1788 – The Music part 3 - Something for around the house

Hob.#	Genre	Key	Number	Instrument(s)
15:11	Trio	Eb	24	Fortepiano, Violin & Cello
15:12	Trio	e	25	Fortepiano, Violin & Cello
17:02	Solo Keyboard piece Arietta & 12 Variations	A		Fortepiano

 

Detail from 'A Spanish Concert' by Louis-Michel van Loo

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA in German]

Estoras, 10^th August 1788.

Well born, Most highly respected Sir!

My manifold affairs have prevented me from writing my long overdue answer to your last letter. I repeat that it will always be a pleasure to supply you with my works. Since I am now in a position where I need a little money, I propose to write for you, by the end of December, either 3 new Quartets or 3 new pianoforte Sonatas with accompaniment of a violin and violoncello. …[snip]… Of course it is understood that I shall then complete the other 3 Quartets, or pianoforte Sonatas, so that the edition will comprise half-a-dozen, as usual. NB. For 6 Quartets the previous sum of one hundred ducats, for 6 pianoforte Sonatas 300 fl. In the hope of a favorable answer,

I am Sir, most respectfully,

Your most obedient servant,

Josephus Haydn.

And a week later:

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA in German]

Estoras, 17^th August 1788.

Well born, Most highly respected Sir !

… The zeal I shall bestow on the 3 pianoforte Sonatas with accompaniment of a violin and violoncello which you want, shall be a guarantee of my wish to retain your friendship in the future.

Meanwhile I am, Sir, most respectfully,

Your most obedient servant,

                        Josephus Haydn.

A great recording of Hob 15:11-14

Haydn is famous for his string quartets, his reputation stretches to the four corners of Europe and beyond. So if you are his publisher, and he offers to write a new set for you, why do you opt instead for "3 pianoforte Sonatas with accompaniment of a violin and violoncello"? I think this is a fair question which could use some thinking about.

Although the answer isn't known beyond a certainty, there are two reasons which I can put forward, one of which is general to the times, and the other specific to Haydn and Artaria. The specific one, which we discussed in depth in the last few essays, concerns Artaria quite possibly feeling a bit burned over Haydn's admittedly shabby treatment of him in the affair of Opus 50. This sort of behavior, while common at the time, hadn't really been a part of their relationship before now. And while I believe that Artaria took a certain amount of pleasure in getting even, we must remember this particular series of events hadn't actually begun yet, and wouldn't for another month or so.

We, however, know that Haydn already had Opus 54/55 complete and ready to go, since he sent Tost off to Paris with it at about this time, and already was asking Artaria if he had purchased them from Tost as soon as September 22^nd! So it would be my surmise that when Haydn first offered to write some quartets or trios for Artaria in August, he was quite sure of his belief that the (already completed) quartets would be chosen. Imagine his surprise; imagine mine!

So, piano trios then. As we have seen in recent years, the 'accompanied sonata' as it was called, was making a comeback with a vengeance in Europe in general, and in Vienna as much as anywhere. There are a variety of factors contributing to this trend, and which one affected you was primarily based on your class in this still class-conscious society.

One can never overestimate the direct effect on music exerted by the two main forces of the time; the Church and the aristocracy. Internal changes in Austria were brought about mainly by Joseph II's Enlightened reforms, and changes all across Europe occurred as the death throes of the feudal system changed things forever. Joseph directly stripped away the power of the Church by closing down most of the monasteries and convents. He also put major curbs on the powers of the aristocrats. And taxed them heavily into the bargain. Meanwhile, the severely oppressed lower classes, through the newly capable spread of information, began to realize just how bad they had it. The French Revolution didn't begin until the next year, but it didn't occur in a vacuum!

The net result of all this political turmoil was the rise of a middle class who were suddenly able to accumulate some modest amount of wealth and leisure time. Of course, the first things they aspired to were some of the more obvious trappings of the upper classes. I'm sure there was even some Hoover-ish sort who promised a chicken in every pot, a piano in every parlor! But the 'piano in every parlor' was something which actually came to be, in Vienna, London, and many other places throughout Europe. And what they needed to go with it, and what every publisher was eager to provide, was sheet music. Enter the accompanied keyboard sonata.

A Viennese Square Piano probably very like Haydn's
No Wenzel Schantz pianos still exist

England was already overrun with fortepianos. Since the late 1760's when they were introduced,  manufacturers had been turning out high quality instruments in droves. In Vienna, however, the actual takeover by the Hammering  Horde didn't really take the city by storm until the late 1770's and especially in the 1780's. Mozart's 1782 Walter was on the front side of this wave. There is no doubt Haydn had a fortepiano too; as we saw after the opera house fire, Walter came to Eszterháza and replaced the famous 'big, green cembalo' which Haydn used to play continuo and conduct operas from, with a fortepiano. But his real exposure would certainly have come when, during the course of each Vienna winter, he was a regular attendee at the city's salons. There is no way these upper-class dilettantes who were on the cutting edge of everything stylish would have had a harpsichord there for entertainers to use. Witness the sonatas for the Auenbrugger sisters, composed specifically for them to play at salons, and without doubt for the fortepiano. So it is virtually a given; Haydn at least had access to a fortepiano and certainly knew its strengths and limitations. But now, since the market has shifted and caught up with the cutting edge, we see this:

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA in German]

Estoras, 26^th October 1788.

Well born, Most highly respected Sir!

In order to compose your 3 pianoforte Sonatas particularly well, I had to buy a new fortepiano. Now since no doubt you have long since realized that scholars are sometimes short of money and that is my situation at present I should like to ask you, Sir, if you would be kind enough to pay 31 gold ducats to the organ and instrument maker Wenzl Schanz, who lives on the Leimgruben at the Blauen Schif[f] N^o. 22; which 31 ducats I shall repay to you, with thanks, by the end of January of the coming year 1789. To convince you that I shall keep my word, I have enclosed a small promissory note which I have recalled today. But should you have any doubts of my integrity, I shall send you on the next post-day a bond for a thousand Gulden signed by my Prince himself. I don't like to be in debt to tradesmen, and thank God! I am free of such burdens; but since great people keep me waiting so long for payment, things have come to a standstill. Meanwhile this letter should be your security, and shall be valid in any court. I will pay off the interest in cash. I am [so] confident that you will not refuse my request [that] I wrote to the organ-builder, who will quite certainly come to get his money. Please excuse this liberty: it is bestowed on a man who is grateful, and will ever remain,

Your most obedient servant,

Joseph Haydn

Capell Meister.

P.S. I shall have the pleasure of seeing you in Vienna towards the end of December.

And the next:

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA in German]

Estoras, 16^th November 1788.

Well born, Most highly respected Sir!

Many thanks for the correct payment which you made in my name to Herr Schanz. I shall keep my word punctually, not only as to the repayment but also as to the 3 new Sonatas, of which one and one-half are already completed.

Meanwhile I remain, respectfully,

Your most obedient servant,

Joseph Haydn

Although the third of these works wasn't completed until next year, we can take a look at them now:

Hob. 15:11 Trio #24 in Eb		Hob. 15:12 Trio #25 in e		Hob. 15:13 Trio #26 in c
I	Allegro moderato	I	Allegro moderato	I	Andante
II	Tempo di Menuetto	II	Andante	II	Allegro spirituoso
		III	Rondo: Presto

If you tend to think of Haydn's chamber music as lightweight and not comparable to some contemporaries such as Mozart, you are in for a surprise when you listen to these three works! As Michelle Fillion points out in her essay on Haydn's keyboard music of the '80's and '90's in the Cambridge Companion to Haydn, these works are full of "dramatic surprises, Sturm und Drang outbursts and jolly, folk-like themes, not to mention a fully symphonic minuet (in Hob 11) and a superb Rondo finale… (in Hob 12)". Fillion attributes this to Haydn reveling in the textural possibilities of his new fortepiano, and next year when we review the sonata he produced for his new friend, Marianne Genziger, you will agree. Haydn may have very well known what Artaria intended these works for, that is, for amateur domestic music-makers, his bread and butter. However, they aren't who Haydn wrote these works for. It would be a mistake to always attribute Artaria's goals to Haydn! These are clearly written for players of the high skill levels which would only be found in the salons or the professional ranks. You can see Artaria was the instigator here:

[To ARTARIA & Co., VIENNA. in German]

Estoras, 29^th March 1789.

Mon tres cher amy!

I send you herewith the 3rd Sonata, which I have rewritten with variations, to suit your taste. Please hurry the engraving of all 3 as best you can, because many people are anxiously awaiting the publication.

[snip]

I remain, most respectfully,

Your most obedient servant,

Joseph Haydn.

Clearly Artaria felt the original finale was less salable than a set of variations would be. The result is one of Haydn's famous double variations with the second theme in a pleasant C major. Even so, Haydn didn't get too far away from some serious music here. A 1789 review in the Allgemeine deutsche Bibliothek, praises the entire set for its "superior construction, originality and seriousness", but goes on to warn the potential player about "frequent excursions into distant keys, which often require many accidentals, even double ones!". (Fillion – ibid.). This being said, I might point out they aren't nearly as hard to listen to as to play; try it and see!

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Our last piece of the year has its own mystery attached. Back in 1765 or so, Haydn composed a set of 20 Variations in either G or A. There is a start for you, two big indefinites in the first sentence! Let's see if we can take some of that indecision out.

Just because he was Vice-Kapellmeister by the mid 1760's, Haydn hadn't yet (nor did he ever) gotten away from being a teacher. This was the reason for most of his sonatas in the pre-Esterházy years, as we have seen. In addition to sonatas, one of the most popular teaching aids was the set of variations. These sorts of works served a dual purpose: they provided entertainment for many listeners, and they gave the opportunity to play a great variety of challenges for the player, from easy right through very difficult. This is the likeliest reason for the origin of 20 Variations in G for Keyboard. (Hob. 17:2). We don't know precisely who his students were in the Esterházy household, but they would certainly have existed. Of course, this work wouldn't have been published at the time due to contractual obligations, but the chances of it getting loose in the wild were great, as we have seen with other early works. Manuscripts of it circulated at the time, and this is what gives rise to some of the confusion. Traditionally, this work is believed to be in G major, which, with one sharp, is considered relatively easier to play by beginners than would A major (which has three sharps) be.

Sonja Gerlach, on whom I have relied for my dating of symphonies, hasn't expended her expertise on only those. In her 2007 book, Joseph Haydn: Klavierstücke, Klaviervariationen, Gerlach points out how Haydn's Entwurf Katalog (EK) of 1766 gives the incipit for these variations in A major. She postulates the change to G major and various additions and subtractions in the manuscript copies to be custom tailoring to suit the needs of the individual.

Which brings us to 1788 and a publication by Artaria called Arietta and 12 Variations for Keyboard, in A major. Among the trimmed down number of variations is a new one, presumably not by Haydn. The variations are reordered, and the structural order of the variations was an important part of the original construction. The variations get progressively more difficult in the original, which is ideal for teaching aids. Finally, as you have seen here, I have voluminous correspondence between Haydn and Artaria in this period, and I assure you there is no mention of this work there! All this being said, it seems safe to say Artaria got a copy of the variations somewhere and decided to whip them into shape and publish them under Haydn's name, which is mainly true anyway. I wonder what Haydn thought when he saw them in the store window. Did it bring him back to those days in the 1750's when he first saw (unauthorized) displays of his works and was proud of it despite getting nothing in return? I bet not.

This brings 1788 to a close. What an interesting year! I'm willing to bet 1789 is just as interesting; we will see very soon!

Thanks for reading!