1778 – The Music part 1 - Are you confused yet?

Hob 1	Key	NC	HRL	Name	Instruments
71	Bb	70	74		Flute, 2 Oboes, Bassoon, 2 Horns in Bb alto, & Strings
53	D	72	70	L'Imperiale	Flute, 2 Oboes, Bassoon, 2 Horns in D & A, Timpani & Strings

Back in 1970, when things were a bit different, the Temptations recorded a song which purportedly summed up the state of the world at the time and which quickly rose to become a top hit. It was called Ball of Confusion. I liked it, and thought I understood what it was saying, but recently I've come to understand they must have been going to musicology school on the side and were studying the Haydn symphonies of the late 1770's! I suspect there are some necromancers, somewhere, who have a perfect grip on this whole mess. Let us see if we can join their rank.

Hob 71 in B flat Major

I		Adagio - 4/4 - Allegro con brio	3/4		Bb
II		Adagio	2/4		F
III		Menuetto & Trio	3/4		Bb
IV		Finale: Vivace	4/4		Bb

Something about the key of B flat Major seems to bring out a different Haydn. Just three years ago, in his previous essay in this key, he turned out what I consider to be one of the top symphonies of the post-Sturm und Drang 1770's, Hob 68. This time, we open up with dark sounding colors in the strings, playing an octave apart, and dissonant sounds making an air of disquiet. This is not at all congruent with the popular notion (at the time) of Bb being a key of happy and cheerful affekt! Once we get past the opening Adagio, the Allegro con brio seems like it will be a typical galant symphonic movement of the late '770's. But no, here we get, instead, some startling intrusions by pitches which are foreign to the key, bringing back, if only for a while, the aggression of Sturm und Drang. And so it continues; intrusive dissonant pitches, polyphony, dark tonal color, octave doubling, and yet, blended in with an essentially galant background. The result is a mix of styles, not unlike what we saw in Symphony 48 when he blended S & D into the classic Viennese Trumpet Symphony style.

The Adagio second movement is Haydn delighting and amazing once again by making a theme and variations which is different from every other theme and variations. In addition to the typical varying of the melody, he manages wonderfully varied rhythmic effects, none of which duplicate any others. They are made to vary, not only by tempo indication, but by changing note values and orchestration. The melody is left untouched in some places while the accompaniment changes to provide a different background for it. Overall, this is truly a treat for connoisseur as well as amateur.

While the minuet and trio are perfectly regular, the Finale: Vivace breaks from recent practice by not incorporating any dance forms. There are tonal excursions so unusual that he has written into the violin parts per licentiam and con permissione (with your permission), by way of apology for putting them into some non-idiomatic playing positions. The results are splendid though, and a testament to the modern concept "think outside the box", since "the box" is the 'rules of composition', and stepping outside of it is a hallmark of bold imagination! It is nice to see that Haydn hasn't put all of his S & D toys away, he still takes them off the shelf every once in a while and we get to play with them.

Hob. 53 in D major L'Imperiale

I		Largo maestoso – 3/4 Vivace –	¢ 2/2		D
II		Andante & Variations	2/4		A & a
III		Menuetto – Trio	3/4		D
IV		Finale:
		Version A: Capriccio: Moderato	¢ 2/2		D
		Version B2: Presto	4/4		D & C

 

And so, now we come to the Ball of Confusion! Carry this thought with you on your journey and you won't go wrong: there are two totally authentic versions of this symphony! With all of the variety we run into with Haydn's symphonies, this is the only one which actually has two authentic versions which vary more than in just orchestration and the presence or lack of an introduction (such as #54). We'll get to the probable reasons why in just a bit.

To begin with, Version B = Version 1, and Version A = Version 2. Version B starts out from the Vivace, skipping the Largo maestoso introduction entirely. And then, you recall we talked about the overture in D major, Hob 1a:7, last year, and its various uses. One of those came in quite short order, since by the next year it showed up as the finale to the present work. This overture/finale exists in two forms also, as you would expect of nearly everything by now! Originally, when it served as an actual overture to an unknown play or opera (possibly a marionette opera), it ended, as most overtures do, with a modulation to another key (G major in this case) and then leads into the first work in the play/opera proper. The two Version B's listed above represent these two versions, since someone whacked off the 13 bars of modulation and the old ending and this became B1 (now 167 measures). Haydn did that also, but he replaced them with a proper ending (B2) now 193 measures. It is believed that Haydn didn't authorize the release of the B1 version, making B2 the authentic first version of this work.

Circa 1780, after the Great Fire, Haydn reconstructed the symphony. At that time, the introduction was composed and the authentic B2 Finale was tossed away, replaced with the current one which is Version A; Capriccio: Moderato. Since this was the final word on the subject, by Haydn at least, in modern performances this is what you will hear when someone plays the Imperial Symphony. I don't want to make it sound so simple though, since there are actually at least five versions. They vary by more than orchestration, for example, Version E uses for a finale a new Allegro opening to which is appended one of our overtures from last year; no, not 1a:7, but the mysterious 1a:4! However, my aim here is not to discuss every possible version in depth, but to remind you of the beginning sentence: there are just two totally authentic versions of this symphony. No matter that someone cobbled something together and played it in public.

There is reason to be interested in the real story of this symphony, it is a fine work and justly popular. Using Version A as the one you will most likely have an opportunity to hear, the slow introduction leads into a long stretch where the violins provide a compelling forward motion, over long pedal notes by the horns. The phrasing is unusual and hard to get a grip on, which is all to the good, of course. After a considerable spell of this, gaining momentum all the time, we suddenly turn to a section of what Webster calls 'suspended animation' which is dominated by the strings seemingly going nowhere, and yet doing so in a lovely manner. Difficult to describe, nice to hear. We then recapitulate and take it home. The Andante sounds like a song you know, although it probably isn't. As in our previous symphony, we are now into a wonderful set of unique variations, this time of the alternating Major/minor type which Haydn would make famous later on. It is always a pleasure to listen to Haydn variations since his capacity to make each one sound different from every other one is unmatched by any composer before or since. In my opinion this is one of the finest Andante's from a composer who is the Master of Andante's! The Minuet also sounds like one you know, although it is probably more because it is true to type rather than uniquely quirky like so many others of Haydn's minuet/trios.

The Capriccio finale doesn't really seem like an improvisation, which is indicated in Haydn's other uses of the term, like in the 2^nd movement of string quartet Opus 20 #2 or the Capriccio/Fantasia of Hob 17:4 for keyboard. It is a compelling movement with plenty of forward drive to it though, and even though it is not the 'work-unto-itself' overture/finale which it replaced, it is a fitting ending for this work.

So, we have two symphonies this year, and as we will see next time, maybe a little bit else too, as well as a major opera. For a year which involved all the other work we saw in the last essay, we have done quite well. Next time, a keyboard sonata and a… Requiem?

Thanks for reading!