34th Symphony (Haydn)

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The Symphony in D minor, Hoboken directory I: 34 wrote Joseph Haydn in the year 1763rd

General

Joseph Haydn (painting by Ludwig Guttenbrunn, around 1770)

The symphony Hob. I: 34 was composed by Joseph Haydn in 1763. The sequence of movements slow - fast - dance movement (minuet) - fast is based on the late baroque church sonata and is among Haydn's symphonies also in No. 5 , No. 11 , No. 18 , No. 21 , No. 22 and No. 49 . In contrast to the four-movement church sonata, the third position is not a slow movement, but a minuet.

Since the first movement is in D minor, the key of the symphony is sometimes referred to as D minor as a whole. The remaining movements are in D major (except for the middle section of Presto assai), so that the designation D major is also given as the overall key.

In the literature, sentences 2 to 4 are often seen as easier to less significant in relation to the Adagio, but the evaluations differ overall. In addition to the Adagio, some authors also highlight the Allegro and see in its wide leaps in intervals harbingers of later works in the “dramatic” style, e.g. B. Symphonies No. 39 or 49. The fourth movement is sometimes described as disappointing (in relation to the expectation that the Adagio gives rise to) . Antony Hodgson thinks that the sentence looks as if it was hastily cut in the hour before Haydn should have given the work to the copyist. According to Michael Walter, on the other hand, the Presto assai “leaves no doubt about its function as the final movement”, but “like the Allegro it was composed with masterful restraint” and “does not destroy the emotional impression of the symphony as a whole, which is created by the d- minor Adagio. "Michael Walter emphasizes the work as a whole:

“In Symphony No. 34 (...) Haydn leads his previous different attempts to a first synthesis. The coordinated movement characters give the symphony a cohesion and seriousness that up to then only achieved in No. 12, which lacks anything playful or merely representative, so that Symphony No. 34, like no other symphony before, was suitable to identify Haydn as the composer who actually constituted the genre less formally than in terms of content by liberating it from its representative function in favor of a purely musically and emotionally determined way of existence. (...) The function of this symphony in particular consisted only of being itself and, despite the different expressive characters of the movements, as a whole to represent a higher, self-contained unit. Haydn presented a conception of the genre based exclusively on musical logic to the audience as such and no longer to the prince alone, in which this immanent logic replaced the playful and festive character of earlier symphonies. "

Elaine R. Sisman, on the other hand, considers a program music (theater) background.

James Webster says that "very few works by Haydn are so torn, perhaps not between two worlds, but between two periods in his career."

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. 20 to 25 minutes (depending on compliance with the prescribed repetitions)

With the terms of the sonata form used here, 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 1763 with restrictions. - The structure and description of the sentences made here is to be understood as a suggestion. Depending on the point of view, other delimitations and interpretations are also possible.

First movement: Adagio

D minor, ³ / ₄ time , 98 bars

Beginning of the adagio

The Adagio "with astonishing emotional depth" and "dark, painful, even almost tragic expression" is dominated by the strings. Occasionally, oboes and horns are added to amplify the timbre, but they are deliberately placed: in the exposition the horns accompany up to the second theme, and the oboes from the second theme onwards. In the middle section (“development”) the winds are silent, and in the recapitulation they appear together.

The first theme has three layers in the strings: The accompaniment consists of a foundation of viola and bass in descending quarters and broken chords in continuous eighths of the 2nd violin. Above this, the voice-leading 1st violin plays the four-bar theme, which consists of a recumbent tone and a falling line (first in syncope , then as a sixteenth note ) with the target tone of the dominant A. The head of the theme is repeated, but the melody then continues with a little chromaticism with sighs up to a fermata on A in bar 18.

The following new motif in the tonic parallel in F major (“second theme”) shows striking forte-piano contrasts. The combination of recumbent tone and sixteenth-note figure as well as the descending line are reminiscent of the first theme (in contrast, the oboes now accompany instead of the horns). Starting from a variant of the theme one octave higher, wide arcs of melody develop pianissimo from the predominantly parallel violins. In bar 34, the bass takes up the previous melody, while the violins play two closing turns with trills. The exposition ends with an interplay of upper and lower voices.

In the development, Haydn first lets the first theme appear in F major and then in G minor, interrupted by an energetic twist in unison. Subsequently, a sixteenth-note figure, which had already appeared several times in the previous movement (in the exposition in the sweeping melody arcs of the violins from bar 29 and in the energetic unison turn shortly before in bar 47, depending on the point of view, the figure can also be taken from the sixteenth-note turn from second topic can be interpreted) the events, partly with sequencing of larger building blocks and in the dialogue of the violins.

The recapitulation from bar 67 is structured in a similar way to the exposition, but the first theme is immediately followed by the second theme, where horns and oboes are now partially inserted together. Both parts of the sentence (exposition as well as development and recapitulation) are repeated.

Second movement: Allegro

D major, ⁴ / ₄ time, 94 bars

Beginning of the Allegro

With its stormy character and “nervous tension”, the movement forms a strong contrast to the previous Adagio (similar to the Adagio as the opening movement of the other symphonies, see above). The first theme is characterized by its large interval jumps in the voice-leading violin of almost two octaves. This "interval motif" is repeated twice: starting with the presentation in half note values ​​(bars 1 to 4), first as a shortening in quarter notes (bars 4 to 6), then in eighths with small figurations (bars 5 to 8). The 2nd violin accompanies with tremolo, the other strings in eighth notes and the wind instruments with full-bar, sustained notes. An echo-like repeated unison signal leads to the second “theme” in the dominant A major. This consists of a dialogue between the oboes (piano) and the other strings (forte). The closing turn of the following tremolo passage again has large leaps in intervals, which are particularly accentuated by grace notes. The final group is characterized by a similar motif between oboes and strings as in the second theme.

The development begins with the first theme in A major, the two repetitions of the interval motif are changed in their intervals compared to the theme. After a shortened unison fanfare in minor, an interplay between oboes and low strings, reminiscent of the second theme, follows. The subsequent tremolo passage leads over a quarter-lead motif in B minor. With the appearance of the head of the second theme, which is harmoniously varied, Haydn leads back to the tonic in D minor and thus to the recapitulation.

The recapitulation is shortened compared to the exposition: The varied first theme (turning to the subdominant G major) is followed by a greatly shortened and changed modification of the unison signal, a tremolo passage reduced to three bars and then (omitting the second theme) immediately the final group. Both parts of the sentence (exposition as well as development and recapitulation) are repeated.

Third movement: Menuetto moderato

D major, ³ / ₄ time, with trio 52 bars

The minuet begins with its four-bar theme, which is made up of two contrasting components: an energetic forte opening motif with an appendage of trills and an equally upbeat piano motif with striding quarters. The repetition of the opening motif leads to chains of triplets and a simple cadenced final turn. The second part brings a four-measure question (forte, string unison in low register) answer (piano, violins in high register) - motif before a variant of the first part with an upward sequence of the striding motif begins.

The trio (also in D major) is “of a piquant rhythmic charm”: the solo oboes leading the voice play a melody similar to that of a country man. The strings accompany in pizzicato, and the horns with syncope.

“In the minuet the dance character is withdrawn as far as this is possible for a dance movement; the trio is played by the two solo oboes and horns, which are only rhythmically primed by the strings. The minuet character remains rhythmically here (also in the oboe melody), but at the same time it is undermined by the syncopation of the horns, which gives the trio a strangely weightless character. "

Fourth movement: Presto assai

D major, ² / ₄ time, 108 bars

Almost the whole movement is characterized by continuous, propelling triplet chains, which create similarities to the ⁶ / ₈ time. The character is reminiscent of a perpetual motion machine "in the manner of a tarantella ", an Italian jumping dance or a somewhat exaggerated baroque jig . The triplets are partially provided with suggestions. The eight-bar, repeated main theme is followed by a middle section (bars 8 to 20) and then the repetition of the theme (bars 21 to 28) so that the three-part structure is reminiscent of a variation theme or rondo theme.

The middle section in D minor is also laid out in three parts according to the same pattern. This is followed by the almost literal repetition of the opening section (from bar 69) with a stretto-like coda in fortissimo. The repetition required in the score for the section from bar 69 is rejected by Anthony Hodgson as inconsistent and omitted in many recordings.

"So here is a three-part symmetrical floor plan with a concluding coda, in which each main part is divided into three parts: an absolutely unique case for a symphony finale."

Individual references, comments

  1. ↑ Information page of the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, see under web links.
  2. ↑ a b c Hob.I: 34 Symphony in D minor. Information text on Symphony No. 34 of the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, see under web links.
  3. ↑ a b c d Haydn Festival Eisenstadt: Joseph Haydn. Symphony No.34 in D minor, Hob.I: 34. Information text on the performance of Symphony No. 34 on August 8, 2009. Accessed March 10, 2013.
  4. ↑ E.g. Eulenburg pocket score or information page of the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, see links, sheet music.
  5. ^ Anthony Hodgson: The Music of Joseph Haydn. The Symphonies. The Tantivy Press, London 1976, ISBN 0-8386-1684-4 , p. 67.
  6. ^ A b Klaus Schweizer, Arnold Werner-Jensen: Reclams concert guide orchestral music. 16th edition. Philipp Reclam jun. Stuttgart, ISBN 3-15-010434-3 , pp. 128-129.
  7. ^ Gwilym Beechey: Haydn: Symphony No. 34 in D. Foreword to the pocket score edition of Symphony No. 34 from June 1967. Ernst Eulenburg Ltd., London 1968.
  8. ^ Howard Chandler Robbins Landon : The Symphonies of Joseph Haydn. Universal Edition & Rocklife, London 1955, p. 274.
  9. ^ A b Walter Lessing: The symphonies of 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. 140.
  10. ↑ Hodgson p. 67: “Skipping happily along, it seems as if it were dashed off in the one hour remaining before Haydn hat to rush it into the copyist's hands.”
  11. ↑ a b c d e f Michael Walter: Haydn's symphonies. A musical factory guide. CH Beck-Verlag, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-406-44813-3 , pp. 38-39.
  12. ^ Elaine R. Sisman: Haydn's Theater Symphonies . In: Journal of the American Musicological Society , Vol. 43, No. 2, p. 333 ff., Quoted in the English Wikipedia article on Symphony 34, as of March 10, 2013.
  13. ↑ 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).
  14. ↑ Hodgson p. 67: “(…) the coda is very slight, a mere twelve bars of jollification to sum up the previous country dance. The da capo mark at the end - which would require the whole of the repeated section of the theme plus the coda to be stated twice - is surly a miscalculation (...). "
  15. ↑ Exception z. B. the recording of the Academy of Ancient Music .
  16. ^ Wolfgang Marggraf: Haydn's earliest symphonies (1759–1761). The symphonies of the "Sonata-da-chiesa" type. http://www.haydn-sinfonien.de/text/chapter2.2.html Accessed January 30, 2013.

Web links, notes

See also