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Hob II # |
Genre |
Key |
Instrument(s) |
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27a |
Notturno |
C |
Flute, Oboe, 2 Violins 2 Horns, 2 Violas, Cello & Basso |
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28a |
Notturno |
C |
Flute, Oboe, 2 Violins 2 Horns, 2 Violas, Cello & Basso |
|
31a |
Notturno |
F |
Flute, Oboe, 2 Violins 2 Horns, 2 Violas, Cello & Basso |
|
32a |
Notturno |
G |
2 Flutes, 2 Violins 2 Horns, 2 Violas, Cello & Basso |
|
24a:deest |
Cantata |
Cara deh torna in pace |
For Tenor voice and orchestra with Oboe & Bassoon obbligato (Lost) |
by Balthasar Denner
It is generally considered that Haydn adopted the English oratorio style of Handel for his climactic works, The Creation and The Seasons. In order to see why, we have only to return to London, 1791, where he got to see the true force of music at first hand.
King George III was a very great fan of Georg Frideric Handel, who had been the Kapellmeister to his grandfather, who was then the Elector of Hanover, but later became King George I of England. It would be fair to say that he believed Handel's music had never seen its match, nor was it likely to. In 1783, another Handelian with strong ties to the 'Ancient Music', Joah Bates, conceived the idea of a festival to not only honor Handel, but also make some good money while doing so. In 1784, George III commissioned Bates to organize a great Music Festival which would feature Handel's works performed in the grand style he believed they deserved. That first year, Bates organized 525 musicians and singers and gathered them in Westminster Abbey for the first of a long line of annual celebrations of Handel which lasted into the 20th century, eventually stopped by the first World War.
In 1791, four days during the last week of May and first week of June were given over to the Handel Festival. The count of musicians for this year reached 1,050, twice the original number! Haydn was in a box close by the Royal Family, and was astonished to see the King & Queen rise with all their gathered subjects to sing the Hallelujah Chorus during the production of Messiah, clearly greatly enjoying the music. The main piece for that year was arguably Handel's finest oratorio, Israel in Egypt, which was performed twice, along with Messiah, and the balance consisting of extracts from a variety of works, along with the Coronation Anthem, Zadok the Priest, and instrumental works like oboe and organ concertos and anthems.
English composer & friend of Haydn
The impression all this made on Haydn can't be overestimated. His new London friend, the composer/musician William Shield, wrote in his book, An Introduction to Harmony (1800), how Haydn's face expressed 'rapturous astonishment' during the concerts. When Shield asked him the next day what he thought about the Chorus in Joshua, The Nations Tremble at the dreadful sound, Haydn replied "I have long been acquainted with music, but never knew half its powers before I heard [this]." Giuseppe Carpani, a third biographer of Haydn, one whom I scarcely mention because his work is in Italian and unavailable to me even so, is quoted here in English (for once) by Landon. According to Carpani, "Haydn confessed… that when he heard the music of Handel, he was struck as if he had been put back to the beginning of his studies and had known nothing up to this moment. He meditated on every note and drew from those most learned scores the essence of true musical grandeur.
All of this didn't exactly constitute an introduction to Handel for Haydn. He was very familiar with the music from the time he spent at Van Swieten's salon, in company with Mozart, who in fact "modernized" four of Handel's works* for presentation by a Viennese orchestra. The big difference was the venue. A small orchestra in a modest sized private room was no equal to the thousands in Westminster! The real takeaway here for Haydn, and for us (who are blessed to know the future) is the heretofore unknown power which could be derived from oratorios when they were presented the way they were here. The stunning power of magisterial music to move people is what really made an impression in Haydn's mind. In a few short years, we will see how this knowledge moved Haydn to end his career of masterpieces with works molded along the English Oratorio pattern set up by Handel.
It is not difficult, provided one has a suitable library available, to discover what was played during the twelve Salomon Concerts of 1791, as well as the other concerts which Haydn took part in. Well, not difficult, that is, if you are satisfied with just knowing there was a symphony or a string quartet performed! I managed to extract the actual Haydn works performed, and here they are, written more or less as they were in the newspaper advertisements. Parenthetically I have added in the name where it is either known or at least can be well-supposed. As you will see, pickings are slim down that road!
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Haydn pieces performed in the 1791 Concert Series |
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#1 – 11 March
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#2 – 18 March
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#3 – 25 March
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#4 – 1 April
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#5 – 8 April
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#6 – 15 April
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#7 – 29 April
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#8 – 6 May
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#9 – 13 May
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"Mr. Haydn's Night" at Hanover Square – 16 May
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#10 – 20 May
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#11 – 27 May
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Extra concert at Hanover Square Rooms – May 30
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#12 – 3 June
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I know, I know, you now feel as though you are hardly more knowledgeable than when we began. You are sharing the pain of hundreds of other Haydnists from the last two hundred twenty-five years!
Along with the numerous symphonies, which were the primary fare on the London concert scene by 1790, we see a few things we hadn't expected. At Concert #5 on April 8, we see the first of the Notturnos, which Haydn composed for the King of Naples just last year, now orchestrated to be performed with the forces available in London.
There were originally nine composed for Naples, one of which is lost. Of the eight remaining, there are authentic revised parts for just four, which are Hob II:27, 28, 31 & 32.
One of the 5 extant concertos (out of 6, probably) only one was rescored and documented to have been played. We don't know which one, but it was most likely that the piece played on May 20, 1791 at Concert 10, which the newspaper called a 'concertino', was one of these concertos. It also has a double bass added, as well as assigning the lira parts to flute and oboe.
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Notturni, original scoring:
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New scoring:
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Concerti original scoring:
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New scoring:
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Since, now, all of the Notturni and Concerti have been reorchestrated, and in fact, this is the most popular way to play them, it remains a mystery who, exactly, reorchestrated the remainder of them. Of course, it isn't rocket science, so some enterprising publisher was likely the culprit. The main body of the reorchestrated works are in the King's Library, with some others in the Esterházy Archives. In this year's (1791) concert series, we have a Notturno performed on April 8, and a Concertino on May 20. For public consumption, that is all until next year. However, we also know that Haydn performed many private concerts for the Prince of Wales, and notturnos were certainly performed. These are the ones for which parts now reside in the King's Library. We will probably never be fully aware of the whole story with these works; certainly there must be some mystery attached, else it wouldn't be Haydn!
We saw, when reading the very interesting tale of Opus 54/55 publication, that the première of those works in England took place at The Professional Concert in February, 1789. One of the selling points of the set was printed on the front page:
Performed at the Professional Concert – Hanover Square - 1789
And indeed, when Bland's publication of Opus 64/65 was announced on June 10, 1791, the Morning Herald, as well as the front page of the score used precisely the same sort of verbiage, with an even better addition:
Composed by Giuseppe Haydn and performed under His direction at Mr. Salomon's Concert, the Festino Rooms, Hanover Square
It wasn't just Haydn, there were other quartets and quintets presented, some at every concert in fact, such as a String (Viola) Quintet by Pleyel at Concert #3, and a String Quartet by Koželuch at Concert #4. Obviously 'sales' is a big point, since selling sheet music was the lifeblood of the music business. However, to concentrate on the sales aspect ignores the bigger question altogether; how did Viennese parlor music get equal billing on London stages with symphonies, opera scena's. and the like? Suffice, for now, to say that since the 1770's, chamber music had supplanted instrumental solos (i.e. - accompanied (trio) sonatas) on stage, just as symphonies had routed out the concerto grosso which had held sway since the beginning of the 18th century. And the experience gained from seeing the public reaction to Opus 64 was the guiding light for Haydn's second journey presentation of Opus 71/74. We will certainly discuss this unique aspect of England's pioneering concert idiom in a more in-depth way when we look at those works in 1794!
As a final note, there is more than one reason Haydn was so overwhelmingly popular with the English. Aside from his music, and his ready acquiescence to doing any favor for a friend, he was also tremendously polite and respectful. As we saw when he met the Prince and his circle at the Queen's Birthday Ball at St. James, he always knew exactly the right thing to do in polite company. Even a country boy can pick that up after thirty years at court! And he generated much good will when he caused this to be published in the Morning Chronicle after his Benefit Concert of 16 May:
Mr. Haydn, extremely flattered with his reception in a country where he has long been ambitious of visiting, and penetrated with the patronage with which he has been honoured by its animated and generous Inhabitants, should think himself guilty of the greatest ingratitude, if he did not take the earliest opportunity of making his most grateful Acknowledgements to the English Public in general, as well as to his particular Friends, for the zeal which they have manifested at his Concert, which has been supported by such distinguished marks of favour and approbation, as will be remembered by him with infinite delight as long as he lives.
Now, concert season is over for the year, it is time to have a look around this country we find ourselves in!
Thanks for reading!
* From Köchel Catalog 6th edition of Mozart's Works
KV 566 Arrangement of a Handel Pastorale Acis & Galathea
KV 572 Arrangement of a Handel Oratorio Messiah
KV 591 Arrangement of a Handel Oratorio Alexander's Feast
KV 592 Arrangement of a Handel Oratorio Ode to St Caecilia
All were commissioned for the Association of Cavaliers by Baron van Sweiten in 1788/89