Building a Library part 3 – More anthologies

Anthologies deserve a significant amount of space in any summary of a Haydn library. Clearly they represent the largest part of the books available. Most are written by a large variety of authors, although some names crop up in nearly every collection. Occasionally there is a book of essays, only moderately related, all by the same author. I suppose that technically this is a 'collection' rather than an anthology, but I will include them here when they occur.

In the previous installment of this series, we looked at four books. Three of them were, at the time, readily available, one was less so. This time we have four more, all can be had today at Amazon or similar online retailers, and almost certainly at a well-stocked public library. You can nearly always take it as given; if I include a book here it is because I have found it to be very handy for some specific essay or other, given that the subject matter tends to the obscure if you are wanting to go beyond the late Haydn and his adventures in and around London. And even that…

 

Engaging Haydn: Culture, Context, and Criticism

Edited by Mary Hunter & Richard Will

 

 

Paperback: 349 pages

Publisher: Cambridge University Press (2014 paperback – 2012 hardcover)

Language: English

ISBN-13: 978-1-107-68613-7

 

 

 

Table of Contents

Part I – Cultures of vocal music

1. Fantasy Island: Haydn's Metastasian 'reform' opera – Elaine Sisman
2. Haydn invents Scotland – Richard Will
3. Haydn's English canzonettas in their local context – Katalin Komlós
4. Revolution, rebirth and the sublime in Haydn's L'anima filosofo and The Creation – Caryl Clark
5. "Achieved is the glorious work", The Creation and the choral work concept – Nicholas Matthew

Part II – Analytical readings and rereading's

1. Imagination, continuity, and form in the first movement of Haydn's Opus 77 quartets – Lewis Lockwood
2. Does Haydn have a 'c minor mood'? – Jessica Waldoff
3. Form, rhetoric, and the reception of Haydn's rondo finales – Michelle Fillion
4. Haydn and the Metamorphoses of Ovid - Pierpaolo Polzonetti
5. Credo ut intelligam: Haydn's reading of the Credo text – Tom Beghin

Part III – Performance

1. Haydn's string quartet fingerings: communication to performer and audience – Mary Hunter
2. Haydn's orchestras and his orchestration to 1779, with an excursus on the 'Times of Day' symphonies – Neal Zaslaw

If you have been reading along with me, you can see the value I would place on this book. It is highly commendable, if only because of the diversity of its subject matter, and its intelligibility at all sorts of disciplines and levels. Practically every aspect of music is touched upon: history, composition, analysis, performance, and opera to National Airs.

 

 

Haydn and the Performance of Rhetoric

Edited by: Tom Beghin and Sander M. Goldberg

 

 

 

Hardcover: 363 pages plus DVD

Publisher: University of Chicago Press (2007)

Language: English

ISBN-13: 978-0-226-04129-2

 

 

 

 

Table of Contents

1. A Visit to the Salon de Parnasse – Elisabeth Le Guin

Part I - Backgrounds

1. Performing Theory: Variations on a Theme by Quintilian – Sander M. Goldberg
2. Ut Rhetorica Artes: The Rhetorical Theory of the Sister Arts – Timothy Erwin
3. School, Stage, Salon: Musical Cultures in Haydn's Vienna – James van Horn Melton
4. Rhetoric versus Truth: Listening to Haydn in the Age of Beethoven – Mark Evan Bonds

Part II – Foregrounds

1. "Delivery, Delivery, Delivery!" Crowning the Rhetorical Process on Haydn's Keyboard Sonatas – Tom Beghin
2. The Rhetoric of Improvisation in Haydn's Keyboard Music – James Webster
3. Clever Orator versus Bold Innovator – László Somfai
4. The Poetry of Haydn's Songs: Sexuality, Repetition, Whimsy – Marshall Brown
5. Haydn's London trios, and the Rhetoric of the Grotesque – Annette Richards
6. Rhetorical Truth in Haydn's Chamber Music: Genre, Tertiary Rhetoric, and the Opus 76 Quartets – Elaine Sisman

I'm the first to admit that many of the principles discussed in this book were above my pay grade, but this is the reason you tackle a new subject, yes? Several essays were very informative indeed, and if you are one who took the effort to study rhetoric in a formal way, then this entire book should be highly useful to your understanding of what was, really, the way the 18^th century listened to music. The DVD is chock full of examples, every sample of music which is discussed in the text is also demonstrated on the DVD for your understanding. Beyond rhetoric, there is a wealth of information on historic context which I found to be an invaluable aid to my musical outlook.

 

The Virtual Haydn: Paradox of a Twenty-First Century Keyboard Artist

By: Tom Beghin

 

 

Hardcover: 329 pages

Publisher: University of Chicago Press (2015)

Language: English

ISBN-13: 978-0-226-15677-4

 

 

 

Table of Contents

1. A composer, His Dedicatee, Her Instrument and I
2. Delivery, Delivery, Delivery!
3. Short Octaves müssen sein!
4. "Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant"
5. An Opus for the Insightful World
6. A Contract with Posterity

   Epilogue

This is one of those books, which I mentioned above, which is a collection rather than a true anthology. All the essays are by a single author and revolve around a central theme. Yet, any of them also could stand alone and convey the author's intentions as well. This is basically a book which helps to explicate Beghin's thought process while recording his landmark volume of Haydn keyboard sonatas on Blu-Ray video and CD audio. The sheer volume of historical facts, many of them not available to the layman before, and the thought process which manages to tie the music into the larger picture of history and the arts and manners of the late 18^th century makes this a fascinating volume to have. Essay No. 3, which focuses on the Capriccio Acht Sauschneider müssen sein, gives a clear and cogent explanation of the history and usage of the Viennese 'short octave' keyboard, as well as a very thought-provoking look at Hanswurst, "leading man" on the Austrian stage for much of the century. I couldn't imagine not having the recordings, and if you do, this book is a perfect adjunct, which truly enhances one's appreciation of the music.

 

 

Music in Eighteenth Century Austria

Edited by: David Wyn Jones

 

 

 

 

Softcover: 291 pages

Publisher: Cambridge University Press (1996)

Language: English

ISBN-13: 978-0-521-02859-2

 

 

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: New Challenges, New Perspectives – David Wyn Jones

Part I Overture, Symphony and Concerto

1. The trumpet overture and sinfonia in Vienna (1715-1822): rise, decline and reformulation – A. Peter Brown
2. The early Classical violin concerto in Austria - Chappell White

Part II Traditions in Sacred Music

1. Haydn's Missa sunt bona mixta malis and the a capella tradition – David Wyn Jones
2. Johan Baptist Vanhal and the pastoral mass tradition – Bruce Macintyre
3. The Austrian Pastorella and the stylus rusticanus: comic and pastoral elements in Austrian music, 1750-1800 – Geoffrey Chew

Part III Opera and Drama

1. The Applausus musicus, or Singgedicht: a neglected genre of eighteenth-century musical theater – Robert N. Freeman
2. The operas of Antonio Salieri as a reflection of Viennese opera, 1770-1800 – John A. Rice
3. Lorenzo da Ponte's Viennese librettos – Konrad Küster
4. Viennese amateur or London professional? A reconsideration of Haydn's tragic cantata Arianna a Naxos – Julian Rushton

Part IV Pianos and Pianism

1. The Viennese fortepiano in the eighteenth-century – Eva Badura-Skoda
2. The Beethoven-Wölfl piano duel – Tia Denora

It should go without saying that discovering Haydn's place in the world is unlikely to be accomplished by sticking with books which are exclusively about Haydn! Due to his stature as the most prominent composer of the latter part of the century (in his time), a book which focuses, as this one does, on 18^th century Austria will inevitably give you a great dose of Haydnism along with some excellent context. Even if you only read the three Haydn essays, they are almost the only popularly available explications of the Applausus and the Mass of good mixed with bad, and a fine look at the Arianna a Naxos cantata. But that just scratches the surface, the entire book is well worth the read. I hope someone is working on volume 2…

Hope you have some of these books available to you and would like to check them out. Next time we will look at some more of the book length works which are available and clearly worth the pursuit.

Thanks for reading!