1795 – The Year part 5 - Not just 'big', great!

Hob No.	NC	HRL	Key	Name	Instruments
I:103	105	105	Eb	Drumroll	2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets in Bb, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns in Eb & C, 2 Trumpets in Eb & C, Timpani & Strings
I:104	106	106	D	London	2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns, 2 Trumpets, Timpani & Strings
(Hoboken catalog  N°s.)	(New Chronology / Gerlach  N°s.)	(Robbins-Landon  N°s.)			Notes
Ia:3			C	Overture to Windsor Castle	This is the original overture to the 1791 opera L'anima del filosofo. It was used by Salomon until he wrote his own in 1796. It is scored for full orchestra, but detailed 'as played' scores no longer exist.
Hob. No.	Genre		Key		Voice & Instruments
24a:10	Cantata (Scena) – Recitative & Aria		f	Berenice, che fai?	Soprano, Flute, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets, 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns & Strings

A village church on a stormy day
Thomas Gainesborough

---

Over the many years which we have explored so far, we have come to think of Haydn as a composer of 'big music'. Symphonies, operas, masses, sacred music, just the sort of things which stick in your head when you think of Haydn. Or any other composer of his caliber, for that matter. And 1795 was the final London year, equal to any in terms of success. So he must have written a lot of 'big music', it seems so certain, one practically remembers it is so. Now it comes as a surprise, or at least it did to me, to discover that aside from the two symphonies for the year, 103 and 104, the only other thing approaching big music is the scena for Soprano & Orchestra, Berenice, che fai?. Even the overture which Haydn contributed to Salomon's "English Opera" was actually written in 1791 for Haydn's own, unperformed Orpheus opera. Isn't it odd how our imagination can play the occasional trick on us like that?

There are so many fine recordings of these symphonies, and rightly so!

As always, though, quality makes up for quantity. These three works are from the peak of Mt. Haydn. As a bonus for us, there is plenty of quality among the 'smaller' works of the year, as we will see in due course.

Morning Chronicle 3 March 1795
This concert [series] is very deservedly in high fashion, and must necessarily increase the fame it has acquired. [snip]… Another new Overture, by the fertile and enchanting Haydn was performed; which as usual, had continual strokes of genius, both in air and harmony. The introduction excited the deepest attention, the Allegro charmed, the Andante was encored, the Minuets, especially the Trio, were playful and sweet, and the last movement was equal, if not superior to the preceding.

"Fertile and enchanting…". Certainly a far cry from the written out old man we heard about a couple of years ago. This was the world première of Symphony #103 in Eb, yet another pinnacle work from this year.

Hob. I:103 Symphony #105 in Eb
Movement	Tempo	Meter	Key
Introduction	Adagio	3/4	Eb
I	Allegro con spirito	6/8	Eb
II	Andante più tosto Allegretto	2/4	Eb
III	Menuet: Allegro	3/4	Eb
Trio	Allegro	3/4	Bb
IV	Finale: Allegro con spirito	₵ (2/2)	Eb
Instruments	2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets (in Bb) 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns (in Eb & C), 2 Trumpets (in Eb and C), Violin Solo, 2 Violins, Viola, Cello, Double Bass

Like all of Haydn's late symphonies, this one can hardly have failed to excite comment and endless analysis from the endless analyzers of the music world. Peter Brown describes one of the earlier efforts, which turned out to be the more interesting to me, that of J.J. Momigny, who devoted twenty-six pages of his composition textbook of 1806 to a narrative discussion of what Haydn was doing in this symphony. His long and entertaining story concerns villagers, gathered in a country church to seek safety from a thunderstorm rolling through, praying all the while. The storm is symbolized by the famous timpani roll in measure 1, for which the symphony is named. The storm moves by and the villagers all go out into the town, grateful for being spared, but arguing over who was scared and who not, meanwhile dancing and partying in general. At the height of the name-calling the storm returns and they all scurry back to the church and begin praying again! All of these actions are tied to musical parts (well, the dancing part was easy), and also to the groups of instruments interacting in a 'call and response' manner.

Nowadays, we have a modest snicker over this kind of storytelling, but what if it is, in fact, exactly what Haydn had in mind? You scoff? Consider then how we find descriptions from Haydn's own lips, such as this in The New Grove Haydn. James Webster tells us:

Haydn was also a master of rhetoric. This is a matter not only of musical 'topoi' [NB – a rhetorical convention or formula] and rhetorical 'figures' but also of contrasts in register, gestures, implications of genre and the rhythms of destabilization and recovery, especially as these play out over the course of an entire movement. Referential associations are common in his instrumental music, especially symphonies (nos.6–8, 22, 26, 30–31, 44–5, 49, 60, 64, 73, 100); they invoke serious human and cultural issues, including religious belief, war, pastoral, the times of day, longing for home, ethnic identity and the hunt. Haydn told Griesinger and Dies that he 'often portrayed moral characters in his symphonies' and that one early Adagio presented 'a dialogue between God and a foolish sinner' (unidentified; perhaps from no. 7, 22 or 26). In his vocal music Haydn (like Handel) was a brilliant and enthusiastic word-painter. This trait is but one aspect of his musical imagery in general: in addition to rhetorical figures and 'topoi' it comprises key associations (e.g. E with the hereafter), semantic associations (e.g. the flute with the pastoral) and musical conceptualizations... [snip]

In our far more sophisticated modern musical society, it is more interesting to me to get some sort of a picture of how Haydn and his contemporaries perceived music, both in its construction and its subsequent deconstruction. We have survived the philosophical and technical onslaught of countless Romantics and post-Romantics, who have reduced music appreciation into an endless stream of jargon which is completely exclusive rather than inclusive, so maybe the 18^th century had a point. In Momigny's view, Haydn is telling a story, one we can all relate to. He is as matter-of-fact in the telling as if it was a short story rather than a symphony. And we can relate to it because, while we may have largely outgrown small town bickering and hiding in the village church, storms and coping with them are still an everyday fact of life.

I hadn't intentionally headed down this path, but I ran across Momigny's tale while researching what modern musicology thinks of this superb symphony. As it turns out, the introduction is one of those unique aspects which Haydn introduced to England. The music gets used in three different ways, first as an introduction, of course, but later on it becomes part of the Allegro, in diminution, and later still, in a slower tempo, as part of the coda. This idea had only been used once before, which could be where Haydn got it from, in a symphony in Vienna by Carlos Ordoñez in the 1770's. And there it would have ended, since Ordoñez went into obscurity until the late 20^th century. But I bring this up here for a different reason. Unless you are a music theorist, you probably didn't know that 'in diminution' means that the same tones are used in relatively the same tonal values, but the duration values are shorter, so the net effect is they are played more quickly. It's a sort of embellishment or melodic variation, or a way to insert a musical reminiscence without redoing the entire section in the original manner. More of us know what a coda is, a sort of different ending you would jump to when you play something through a second time. The different places that parts of the introduction are used, is also indicated by Momigny's as 'the storm returned and they all rushed back to the church'. The reality here is that Brown, the modern theorist, and Momigny, the 18^th century theorist, are telling the same story. But Brown is telling it to his peers, while Momigny is telling it to you and me. This difference represents progress. I suspect if we progress much further, I will no longer understand anything! Either way, it is a brilliant symphony, and a favorite of many a Haydnist.

Fourth London Notebook

On 4th May 1795, I gave my benefit concert in the Haymarket Theatre…[snip]…a new Symphony in D, the twelfth and last of the English;

Hob. I:104 Symphony #106 in D Major
Movement	Tempo	Meter	Key
Introduction	Adagio	4/4	d
I	Allegro	₵ (2/2)	D
II	Andante	2/4	G
III	Menuet: Allegro	3/4	D
Trio	Allegro	3/4	Bb
IV	Finale: Spiritoso	₵ (2/2)	D
Instruments	2 Flutes, 2 Oboes, 2 Clarinets (in A) 2 Bassoons, 2 Horns (in D & G), 2 Trumpets (in D), 2 Violins, Viola, Cello, Double Bass
"Fine, Laus Deo" ~~~~~ "Finished, Praise God"

When the 63 year-old Haydn appended Fine, Laus Deo to what he knew would be his final symphony for England, what sense of relief must he have felt? A burden had been lifted from his shoulders. He had fulfilled all of his promises, contractual and otherwise, had achieved the highest possible honors and popularity, he had even managed something which few other musicians before him had even begun to accomplish; he had put some money away for a comfortable retirement. Now, he would soon be going home to finish out his allotted three-score and seventeen in a well-deserved sinecure which he had spent the last 45 years preparing.

There are many analyses of this symphony, more, in fact, than probably any other work by Haydn, so it would be fruitless for me here to try to surpass those (or even equal them). My personal rôle is to listen and enjoy, which I did here many times over. We have seen, in looking at the London works to date, how Haydn mixed 'easy' with 'hard'. When it comes to difficulty of perception of the work as a whole. N^o. 100, for example, is considered easy, while N^o. 99 is not. What we really mean by those terms lies in the challenge to the listener to be able to follow where Haydn wants you to go. I say follow, because anticipating where he is going has proved to be virtually impossible, at least according to some great musical minds like Sir Donald Tovey. But the modern symphony, by which I mean modern in 1795 and looking forward, not backward, contains two large elements; the active participation required to follow a 'hard' work, and the simple melodic and harmonic audible enjoyment which is evident in an 'easy' one. In this work, Haydn found the magic formula by which these two aspects were perfectly balanced so to please the greatest number of listeners, no matter their level of musical sophistication.

6^th May, 1795 - The Morning Chronicle
…[Haydn] rewarded the good intentions of his friends by writing a new Overture for the occasion, which for fullness, richness, and majesty, in all its parts, is thought by some judges to surpass all his other compositions. A Gentleman, eminent for his musical knowledge, taste and sound criticism, declared this to be his opinion; That, for fifty years to come Musical Composers would be little better than imitators of Haydn; and would do little more than pour water on his [tea] leaves. We hope this prophecy may prove false; but probability seems to confirm the prediction.

~~~~~

Fourth London Notebook
On 4th May 1795, I gave my benefit concert in the Haymarket Theatre. The room was full of a select company… [snip] …. Scena nuova by me, Mad. Banti [English :] (She song very scanty). [German :] The whole company was thoroughly pleased and so was I. [snip]

It is not hard to imagine Haydn deriving a good deal of enjoyment from having a truly great singer to work with. He had many nearly great ones at Eszterháza, and some very good ones in London so far, but Brigida Banti was one of the rare greats.

Two fine realizations of Berenice, che fai?

The text for this work is taken from Act 3, scene 9 of Antigono by Metastasio, a libretto which had originally been set by Hasse in 1743 (performed at Carnival, 1744) and subsequently set by masters such as Galuppi, Piccinni, Jommelli, Gluck, Traetta and Paisiello along with twenty-five or so others. As always with Metastasio (thus his popularity) the poetry is direct, emotional and dramatic. Here, Haydn sets just one scene, with an irregular arrangement of arias and recitatives. This irregularity was not uncommon at the time, and serves to increase the drama. For all intents and purposes it is a cantata.

Here is the story: Although betrothed to Antigono, Berenice is actually in love with his son, Demetrio. Torn between his feelings for Berenice and his filial duty, Demetrio can see no way out of his predicament, and has resolved to kill himself. In Berenice, che fai?, the disconsolate heroine deliriously laments her fate and longs to die alongside her beloved:

Recitativo Berenice, che fai? Muore il tuo bene, stupida, e tu non corri? Oh Dio! Vacilla l'incerto passo; un gelido mi scuote insolito tremor tutte le vene, e a gran pena il suo peso il pic sostiene. Dove son? Qual confusa folla d'idee tutte funeste adombra la mia ragion? Veggo Demetrio: il veggo che in atto di ferir... Fermati! Vivi! D'Antigono io sarn. Del core ad onta volo a giurargli fc: dirn che l'amo; dirn... Misera me, s'oscura il giorno, balena il ciel! L'hanno irritato i miei meditati spergiuri. Ahimè! Lasciate ch'io soccorra il mio ben, barbari Dei. Voi m'impedite, e intanto forse un colpo improvviso... Ah, sarete contenti; eccolo ucciso. Aspetta, anima bella: ombre compagne a Lete andrem. Se non potei salvarti potrn fedel... Ma tu mi guardi, e parti? Aria Non partir, bell'idol mio: per quell'onda all'altra sponda voglio anch'io passar con te. Voglio anchio…   Recitativo Me infelice! Che fingo? Che ragiono? Dove rapita sono dal torrente crudel de' miei martiri? Misera Berenice, ah, tu deliri! Aria Perché se tanti siete, che delirar mi fate, perchè non m'uccidete, Affanni del mio cor? Crescete, oh Dio, crescete, fin che mi porga aita con togliermi di vita L'eccesso del dolor

Recitative Where am I? What is this chaotic host of gloomy ideas that clouds my reason? I see Demetrius: I see him in the act of striking Stop! Live on! I will belong to Antigonus. Against my heart's desire I fly to plight my troth to him: I will say that I love him; I will say. . . Woe is me, the day grows dark, lightning flashes across the sky! It is angered by my willful perjuries. Alas! Let me aid my beloved, cruel gods. You hold me back, and in the meantime, perhaps an unexpected blow. . . Ah, now you will be satisfied; behold, he is slain! Wait, lovely soul: together, as shades, We will go to Lethe. If I could not save you, still, faithful, I will be able to… But you look on me and depart?   Aria Do not go, fair idol of my heart: Across those waters to the farther shore I wish to accompany you.   Recitative Wretch that I am! What am I imagining? What am I saying? Whither have I been transported By the cruel torrent of my sufferings? Unhappy Berenice, ah, you are raving!   Aria Why, if you are so many That you can drive me mad, Why do you not kill me, Torments of my heart? Increase, ah God, grow ever greater, until excess of grief comes to my aid by taking my life from me.

One needs only sit and listen to this work to begin to appreciate the changes, the ripening of talent, which had come to Haydn during his brief time in London. The demands of pleasing a fickle public, the immediate feedback from the daily 'papers, the huge cadre of true musical connoisseurs; 'very nice' simply wouldn't do. And this piece is way beyond 'very nice'! The musical concept, the boldness of execution, the dramatic design, are all on a level higher than, not only Haydn, but nearly all other composers of the period. Landon states that only Mozart's Ch'io mi scordi di te (K 505), which he wrote for Nancy Storace when she was leaving Vienna for good, and Beethoven's Ah, perfido! (Opus 65, 1796), which Beethoven modeled directly on Haydn's work, are in the same class as Berenice, che fai?. And just a reminder: Madame Banti did NOT sing very scanty!

Big music. It's true, Haydn didn't write most of his big music this year, but it can be fairly said, what he did write was bigger than most.

Next time we will begin to look at some of the 'smaller' music Haydn wrote this year. There is far more than a little bit of that!

Thanks for reading!