|
Hob. # |
Genre |
Key |
Instrument(s) |
Notes |
|
17:09 |
Adagio |
F |
Solo keyboard |
|
|
24a:07 |
Cantata |
Eb |
Soprano - 2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns & Strings |
Cantata - Miseri noi, misera patria (Recitative & Aria) |
|
24b:09 |
Aria |
Soprano & Flute, 2 Oboes, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns & Strings |
Sono Alcina e sono ancora for the character 'Lesbia' (Barbara Ripamonti) in L'isola di Alcina by Gazzaniga |
|
1786 has proved to be quite a year so far. 125 opera performances, the last three Paris Symphonies and at least the first two of the Naples Concertos. Haydn could hardly be blamed for taking a well-earned vacation at this point, but no, he suffered from the opposite end of the same syndrome I do; too much music, too little time! He writes, I listen; perfect co-dependence!
And write he did. Some of those works are still obscure, a common problem with a composer who has a thousand or more works to his credit. Some are not so obscure, but still lie buried beneath the avalanche of others.
The keyboard piece (Klavierstücke) Hoboken 17:9, a short (four minutes on average) Adagio, was probably composed in late 1785 or early 1786, since the sketch for it was found on some leftover staves of Symphony #84. Artaria published it in September, 1786, and there it might have ended except for one thing. In 1794, Haydn was composing a pair of sonatas for Therese Jansen and right in the middle of the C major one (Hob 16:50 (#60)) he saw an opportunity to revisit that Adagio, and with a not insignificant amount of retooling, it became the central point of one of his finest keyboard works. This is all not to say it didn't stand well on its own. In the recording world, music of insignificance can be very hard to find recorded. I have seven recordings of Hob 17:9 on period instruments, and only four of them are in complete cycles which are bound to include it. So the other three did so because they liked it, which warms my heart even more towards this pleasant work, laboring in obscurity.
It has been a while since Haydn produced a standalone, solo cantata, perhaps since Qual dubbio ormai in 1764. In Miseri noi, misera patria, we once again have a work whose origins are shrouded in mystery. It was composed by 1786, because Artaria published it then. Landon seems at a loss, supposing it was extracted from an opera, but even though we know the story which is being told, it doesn't mesh up with any opera known from Eszterháza, and so it seems unlikely it came from such a source. This is a standard cantata in form, the first half is recitative and the second is an aria. One of the, shall we say oddities, of this work lies in the interesting treatment of the lyric. The story being told has to do with a city which has been sacked, the walls are a smoldering ruin; yet, the music itself and the tone imposed on the singer is not necessarily tragic, rather, it is quite stately and, as Richard Wigmore calls it, equable. Wigmore also suggests it was composed for Nancy Storace, that friend of Haydn and Mozart, who gave a large benefit academy (benefit academies were concerts given by artists to raise money, often for themselves) in 1784. Knowing Haydn as we do, I wonder why no one seems to suggest it was just a personal touch of his humor which produced this interesting mismatch in temperaments. I haven't the least problem coming to grips with this idea! Haydn brought it to London with him in 1791, and added a flute to the orchestra to fill out the sound. Landon's assertion that this was Haydn's most important essay in the genre before Scena de Berenice in 1795 seems spot on to me, and makes me wonder yet again why it
is so thinly represented in the recorded repertory. The only positive is that this version features the brilliant voice of the late Arleen Augér, and so no gap is left unfilled.
Unlike the pleasant voiced soubrette Polzelli, Barbara Ripamonti, Prima Donna at Eszterháza from 1778-80 and again from 1784-86, had a great mezzo-soprano voice. As we recall from 1780, Haydn's L'isola disabitata went out of production after its second performance because she left and they were unable to fill the part, short of Haydn rewriting it. So when she returned to Eszterháza, the door was opened to again stage an opera buffa by the last of the great Italian buffa composers, Giuseppe Gazzaniga, L'isola di Alcina (The Island of Alcina). Composed for Venice in 1772, this was a very popular piece for years afterward. Ripamonti had sung this same part, the mezzo 'Lesbia', in 1779 when this opera was first staged in Eszterháza, so for this series, Haydn added this aria, Sono Alcina e sono ancora, which is a very attractive cavatina, sure to please. Alcina is a sorceress, blessed not only with eternal youth, but also the ability to make any man fall in love with her. She then turns each of them into a plant or animal. This aria praises her beauty and eternal youth and ability to charm any man. Witchcraft notwithstanding.
So these are the three works of this year which haven't popped up in everyone's Haydn Top 40. No reason not to check them out though, as we know by now, Haydn put his best efforts into everything he wrote. Even the 'minor' things!
Next time, we are off to Spain to see what Haydn has cooked up this time. Paella? I think not!
Thanks for reading!