1770 – The Music part 1 - Chamber Symphonies?

Hob	Key	NC	HRL	Name	Instruments
44	e	50	44	Mourning (Trauer)	2 Oboes, 2 Horns & Strings
43	Eb	51	51	Mercury	2 Oboes, 2 Horns & Strings

It is possible that some evidence for Reicha's claim for Haydn telling him about reevaluating his style and capabilities is confirmed for this time period by the symphonic legacy of 1770. True, it is just two works, but they seem to have lifted his game to a new level. The e minor in particular is one of the finest works Haydn wrote, in this period of dramatic works or, in fact, in any other period also! His masterful blending of drama and technique coupled with his method developed for extracting the most from a theme will never be bettered. And that's saying a lot!

Allegro con brio. Fast, and full of life. An interesting tempo and mood indication which Haydn chose to open a 'mourning' symphony. No one knows when this name was hung on the e minor symphony, certainly Haydn didn't do it. It's hard to imagine anyone who actually listened to it named it that either. In what has justifiably been called his very finest minor key symphony, there really isn't a lot of mourning time available.

A very nice #44

There is no letup to the tension created throughout the opening movement by the combination of the two contrasting themes that are presented at the outset. Not unusually, the horns lead the way, and Haydn never veers off the path of development of the original themes. They are so powerful, especially in combination, that other ideas need not apply. As Peter Brown¹ says;

"the compelling nature of this movement results from both its intellectual satisfaction… and the raw emotion generated by the rhythmic, melodic and harmonic activities. Haydn was never again to achieve this synthesis so fully and with such success".

The minuet and the slow movement have swapped places this time, maybe not for the usual reason of not contrasting the first movement suitably, but seemingly more because the slow movement contrasts so wonderfully with the finale. But the minuet is a gem on its own, not least because it marks the final time Haydn would write a minuet in canone diapason (that is, the upper and lower strings follow each other in octaves, with the lower strings trailing the upper strings by one measure) in a symphony. And an ear-catcher it is, too! It is in e minor still, and he uses rotating groups of upper and lower strings and winds to fuel the canon. When we arrive at the trio, we move to E major, and the horns, playing in the high clarino register actually doubles the first violin right up to the top note in its tessitura, e``! When we return to the minuet da capo, we finish off the minuet in the minor. You could dance to it. I do, sometimes. In effect, it is a perfect match for the opening movement, allowing for a great release from the tension generated there, but still providing a highly interesting contrast. As I quoted from Brown, above; intellectual satisfaction.

The Adagio is the movement which Haydn is said to have wanted played at his funeral. In the event, it wasn't, although it was played at the funeral of Princess Grace (Kelly) of Monaco by her request, according to Calvin Stapert². And no wonder, it is a beauty of a movement, no doubt this was where the 'mourning' moniker came from, although if that be the case I suppose we could call every slow movement by the name, especially the Grave's! If you have inferred by now that I don't care for nicknames on music, well, you may be right. In any case, this Adagio is typical of the time in that it uses muted violins and not much wind support for them. It is typically Haydnish for him to have used the E major key in the previous Trio, since he returns to it for this Adagio. He also takes the earlier idea of the horn reaching to e'', which really stands out in this context. Even though slow movements, Adagios in particular, are among Haydn's strongest suit, he is hard pressed to surpass this one elsewhere for sheer melodic grace and beauty.

Which is a good thing, since the Finale: Presto is a wholly different thing! Like the opening movement, the first few notes prove to be essential for the entire work, and the rhythmic tension and harmonic game-playing exceed even that fine example! It is difficult to argue against the assertion that this symphony is Haydn's greatest achievement in symphonic writing to date, and it maximizes what he was trying to accomplish with his minor key works. It is possibly matched by the f# minor symphony, maybe it is a question of personal taste, but it isn't surpassed by much, either by Haydn or by anyone else, if I might say so.

Which leaves big shoes to fill for our next symphony, #43 in Eb. It must be just an old piece of junk! But no, somehow it is another masterpiece. Despite the silly name which has no basis in any sort of reality, what we have here is a perfect example of an 18th century Austrian chamber symphony. It is clear in retrospect, and probably it was also so in real time,

I like this #43

there are two major categories of symphonies in the latter part of the century. The first is the Grand Symphony, an example of which we listened to just last year, #48. For Haydn, they were nearly always in C major, used high (alto) horns, trumpets and timpani when available, and made a wondrous noise by any standard! The second genre is the Chamber Symphony, which is a vehicle for showing the full range of the possibilities of the orchestra, to paraphrase an encyclopedist of the day. According to Johann Georg Sulzer's General Theory of Fine Arts (1771-74),

"It should contain grand ideas expressed in a full-toned, brilliant and fiery manner. The best of them contain bold ideas, free handling of compositional techniques, apparent irregularity in the melody and harmony, strongly marked rhythms of various sorts…"

He must have been listening to Haydn while he wrote that! What Haydn was doing circa 1770-72 was effectively combining the two forms. This is why works like #44, certainly a chamber symphony by definition, is bursting the boundaries of that form (the typical boundaries of the time, that is), and is actually the genesis of an entirely new form which would carry the symphony forward to the 19^th century.

The first movement begins with one of the most intensely lyrical themes Haydn ever wrote. Landon calls it an embarrassment of riches, and this not far from right! One of the beauties is that despite the richness of the orchestration, the orchestra is always highly transparent since the parts are shared and passed around so in the end, it actually does sound like the modern idea of a chamber symphony. The slow movement, the only movement in any Haydn symphony in the key of Ab major, is nearly all strings, and muted at that. Haydn has a little germ of a theme of five notes, and virtually the entire development of the movement is a working out of the possibilities this presents. They are surprisingly manifold! We hear an occasional long pedal note from the horns and a reply from the oboes, but otherwise it is a long slow drift downstream. Where we come to an Austrian Minuet taking place. It is not one of Haydn's faster minuets from later times, but a full, rich danceable minuet. The trio begins in minor, then moves to major, juxtaposing the oboes at their nasally best with the violins, and ending with a repetition of the minuet, ending satisfactorily on the home tonic. The finale opens like the first movement with a long, legato melodic line balanced by the full orchestra running off at the gallop in tutti. This is broken off with a masterfully placed full-stop, and then back to the melodic line again. One last tutti resolves to the tonic and we are home, a most satisfactory ending to a super little symphony.

Still lots of music this year, one wonders where he found time to get it all on paper! Next time we will see the end of Opus 9 string quartets, and a wonderful set of sonatas, not for keyboard!

Thanks for reading!

1 - The Symphonic Repertoire Vol 2 by A. Peter Brown

2 - Playing Before the Lord - the Life and Work of Joseph Haydn - Calvin Stapert