sextuples, but there is no full-fledged second theme. The movement continues instead with a subtle conversation about these elements, which is not resolved until the concluding coda.
For some unexplained reason, the short second movement, poco adagio, bears the nickname “The Dream”. It begins with an exposition of two melodic elements - a lyrical melody presented by the first violin at the outset and contrasting staccato passages of triplet 16th notes. This material is then repeated with some modification.
The first violin alone opens the minuet, allegretto, with a theme decorated with garlands of three grace notes. These grace notes then become the recurring feature of both the main section and the trio. The key is initially ambiguous, the tonality of F major not becoming clear until well into the movement, and the trio is in a contrasting minor key.
The finale, vivace, is again in sonata form but with a more distinct second theme and in a rollicking 6/8 rhythm. Notice the unusual sonority of the main theme resulting from the use of trills and the composer’s instructions to play a rising two-measure phrase on one string.