Haydn Seek

1756-57 – From Apprentice to Journeyman

1756 marked the end of a major page of Haydn’s life. The Rohrau wheelwright’s son had come a long way from rubbing two sticks together to simulate playing a violin, to singing in the St. Stephen’s Cathedral Boys Choir and Schönbrunn Palace. The years of learning how to do more with his muse while teaching others and making contacts in the music world were now coming to an end. All the pieces were in place to launch a career which, although belated, would flower more lastingly than that of any other's of his peers and launch a new age in music into the bargain!

As we have seen, 1756 was very likely the year in which he renewed an earlier acquaintance with Carl Joseph Fürnberg. He had met Fürnberg a few years earlier when all his meager possessions were stolen and Fürnberg aided him in getting back on his feet from the disaster by supplying free room and board for two months. It is highly likely the earliest string trios were written for him. So Haydn knew him and had every reason to be well disposed towards him. When, in 1756, Fürnberg invited him to his summer place, Weinzerl, on the Danube west of the city, Haydn duly arrived with violin case under his arm for a few weeks of succor from the city heat. Fürnberg was a great lover of music who couldn’t afford his own band, so he invited all the musicians that he knew to come visit in the summer to vacation there and make music for him. That summer, there were present along with Haydn, another violinist, a violist and a violone or cello player. To accommodate them, Haydn wrote a few ‘divertimenti a quattro’. He told Griesinger about this many years later and wrote down the incipit of the first piece he composed. It is the quartet in Bb that we call today Opus 1 #1. So we know the general circumstances of the composition of the first quartets, but details beyond that are sadly lacking. How many were composed that first year? How many in subsequent years? How did Haydn distribute them? What was the venue for other than the first few? So many questions!!

Before disappearing from Haydn’s life, Fürnberg did one other great service for our lad. He introduced him to one or another of the Counts Morzin, father and son. The likely choice as Haydn’s first employer was the father, Franz Ferdinand. His palace in Bohemia was the likely spot from which so many of Haydn’s early works emanated. Also living there were his son, Carl Joseph, and Carl’s wife Wilhelmine. As so often in Haydn’s early life, we are not just overrun with documents and descriptions of Haydn’s duties and daily life. So much ‘knowledge’ is actually rather more like inference. In addition to leading Morzin’s tiny orchestra, he was also Wilhelmine’s music teacher, and supplied music for the orchestra and chamber musicians as well as for lessons. The time range for these activities would appear to be sometime in 1757 to latest 1760. As we will see, he wrote a huge amount of very fine music in that time:  Haydn the apprentice was gone - Long live Haydn the journeyman!

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Surviving music of 1754-56 – Part 2

1755-56

Hob 18:1 Concerto in C for Organ

Hob 18:6 Concerto in F for Organ & Violin

Hob 18:6 Concerto in F for Cembalo & Violin

Hob 23b:1 Salve Regina in E

Hob 23b:3 Ave Regina in A

Continuing on with the music spanning the mid-decade, we come right back to organ concertos. But in this case, they are ones where we actually know something about their background and context. The works are scored for Organ Positiv (a single manual organ with either no or very few pedals, the standard church organ used in 18th century Austria), Solo Violin in the Hob 18:6, 2 Oboes, 2 Horns or Trumpets in C, 2 Violins, Viola and Basso. We have already discussed two facts that are germane to these works;

1. Organ concertos are first and foremost church music in mid-18th century Vienna.

2. Haydn’s erstwhile love, Therese Keller, joined a nunnery in 1755, formalized in 1756.

3. No, three facts; he led the music at the mass that celebrated her final vows.

These two organ concertos, in C and F, share the attribute of the earlier organ concertos; the high end of the range of notes used is the organ’s upper compass, c’’’, not the harpsichord’s (f’’’ or more). So once again, despite its being published eventually as a work ‘for Cembalo’, it originated on the small ‘organ Positiv’ for an Austrian church. Late in life, Haydn told Griesinger that these works were composed for the taking of vows mass of Therese Keller, and there is little reason to doubt this. Another work that he added in as part of that mass was the Salve Regina in E major (Hob 23b:1). Both of the organ works are rather on the long and grand side, compared to the four earlier ones at least. One supposes that this enhances the occasion, although if Haydn thought of it as a sorrowful one (he could be forgiven) it isn’t reflected in the music. I find it to bounce along nicely at most times. If a criticism can be leveled against the first, it is that the thematic material seems too sparing for the breadth of the work. Haydn has to resort to the Baroque practice of ‘note-spinning’ from time to time to fill in where development would like to be. That is apparently a nitpick for the musical experts though, because for reasons inexplicable to some them, this is one of Haydn’s most popular works, even outdoing the early string quartets and symphonies in numbers of recordings and other measures of popularity. Of course, musicologists look at music differently than do people who are simply listeners. Possibly they are looking for the full-blown totally Haydnesque style by now, while I, and possibly you, am looking for an interesting listening experience, and both of these works provide a nice one.

I include in this list of music the harpsichord and violin ‘double concerto’ version of this work. Not only is it a valid work unto itself, but it is also a version that far more people are familiar with. I would venture to say (although I couldn’t prove it) that this work in this version is the earliest by Haydn that the majority of people are familiar with. Nearly all the others are fairly obscure, but the double concerto has been played and recorded dozens of times over the years, featured as often as a violin concerto as it is a keyboard one. On the cembalo, the work takes on a new sprightliness that is most attractive, and the thematic exchanges between the solo instruments seem more intimate. It has earned its popularity.

The Salve Regina in E was one of the few works that Haydn kept the original manuscript of throughout his life. Sometime in the 1790’s he wrote the date ‘1756’ on it, later telling Griesinger of its association with the Keller mass. The results of Haydn’s studying with Porpora are clear and obvious, for the first time we see Italianate voice leading and various vocal stylings, and a lovely interplay between a simple chorus and a more complex solo soprano. Another key point that links this work with the two previous concerti is the scoring, which is identical and another rare case of the single viola added. Three times using an unusual feature is more than coincidence!

The final ‘small’ church work is the Ave Regina in A, Hob 23b:3. Little is known about this work. It is similar in liturgical function to the Salve Regina discussed above, but in this case it is scored for a typical ‘church trio’, basso and organ. The dating stems from the fact that it contains many of the same Italianate ornaments and characteristics as the Salve, and it is believed to have been written as part of Haydn’s church functions at the chapel of the Barmherzigbrüder in Leopoldstadt. It is broken into three basic parts, an Andante for soprano, a central chorus, and a finale for soprano and chorus. It is a little gem of a work, totally unheralded, but treasured by those who really enjoy church music.

In summing up this recap of music from the middle of the decade, I want to make it perfectly clear that there are very few who believe that these few works constitute the entire output of this time. There are many keyboard sonatas, string trios, possibly keyboard trios, divertimentos and more which are verifiably Haydn’s or ‘attributed to’ Haydn, which probably stem from this time. Without other sources though, it can’t be proved. So we will catch up with some of them at a later date and give them a wink and a nod as we say, e.g. - ‘1760’ since that is when the earliest known copies are from. But things like the string trios, many of which must by all logic precede the earliest string quartets, were surely being written by this time. Without original sources though, we will never know the full story. As is my custom, I am including some of my favorite recordings for your consideration. Please enjoy the music,

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