14th Symphony (Haydn)

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The Symphony in A major Hoboken directory I: 14 wrote Joseph Haydn in 1762 during his tenure as Vice-Kapellmeister to Prince I. Nikolaus Esterházy .

General

Joseph Haydn (painting by Ludwig Guttenbrunn, around 1770)

The Symphony Hoboken-Index I: 14 was composed by Joseph Haydn in 1762. Despite its brevity and early date of composition, the work already shows several characteristics of a classical symphony, Howard Chandler Robbins Landon calls it a "miniature symphony ".

To the music

Instrumentation: two oboes , two horns , two violins , viola , viola solo, cello , cello solo, double bass . At that time, a bassoon was used to reinforce the bass voice, even without separate notation . On the participation of a harpsichord - continuos are competing views in Haydn's symphonies.

Performance time: approx. 15 minutes (depending on compliance with the prescribed repetitions).

With the terms used here for sonata form, it should be noted that this scheme was designed in the first half of the 19th century (see there) and can therefore only be transferred to a work composed in 1762 with restrictions. - The description and structure of the sentences given here is to be understood as a suggestion. Depending on the point of view, other delimitations and interpretations are also possible.

First movement: Allegro molto

A major, 3/4 time, 100 bars

Beginning of the Allegro molto

The movement begins forte with a concise, energetic first theme that is characterized by large leaps in intervals (octave, decime) in connection with tone repetition. Haydn cadences the tonic in A major, subdominant D major, tonic, dominant E major and tonic in a descending line. In the following bars, Haydn established the dominant E major and increased the speed by reducing the note values ​​to eighth notes. A twist with ascending intervals closes with chord strikes in E major and flows seamlessly into the following dialogue between the oboes and the strings. The strings develop their own, repeated motif from this, with the sixteenths occurring here causing further accelerations. Energetic unison eighth notes in staccato lead to the second theme.

The second theme from bar 31 with a lyrical character consists of two motifs and is only performed by the violins piano. The 1st violin starts with motif 1 and then sequences motif 2 downwards. The 2nd violin begins, offset by one measure, and sequences motif 1 downwards. The final group in the forte takes up the emerging intervals from bars 11/12.

The short development with a transition character varies the motifs of the second theme: first in the strings, then with voice guidance in the winds. A surprising outbreak in fortissimo leads from the dominant back to the tonic and thus to the recapitulation.

The recapitulation is structured in a similar way to the exposition, however the first theme is varied in its leaps in intervals and merges directly into the repeated string motif from the exposition. Both parts of the sentence (exposition as well as development and recapitulation) are repeated.

"The first movement captivates with its fiery élan, its forward-pushing rhythmic power, as they are compellingly revealed in the opening bars (...)."

Second movement: Andante

D major, 2/4 time, 67 bars

Beginning of the Andante

The main theme consists of a four-bar melody and its repetition provided with figurations. In the further course of the first part of the sentence, five more small, four- to five-measure motifs follow: Motif 2 with suggested phrase, Motif 3 with tone repetition and ascending line, Motif 4 with recumbent tone and upward triplet, and Motif 5 as the final group with a change from high register (forte) and lower register (piano).

The second part of the sentence begins with the main theme in A major. Haydn then sequences a figure from the ornate repetition of the theme (bars 6 or 33) downwards and then arrives with motif 3 at the parallel tonic in B minor. Motif 2 changes to the subdominant G major, followed by the change to the tonic in D major. The further course corresponds to that of the exposition with motifs 3, 4 and the final group. Both parts of the sentence are repeated.

For the Andante, Haydn used the theme of the final movement (a variation movement) of the Divertimentos Hob. II / 11, which he composed at the end of the 1750s and which is known under the title “Mann und Frau or The Birthday”. The material is recombined in the Andante: the main theme corresponds to bars 1 to 4 of the eighth variation, its figured repetition bars 13 to 16 and motif 2 corresponds to bars 9 to 12.

A peculiarity of the timbre of the movement is that Haydn lets the melody played by the violins largely in unison play along with the cello over long stretches an octave lower (similar in the second movement of Symphony No. 16 , violins there with mutes), while the viola and double bass also play an opposing vocal-like accompaniment in even eighth notes in octaves.

“The sonic effect of letting a melody run over longer stretches in octaves was regarded by contemporaries as an“ invention ”of Haydn, which he first used in his early string quartets. However, opinion was initially divided, as the music scholar Ernst Ludwig Gerber reported in 1790: “Even his first Quatros, which became known around 1760, caused a general sensation. People laughed and enjoyed themselves on the one hand at the extraordinary naivety and cheerfulness that prevailed in it, and in other regions they shouted about the degradation of music to comic dandruff and unheard-of octaves. For it was he who introduced the manner of amplifying the melody by the octave, or of letting the first and second violin go along in octaves, which in large orchestras, in expressive passages, has such great effect, in these first introduced his quatros. But one soon got used to this manner, despite all the screams. Yes, you finally imitated them yourself. ""

The andante was probably a popular movement among contemporaries because of its special sound effect together with the folk melody. As early as 1767 it was published in an arrangement as a piano piece in the "Weekly News and Hints, Concerning the Music" in a slightly different form. There were also arrangements of the Divertimento for flute quartet and for piano with violin.

Third movement: Menuetto. Allegretto

A major, 3/4 time, with trio 56 bars

The initial idea of ​​the minuet with a sweeping ascending and descending gesture is characterized by a rhythmic alternation of regular quarter and eighth movements. Then the subdominant D major is emphasized with the use of the oboe, with the upper voices continuing the quarter movement (as a tone repetition), the lower voices continuing the sweeping eighth movement; in the following bars the groups change roles. The first part of the minuet ends in the tonic in A major (not in the dominant as usual). The second part of the minuet continues the eighth note movement starting from A major. The initial idea is not explicitly taken up again; instead, from bar 17, the solo horns take over the voice guidance with a new idea in a high register. The last six bars correspond to that of the first part.

In the trio (A minor), the solo oboe plays its plaintive, declamatory melody over a string accompaniment.

Fourth movement: Allegro

A major, 6/8 time, 66 bars

The first theme (main theme), which is initially only presented by the violins, consists of a simple downward scale, accompanied by syncopated eighth notes in opposite voices. In measure 5, the violins change roles from E major. The beginning of the sentence is reminiscent of a double fugue . The use of the whole orchestra in the forte in bar 10 brings, in addition to the scale, which runs through the entire movement as cantus firmus , rapid semiquaver runs. The second theme from bar 17 (piano, strings only) varies the first, with the 2nd violin and bass playing a fragment of the scale, while the 1st violin adds a stepped eighth figure. In the noisy final group, rapid runs dominate again.

In addition to the rapid runs, the middle section (development) is also characterized by the descending scale, from bar 32 in staggered use between 2nd oboe and 2nd violin and - as a syncope movement - 1st oboe and 1st violin. Then the “second theme” begins as a variant, but now with a different instrumentation. The recapitulation begins surprisingly fortissimo, with all essential sentence components (scale, eighth countervoice, sixteenth-note running figure) appearing in parallel. The rest of the sentence is similar to that of the exposition, the end of the sentence is expanded like a code with runs .

Individual references, comments

  1. ↑ Information page of the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, see under web links.
  2. ^ A b c d Howard Chandler Robbins Landon: The Symphonies of Joseph Haydn. Universal Edition & Rocklife, London 1955, pp. 182, 214, 243, 245.
  3. ↑ Examples: a) James Webster: On the Absence of Keyboard Continuo in Haydn's Symphonies. In: Early Music Volume 18 No. 4, 1990, pp. 599-608); b) Hartmut Haenchen : Haydn, Joseph: Haydn's orchestra and the harpsichord question in the early symphonies. Booklet text for the recordings of the early Haydn symphonies. , online (accessed June 26, 2019), to: H. Haenchen: Early Haydn Symphonies , Berlin Classics, 1988–1990, cassette with 18 symphonies; c) Jamie James: He'd Rather Fight Than Use Keyboard In His Haydn Series . In: New York Times , October 2, 1994 (accessed June 25, 2019; showing various positions by Roy Goodman , Christopher Hogwood , HC Robbins Landon and James Webster). Most orchestras with modern instruments currently (as of 2019) do not use a harpsichord continuo. Recordings with harpsichord continuo exist. a. by: Trevor Pinnock ( Sturm und Drang symphonies , archive, 1989/90); Nikolaus Harnoncourt (No. 6-8, Das Alte Werk, 1990); Sigiswald Kuijken (including Paris and London symphonies ; Virgin, 1988-1995); Roy Goodman (e.g. Nos. 1-25, 70-78; Hyperion, 2002).
  4. ↑ a b The repetitions of the parts of the sentence are not kept in some recordings.
  5. ^ A b c d e Walter Lessing: The Symphonies by Joseph Haydn, in addition: all masses. A series of broadcasts on Südwestfunk Baden-Baden 1987-89, published by Südwestfunk Baden-Baden in 3 volumes. Volume 1, Baden-Baden 1989, p. 62.
  6. ↑ James Webster: Hob.I: 14 Symphony in A major. Information text on Symphony No. 14 in A major by Joseph Haydn of the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, see under web links.
  7. ^ Wolfgang Marggraf : Haydn's early symphonic works at the court of Eisenstadt (1761-1766). The symphonies of the Italian and normal types. http://www.haydn-sinfonien.de/text/chapter3.1.html , accessed March 17, 2013.

Web links, notes

See also