55th Symphony (Haydn)

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The Symphony in E flat major Hoboken directory I: 55 wrote Joseph Haydn in 1774 during his tenure as Kapellmeister to Prince I. Nikolaus Esterházy . The work bears the title "The Schoolmaster", which was not by Haydn.

General

Joseph Haydn (painting by Ludwig Guttenbrunn, around 1770)

The title “Der Schulmeister” is not in the autograph or in the early prints of the work. In 1812 Ernst Ludwig Gerber conducted a symphony called “The Schoolmaster”, which according to the musical description there is Symphony No. 55. The title doesn't seem to be in circulation until the 1850s. Carl Ferdinand Pohl tried to explain it with the stride of the topic in the Adagio. Furthermore, the early, not preserved Divertimento Hob. II: 10 also bears the designation "The Schoolmaster". This name may have come about in connection with a play for children. Gerber may have known the existence of the piece and associated the name with the wrong work. According to another interpretation, the name alludes to the trio's continuous eighth note movement as a “parody of the tireless eloquence of a schoolmaster” .

“[The symphony is a good example] of Haydn's“ turn ”to a lighter style that became so important in the late 1970s. The main indication can be seen in the fact that the symphony comprises two movements with theme and variations, a slow movement and the finale. Previously, such movements rarely appeared in a symphony, but now Haydn uses them as normal components. "

To the music

Instrumentation: two oboes , two horns , two violins , viola , cello , double bass . To reinforce the bass voice was at that time also without separate listing bassoon and harpsichord - Continuo used, different on the participation of the harpsichord Disagreement exists. The bassoon only has its own written part in the fourth movement.

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 1774 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 di molto

E flat major, 3/4 time, 216 bars

Beginning of the sentence

The symphony opens with a contrasting theme (bars 1 to 22, similar opening to Symphony No. 43, composed a few years earlier ): the strings respond to three forte chord strokes of the entire orchestra (tutti) as a vocal piano turn. This is already interrupted after four bars by the ninth, now eight-bar tutti, which is noticeable with its dotted rhythm. Again the strings respond with an eight-measure phrase.

The tutti block beginning in bar 23 contains a melody line in a tremolo and stands out for its dynamic contrasts. The second theme (from bar 47, dominant in B flat major) with its reticent vocal character is only performed by the strings. The second half of the topic repeats a phrase from the first half of the topic. In the following, second tutti block in the forte (from bar 54), the bass with its walking quarter movement first appears dominantly (“bass motif”), before the exposition closes with a rhythmically ascending staccato figure (“final group motif”).

The relatively detailed development (longer than the exposition) begins with the first topic in G major, with the second part being expanded sequentially and being confronted again with the head of the topic. Starting from bar 84, Haydn processes the final group motif based on D major with syncopated accompanying chords of the 2nd violin. A false recapitulation or “false recapitulation” of the first theme in E flat major then moves on to the further, rather long processing section with the final group motif, before the bass motif (from bar 113), the tremolo passage (from bar 119) and the second theme (now in C major). The material from its second half is spun and finally leads to the recapitulation.

The recapitulation (from bar 151) largely corresponds to the exposition, but in the first theme, for example, the wind instruments are involved in the second piano turn and the first violin accompanies as a repeating, ornamental figure.

Second movement: Adagio, ma semplicemente

B flat major, 2/4 time, 128 bars

Beginning of the Adagio

The Adagio is structured as a set of variations with five variations. The violins play piano and mute throughout and mostly in unison.

  • The main theme (bars 1 to 32) consists of two eight-bar phrases that are characterized by their upbeats and the striding movement in staccato. Immediately after their introduction, both phrases are decorated as a variant with sixteenth and thirty-second notes and repeated dolce and legato (instead of semplice and staccato).
  • Variation 1 (bars 33 to 48) varies the second, fourth, sixth and eighth two-measures of the whole orchestra (forte) with the unchanged remaining two-measures of the strings (piano). (Both eight-strokes are repeated.)
  • Variation 2 (bars 48 to 80) for strings intensifies the contrast between the eight bars and their repetitions by marching rhythms on the one hand and flowing dolce movement in thirty-second notes on the other.
  • In Variation 3 (bars 81 to 96) for strings, the theme is greatly changed by chromatics in the up to four-part movement. (Both eight-strokes are repeated.)
  • Variation 4 (bars 97 to 112) for strings embellishes the theme with suggestions in “a hit-and-catchy song melody”.
  • In Variation 5 (bars 113 to 128), again with the whole orchestra, the theme is broken down into “rhetorical gestures” with strong dynamic contrasts (pianissimo to fortissimo).

Third movement: Menuetto

E flat major, 3/4 time, with trio 72 bars

The main theme of the minuet consists of a periodically constructed theme. The energetic four-bar antecedent for the tutti is striking because of its dotted rhythms, the double stroke figure, the triple tone repetition and the pendulum figure. In the string piano, the four-bar subsequent movement contrasts with varied elements of the first movement (dotted rhythm, tone repetition as thirds set off like empty phrases). In the middle section, which is relatively extended with 20 bars, an upbeat sixteenth-note pendulum figure (derived from the double stroke figure and the pendulum figure at the beginning of the sentence) is intensively processed. Haydn designed the return to the reprise-like revival of the main theme as a cadence figure (from E- flat to A- flat and from F to B) that slows down the flow of music . In the “recapitulation” of the main theme, the pendulum figure is written in sixteenths (as at the beginning of the second part), and the phrase-like third figure is repeated in pianissimo like an echo.

The trio is also in E flat major. Only both violins and the solo cello are involved, which plays a continuous eighth note movement under the melody of the violins. The dotted rhythm at the beginning and the tone repetition at the beginning are reminiscent of the minuet.

Fourth movement: Finale. Presto

E flat major, 2/4 time, 179 bars

The Presto is similar to the fourth movement of Symphony No. 42 . The structure is referred to as a “variation set” or “variation rondo”.

  • The main theme presented by strings and bassoon (bars 1 to 30) is structured in three parts: The first part A introduces the periodically structured, memorable and witty theme with an upbeat and a separate eighth note movement. It is based on a one-bar motif. The theme is followed by an interlude B and the return to theme A '. Part A as well as B and A 'are repeated.
  • Variation 1 (bars 31 to 46) is only for wind instruments (oboes, bassoon, horns) with a demanding horn part.
  • In Variation 2 (bars 47 to 76) the theme is broken down into sixteenths, the middle section with the participation of the whole orchestra contains strong dynamic contrasts.
  • In the modulating interlude (bars 77 to 94), the dynamic contrast (pianissimo and fortissimo) continues. The music then sinks back into pianissimo while the movement ebbs away at the same time and comes to a standstill on the dominant seventh chord of G major.
  • Variation 3 (bars 95 to 133) for strings and bassoon places the first part of the theme in the harmonically distant G flat major (diminished median of E flat major). As far as “is known, this represents the first such“ remote ”key relationship that has ever occurred in a variation movement.” The second part modulates with the basic motif of the theme back to the tonic in E flat major and then brings the A part as at the beginning of the movement in E flat major (the second part is not repeated).
  • Variation 4 (bars 134 to 163) with the participation of the whole orchestra is fortissimo. The A section is characterized by large jumps in intervals, the B section by a melody line in the tremolo.
  • In the coda , the A part of the theme is heard again as at the beginning of the sentence. The movement ends with an “effect (...) which was quite new back then - 1774 - and which later recurs at this point in Haydn's finals: a funny little interplay between oboes, violins and horns, only in the piano, followed by the sudden forte deployment of the whole orchestra (...). "

Individual references, comments

  1. ↑ Information page of the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, see under web links.
  2. ↑ Horst Walter: Schoolmaster. In Armin Raab, Christine Siegert, Wolfram Steinbeck (eds.): The Haydn Lexicon. Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2010, ISBN 978-3-89007-557-0 , pp. 683 to 684.
  3. ↑ a b c d e f g James Webster: Hob.I: 55 Symphony in E flat major ("The Schoolmaster") . Information text on Symphony No. 55 by Joseph Haydn of the Haydn Festival Eisenstadt, see under web links.
  4. ↑ a b c d e Wolfgang Marggraf : The symphonies of the years 1773-1784. Individual symphonies. Symphony 55, E flat major (The Schoolmaster). http://www.haydn-sinfonien.de/text/chapter5.5a.html , accessed June 15, 2013.
  5. ↑ 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).
  6. ↑ a b c d e f Ludwig Finscher: Joseph Haydn and his time . Laaber-Verlag, Laaber 2000, ISBN 3-921518-94-6 , p. 286
  7. ↑ a b c d 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 2, Baden-Baden 1989.
  8. ^ Howard Chandler Robbins Landon: The Symphonies of Joseph Haydn. Universal Edition & Rocklife, London 1955, p. 355 f.

Web links, notes

See also