It is probably a natural thing for people to consider art, or any other intellectual product, to be clumsy or immature in its early stages, only ripening to its finest aspect in later years. Certainly this attitude has persisted with Haydn since the 19th century. Sometimes I think we will have been better off if this period of self-absorbed, prejudiced and essentially negative thought had never happened. Alas though, it did, and rational people ever since have been trying to overcome its evils.
But what about the music then? As we saw, in the early 1750’s, there was a short but steep learning curve which produced some works which were sorely in need of a teacher to correct them. Haydn himself admits to this, but he didn’t have a teacher, so he had to work that much harder to do it himself. And of the very few autographs still extant, it can be seen by the time of his work for Porpora (1754) he had far overcome these problems and was already well on his way to having structural issues mastered. This, coupled with the fact his real genius came in the unending procession of musical ideas which far surpassed his peers, made it a given by the Morzin years he was on the cutting edge of musical development in and around Vienna. His ability to blend traditional elements with the most modern galant features was unsurpassed. With many composers, one sees the derogatory term juvenilia attached to works of these early beginnings. For Haydn, this was a short period of time indeed! And he was no longer a child, after all. He had been a professional musician since the age of eight, on his own at eighteen, composing for a living by twenty. By the time he went to work for the Esterházy Family, he was twenty-nine years old and had over a hundred works completed, even if one just counts those which are still extant!
In any case, my point here should be clear shortly. When we divide a composer’s output into ‘phases’, it is a natural supposition that each phase is somehow better than the previous and is yet another step on the road to whatever we perceive, from our retrospective position, was the goal of the composer’s work life. Evolution in virtually every subject is perceived in just this way, from amoeba to man, from the Missa brevis in F to the ‘Harmoniemesse’. It is beyond human understanding and thought patterns to be able to accept that intentional linear progression is an ideal which is very rare indeed, either in nature or in history. In this case, it can be seen that an amoeba may well be a link in a long chain to man, but the hard part to admit is the fact evolution in the case of life is non-directional.
The idea put forth in the wonderful 19th century is our Yeti. It postulates a Haydn who always had a goal in mind of ‘achieving’ the Classical Style (FYI, he got there with the Opus 33 quartets, in case you were worried about it). This idea has seemingly continued on with little dissent until very recent times. The fact of the matter is each career phase came to maturity as a self-contained entity. The end of the Morzin phase wasn’t like a steppingstone to the Early Esterházy phase. The entire concept of 'phases' is equally fantastic. The music written in the last half of the 1750’s was fully mature, fully realized all on its own. It is mature Haydn in every way, and forms the foundation upon which his entire oeuvre was to be built. Here too, 'evolution' is non-directional. Hitting on the combination of factors which defines Classical Style was not the evolution of ‘searching intent’, it was the constant procession of new ideas being incorporated. It was the discovery of things which either pleased his audience or failed to do so. It was coping with the ever-changing tastes of his employer. It would be overstating to say it was totally random, as much as it is overstating the opposite by saying it was intentionally directed towards a goal. But the fact is either Haydn or Mozart would have merely gaped at you if you uttered the phrase ‘High Viennese Classical Style’ to them. Both of them were long gone from the world when such a concept even came into being.
So as we move along and come to the end of one period and into the beginning of the next, let’s not fall prey to the fallacy of having moved a step closer to the birth of Classical Style. Happily (or sadly, depending on your point of view) there is no such animal. It is music’s Yeti!
Thanks for reading!