Haydn String Quartets the Pro Arte String Quartet Testament

April 29, 2022 Post a Comment

title - Joseph Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 76

Joseph Haydn'southward String Quartets, Op. 76 represent the apex of his evolution of the genre from nativity to maturity. In this article, we discuss the nature of the string quartet, trace how it evolved through Haydn, examine each of the Opus 76 quartets, consider some important recordings and and then list some sources of information.

The string quartets of Joseph Haydn beget a unique opportunity Classical Classics in the annals of Western art – to trace the development of a major genre from nascency to maturity, and all within the output of a unmarried artist. A corollary benefit is to outline the development of a leading composer's genius, since Haydn's quartets extend from his very first to his very last published works.

Just what is a quartet? The standard dictionary definition is merely a work written in four separate vocal or instrumental parts. But the string quartet, using an array of two violins, ane viola and 1 cello, demands far more. Perhaps Goethe said it all-time: "a stimulating conversation between four intelligent people." The challenges and opportunities that the form presented to Haydn are summed upward past Reginald Barrett-Ayres: "The limitations imposed past 4 stringed instruments appealed so much to his sensitive mind that he often used the string quartet as a ways of expressing his deepest and innermost thoughts." To Henry Lang, Haydn poured into the medium his "love of life, inexhaustible humor and impeccable craftsmanship" and to Barrett-Ayres Haydn was "master yet student, scholar nevertheless romantic, the essence of stability yet an charlatan." To Paul Griffiths, Haydn applied his abundant wit to the process of discovery of the essence of the quartet as a celebration of the inflow of language, merely as a child claims a command of language by indulging in wordplay.

Griffiths likens the quartet to a living species and asserts that to search for its origins "is every bit vain as to search for the origins of man." Thus, it is hardly surprising that scholars trace the genesis of the quartet to many disparate roots. The Hungarian Quartet plays Haydn quartets (Turnabout LP cover) Griffiths notes that works for 4 voices extend back to P�rotin in the belatedly 12th century. Others cite a number of isolated examples of instrumental works specifying two violins, a viola and a cello by Gregori Allegri (1582 - 1662), Franz Xavier Richter (1709-89) and others, all of which predate Haydn. Barrett-Ayres finds Haydn's work – melding technique and feeling, grade and freedom, rules and imagination – to be a synthesis of the extremes of two immediate predecessors – Georg Matthies Monn (1717-50), a master of technique but austere and cold, and Frantisck Xavier Dussek (1731-99), non-expert but full of feeling.

Most theorists trace the cord quartet as having evolved from the Baroque trio sonata, which consisted of two melodic upper lines and a continuo of varying instrumentation comprised of most any lower voices (nearly oftentimes a harpsichord, merely also organs, cellos, lutes or bassoons) to provide the harmonic base. Bated from the general impulsion of progress, the impetus for this development has been traced to the use of larger venues (and fifty-fifty the outdoors) where the continuo (especially a delicate harpsichord) would be sonically lost, a desire for structurally intricate music to stimulate musicians' interest, and the emergence of the viola as a viable instrument ascension above its accustomed part every bit a mere adjunct to the cello and part of the continuo. Rosemary Hughes notes the esthetic logic of the upshot, every bit it parallels the constitution of the string section – divided violins, violas and cellos reinforced by double basses – that forms the foundation of the standard orchestra. Nevertheless, she notes that until Haydn even music designated for four players was not cohesive, but rather tended to be showy and ornate.

How many quartets did Haydn write? The general consensus seems to be 69, although older regime tend to cite 83. The higher effigy credited quartet arrangements of a symphony and a sextet with two horns (Op. 1, #s iii and five), the vii-movement "Last Words of Christ on the Cross" and early works at present thought to be spurious, while overlooking the then-called "Op. 0" that emerged relatively recently. Part of the confusion arose from Haydn himself, who included a prepare of vi quartets published every bit his Opus 3 both in a reprint of his quartets in 1802 and in a itemize of his life work he prepared in 1805, although he had omitted them in an earlier listing of his output. The Budapest Quartet plays the Haydn Op. 76 quartets (Columbia LP box cover) They at present are thought to have been written past Romanus Hoffstetter, a monk who deeply admired Haydn and wrote: "everything that flows from Haydn'due south pen seems to me so beautiful and remains so deeply impressed in my retentivity that I cannot forbid myself now and again from imitating something also as I can." (In the days earlier copyright, publishers often passed off amateur piece of work as by famous compatriots.) Yet, some Haydn experts doubt that an amateur, no affair how devoted, could have produced work of such quality. Ironically, among the spurious works is the lovely serenade movement of Op. iii, # 5, possibly "Haydn'due south" most popular piece of all, which, in all likelihood, he didn't actually write!

(Were this a scholarly article – sky forbid! – this would be an incidental footnote, but speaking of experts � well, I need to at this juncture. The following two sections may seem a pastiche of others' observations, but the fact is that in making my style through the mass of Haydn'due south massive and (to me) largely unfamiliar quartet output, I found my agreement vastly enhanced, far more than with more familiar music or more manageable chunks of the repertoire, past the guidance provided by several thoughtful analyses, and so information technology seems advisable to summarize and pass them forth for the do good of readers rather than derive my own, far less useful, thoughts. The specific sources for these are given at the end of this article.)

In keeping with their general religion in progress, before critics tended to dismiss all but the last of Haydn'southward quartets. Thus, in the 1908 edition of Grove'due south Dictionary of Music and Musicians E. Heron-Allen wrote that "the early quartets of Haydn seem to us sadly feeble in the present day; at that place is not enough mankind to embrace the skeleton; and the joints are terribly bad-mannered." He asserted that only in the last 14 quartets, after "his long life of incessant practise" did Haydn "begin to show in the lower parts some of the disrespect which had been only allowed to the 1st violin." Present, though, all but a few of Haydn'due south genuine quartets are held in peachy esteem.

Consistent with the publishing custom of the time, nearly all of Haydn'southward quartets were released in sets of six, even though Haydn did not necessarily plan them as integral editions. Except for the unpublished "Op. 0," his first ten accurate quartets (together with two arrangements) were issued as his Opus one and 2. While their exact dates of creation are non sure, they are believed to have been written betwixt 1752 and 1760, possibly in 1757 when a Baron von F�rnberg asked Haydn to compose a piece of work for 4 string players (including Haydn) for a music-making party at his castle. Significantly, the compositions are labeled in his manuscripts equally "notturni" and in his thematic catalog initially equally "cassatio" and later on as "divertimenti a quarto." Indeed, they bear a strong resemblance to the orchestral nocturnes, cassations and divertimentos of the time and Haydn conspicuously did non think of them every bit forging a new genre. Several mod commentators note that structurally they resemble suites, with the five traditional movements (allegro, minuet, adagio, another minuet, presto finale), all in major keys (except minuet trios), melodies characteristic of Austrian folksongs, much two-part harmony (oft by doubling the two violins and viola/cello parts), imitative filler phrases of ascending and descending figures, and dominant violins whose occasional dialogues retrieve trio sonatas. Some have even posited that continuo parts should be inferred.

1792 Portait of Joseph Haydn by T. Hardy
Joseph Haydn
1792 Portrait by Hardy

While Hughes considers nigh movements clich�d, for her the minuets bloom with fresh melodies and imaginative tone color. In a delightful metaphor, Barrett-Ayers likens Haydn's first quartet outing to that of a "loose-limbed gangling colt � bounding hither and yon, trying out its legs, sniffing the air and loving all its sees and feels." Heard today, similar Mozart's early symphonies they exude a touching, untroubled purity and sincerity; it'due south difficult to disagree with Barrett-Ayers that "they incorporate some delightful music, simply expressed and molded with a subtlety and deftness which show Haydn to be a craftsman of the highest society, � a workman who took pride in everything he did � but something more – a truly gifted musician."

Haydn's next set up of quartets, published as his Op. 9 came in 1770. In the acting decade he had entered the service of the royal Esterh�zy family unit and was installed in their castle, where he was expected to compose prolifically and produce appropriate music for their frequent entertainments. Haydn evidently recognized that his new set of quartets represented a quantum leap, as in his retirement he reportedly told his publisher Artaria to exclude all the predecessors from a planned collected set of his cord quartet output. Griffiths and Geiringer aspect this mainly to a new accent upon dialogue among instruments – ideas are not just imitated or repeated but modified and developed equally they are passed from vox to vox, and sequencing and modulation evolve into elaboration, all of which were to become hallmarks of the maturity of the medium. Written as a genuine cycle, as would all of his further quartets, the individual pieces display diversity within a fundamental style. Here, they feature a virtuostic first violin function, presumably written for Luigi Tomasini, an splendid violinist whom his deeply devoted patron had hired for the courtroom orchestra, and interior half-dozen-four cadences advise opportunities for Tomasini to improvise cadenzas. Despite the authority of the violin, Barrett-Ayres notes that the primary difference from symphonies of the time was that the symphonies' repeated sequencing and multifariousness of timbres satisfied listener demands while boring the executants, whereas quartets strove to present intrinsic interest for the players. Put another manner, David Francis Tovey states that the self-sufficiency of each part marks the emergence of the quartet from the matrix of the orchestra. The result, equally noted by Istv�n Barna, was a radical shift in purpose – these were consciously written to engage listeners' concentration, rather than serving as mere background for conversations of aloof company. From this point frontwards, all Haydn quartets would be shorn of the second dance motion, although in his adjacent dozen (possibly in keeping with their generally light tone, in which a rest seems advisable to prepare for the vigorous finale) the minuets would precede the adagios.

In each of the next ii years Haydn wrote vi more quartets, published as his Opp. 17 and 20.

The title page of the
"Sun" Quartets - title page

As many accept noted, the effigy of the sun on the title page of Op. xx was plumbing equipment, as it boasted developments of vast significance to the genre and a symbolic nascency of the true cord quartet. Tovey considers Op. 20 among the virtually important documents in the history of music. Their many advances heralded by commentators include the emancipation of the cello and the emergence of its unique character, the achievement of parity of the four parts (enforced in part through the device of several fugal finales which, although a throwback to prior Bizarre principles, emphasized equality of all instrumental lines), an awareness of the texture and tone quality of each instrument and the consequent emergence of its personality, an overall deepening of expression (possibly most exemplified through increased use of the pocket-sized style), the use of asymmetrical subjects to assert Haydn's personality, and grade that emerges from intensive motivic development rather than being imposed by outward architecture. James Webster notes that Haydn's Opp. 9, 17 and twenty emerged during the "strum und drung" ("storm and stress") literary movement and shared the wider emotional range of Haydn'due south symphonies of the same menses.

Later this phenomenal outburst of discovery and excellence, Haydn wrote no further quartets for nine years. Hughes speculates that he may take succumbed to the demands of routine piece of work for his Prince, or perhaps that his instinct demanded that he wait until he could reach a new plateau. Known every bit the "Russian Quartets," not because of Slavic influence over their content, simply merely because they were first played at the habitation of the Russian Prince and future Czar, Haydn described his next Op. 33 cycle equally written in "a completely new and special fashion," even though most scholars regard them more than equally a consolidation of his prior work than truly novel, Ludwig Finscher going so far as to regard the tag as misleading and a mere marketing gimmick. Yet their quality is universally praised. Thus, Marion Scott notes that the first notes of the first subject generate the melodic dimensions of an entire piece of work, likening it to a seed that strikes roots, stems, leaves and flowers that grow until the plant is a mass of beauty. Geiringer, too, hails their thematic elaboration raised to the condition of a main stylistic feature, and especially the dissecting and reassembling of fragments of the bailiwick which, Webster notes, is developed in all the parts within a primarily homophonic construction. L�szl� Somfai salutes their concentration and restlessness that leaps across Haydn's classical ideals to anticipate 20th century chamber music. Barrett-Ayres cites their luminous, translucent texture and jubilant finales, which he attributes to the influence of Mozart's early quartets. Hughes credits them with effortless fluency, and Griffiths hears in them the commencement full pervasive flowering of Haydn's trademark wit, culminating in surprises such every bit the end of Op. 33 # ii in broken phrases, four� confined of silence and a concluding whimper. Perhaps for the final reason, they became hugely pop, appealing alike to connoisseurs and unsophisticated listeners, the need generating dozens of transcriptions and four further editions in 2 years and stimulating others (including Mozart) to write quartets of their own. Somfai fifty-fifty credits the Op. 33 wheel with launching one of the first known professional string quartets, which toured them (and other works) for eight months in individual homes and public concerts in a number of cities, thus spreading Haydn'south growing celebrity yet further.

Haydn's Op. 33 quartets were highly influential, but perhaps their greatest impact was upon Mozart, who met Haydn in 1781 and performed with him. (Talk about superstar concerts!) As Geiringer notes, their personalities and temperaments were diametric opposites: Mozart, who developed and wrote apace, was immature, moody, a flamboyant solo performer and a disorganized spendthrift, while Haydn, 24 years older, was deliberate, calm, steadfast, private, precise and thrifty. Yet, they loved each other's work, Haydn famously proclaiming on a number of occasions that Mozart was the greatest composer of all, and Mozart reciprocating by asserting that it was only from Haydn that he learned to write quartets. (Indeed, scholars believe that Mozart may have been stimulated to write a set of six earlier quartets, K. 168-173, in response to Haydn'southward Opp. 9 and 17.) The young admirer then embarked on his own first set of mature quartets, and after two years of highly uncharacteristic struggle produced vi (K. 387, 421, 428, 458, 464 and 465) which he felt worthy of beingness dedicated to Haydn. Griffiths notes that while Haydn's were carried forrad by development, Mozart strove for balance and resolution, and of form they were suffused with his ineffable formal perfection and grace.

Somfai notes with some irony that the huge touch on of the Op. 33 set and its many imitations upped the ante for Haydn's adjacent quartets, which continued to consolidate his achievements in the genre. Thus, after another lengthy gap, during which he connected to pour out symphonies and a curious unmarried quartet (Op. 42), his next half dozen quartets (Op. 50 – 1787) focused on farther unification by basing unabridged movements upon the components of a unmarried theme, rather than contrasting ideas, and more often than not exploiting the resulting motifs to expand the evolution sections of sonata form movements. The adjacent dozen, published as Opp. 54 and 55 (iii each, 1788) and Op. 64 (half-dozen, 1790) are regarded as retrenchments in which the start violin resumes ascendant brilliance, in office to gratify Johann Tost, a former Esterh�zy violinist who had become a wealthy merchant and who deputed them. Incidentally, Op. 64 includes the thoroughly delightful "Lark" Quartet, which was the most popular of Haydn'south "early on" quartets and thus played a crucial office in apprising concert-goers and record buyers of the vast world that preceded the widely-best-selling final masterpieces.

Haydn's next quartets, published in ii sets of iii equally Opp. 71 and 74, reflect a drastic alter in the composer's life. Subsequently his iii decades of devoted service to the Esterh�zys his music-loving patron died, and the heir summarily dismissed the courtroom musicians and relieved Haydn of his duties. Peradventure non enthused with the prospect of catastrophe his life as a servant, Haydn turned downwards offers of new court appointments and instead accustomed an opportune offer by Johann Peter Salomon, a High german violinist turned English impresario, to come to London, where he was feted as artistic royalty. Written in 1795-6 upon his render to Vienna, the new sets of quartets were intended for a 2d London visit and reflect the liberty and cosmopolitan influences the former provincial servant had never known before. Of equal importance, they were aimed for public performance in vast concert halls earlier eager crowds rather than in the more than intimate confines of a regal castle earlier invited dignitaries. This is immediately apparent from their opening notes – like his "London" symphonies, they begin with expectant hushed passages or bold introductory gestures, equally if to briefly quiet a restive audience before settling down to business organisation. Other elements to appeal to popular audiences noted by Webster include their more original themes, bolder contrasts and distant keys. But across specific ingredients, Barrett-Ayres considers their overall texture and instrumentation to reflect an orchestral quality, their character to herald a battle between Haydn'south classical roots and emerging romantic tendencies and, perhaps about important, a shift of perspective from a primarily intimate performers' medium to i oriented toward ticket-buying listeners in a public venue. The radical reorientation paved the style to Haydn's terminal fix of quartets, universally hailed as his masterpieces.

Commentators generally concur that Haydn's side by side and concluding set is the greatest among his many quartet masterworks – "the harvest" (Bennett-Ayres), "excelsior" (Geiringer) and "songs of experience" in which "Haydn's creative life reaches its fulfillment" (Hughes). Written in 1796 or 1797 (the autographs are lost and the chronology is somewhat speculative), they were deputed by Count Joseph Erd�dy who specified exclusive use for three years. When published in 1799 and defended to him (thus their occasional reference as the "Erd�dy Quartets"), they commencement appeared in Vienna in 2 sets of three as Opp. 75 and 76, so took their final form together in London as Op. 76. Back from England, financially independent and liberated from servility and prior routine, Haydn was at terminal free to write as he wished and poured himself into the new quartets (equally well every bit his virtually aggressive and ultimately most popular work of all, the "Creation" oratorio). The result was an intensification of his prior achievements with added weight and character. The respected author and music historian Charles Burney hailed them equally "full of invention, fire, adept taste and new furnishings" and proclaimed that he "had never received more pleasure from instrumental music." Each of the six quartets displays this fine balance betwixt consolidation of the tradition Haydn already had created and his irrepressible drive toward all the same further innovation, and boasts sufficient riches to warrant private consideration.

The commencement quartet of the series, in G major

The opening of the offset Op. 76 quartet (cello role)

is an phenomenal harbinger of Haydn'south old student and ultimate successor in the class of music, yet without sacrificing any of Haydn's own trademarks. In a remarkable apprehension of Beethoven's 1804 Eroica Symphony, it begins with three sharp chords (some other audience rouser) that introduce a triadic theme given by the cello (equally if to prove the extent of its emergence from the shadows of continuo). (In fairness, the opening chords were not an innovation, but rather a conventional opening of Italian overtures at the fourth dimension.) Beethoven looms even larger over the ensuing adagio sostenuto, whose wearisome progressions, syncopations and rich harmonizations could easily fit into ane of Beethoven'due south tardily quartets, and the menuetto, whose rapid ane-to-a-bar pacing forecasts the scherzo that Beethoven would strop to perfection. Withal, Haydn inappreciably suppressed his ain personality – the jolly bustle of the first movement gets hung up on a suspended chord of b-apartment-d-f-thou# (which but "resolves" into a brokenhearted b-flat-c#-due east-flat-g), the first violin tries to reassert itself by silencing the others in the adagio (which Barrett-Ayres credits as a Haydn formalistic invention, combining the structure of a rondo'due south recurring opening department with the key progressions of a sonata move), the trio lumbers along on a loping theme dear to Haydn'due south lusty peasant heart, and the finale totters between major and minor (a Haydn predilection) before last with a major affirmation.

The second Op. 76 quartet, in d minor, is known every bit the "Quinten" ("Fifths") for its distinctive opening motif of falling tonic and dominant open fifths which generate the entire work (and, perchance not coincidentally,

The "fifths" motif of the Quinten Quartet

are the familiar sounds of Large Ben, whose pealing may have stuck in Haydn'due south ears in London). Barrett-Ayres calls this exemplar of monothematicism "the most superb handling of concentrated thought in all of Haydn's quartets," equally information technology weaves the entire cloth of the piece of work. He also marvels at how Haydn compresses the recapitulation of the volatile, dynamic and intense sonata form first movement (xl measures five. the exposition's 56) to permit room for a lengthy coda. Throughout the respite of the andante o pi� tosto ("rather like") allegretto the violin plays elaborations of a melody based on the opening motif'due south falling fifths in a higher place the others' accessory. The extraordinary third movement has been dubbed the "witches' minuet" for its rather grim tone and intentional lack of grace – Tovey called it "clowns dancing with flat feet" – just its most extraordinary feature is the sheer discipline of its rigid structure – a strict canon between violins followed at 1 bar by viola and cello, all in octaves – as Barrett-Ayers notes, an extraordinary result of Haydn's lifelong preoccupation with counterpoint, and yet a throwback to his habit of octave doubling in his earliest ii-part work. Prior to a terminal plunge into D major, the vivace assai finale is a delirious peasant trip the light fantastic of furious gypsy petty spiced by drones, syncopations, dynamic accents and teasing pauses, which Geiringer relates to the music of Hungary, where Haydn had worked for 30 years.

The third quartet, in C major, is called the "Emperor." Apparently, Haydn was so impressed by "God Save the King" during his sojourns in England (and concerned over Napoleon's accelerate toward Vienna) that he wrote a hymn in honor of his own monarch, which ultimately became the Austrian national anthem ("Gott erhalte Franz der Kaiser" - "God Salvage the Emperor Franz"). The second move is cast as the hymn and four variations in which, rather than beingness subject to development or elaboration, it is heard unvaried by each instrument in turn (second violin, cello, viola, offset violin) to the others' varied accompaniment. Frankly, the theme is rather foursquare and static, its use seems more than politically motivated than musically justified, and unless a listener'southward eye is swelled by nationalistic pride the move proceeds every bit uncharacteristically dull. Yet, the presentation is sugariness and gentle, thus mitigating much of the martial character on which Haydn otherwise might have capitalized. Perhaps to excite its intended audience with apprehension, Haydn builds the first movement from a theme that hints at the overall character of the hymn without directly emulating it, and, as a foretaste of the variations to come, exploits its potential through a wide variety of permutations. Even so Somfai goes further, noting that the opening theme of the first movement comprises One thousand-Due east-F-D-C[One thousand], representing the get-go letters of the hymn title, a musical symbol which, he asserts, audiences of the fourth dimension would have immediately grasped. As many commentators accept noted, the menuett is notable for its A major trio emerging from bittersweet a minor surroundings, as if in anticipation of another behemothic of the side by side generation, Schubert. Barrett-Ayers finds much of the finale to consist of monotonous padding, and somewhat disappointing in low-cal of the bold grapheme of its theme (alternating three bold tutti chords with a placid scalar motif), simply redemption comes with an unexpected C major coda afterward dwelling throughout in the relative minor.

The fourth quartet, in B-flat major, is the "Sunrise,"

The
The "sunrise" theme of the quaternary quartet

aptly named for the exquisite theme that opens and shines throughout the first motility, ascension caringly but surely in the violin over an expectant, sustained earth-bound tonic chord. The unabridged movement is magnificent, evolving organically from that wondrous opening that begs to exist heard again and again and proves to be constantly fascinating in its growth, including a flurry of vigorous action, an inversion that provides a mirror secondary theme in the celli, a temporary concealment of clouds in the development, and a terminal outburst shared with the other instruments. The whole procedure manages to sound fresh and spontaneous, yet unfolds with the utmost assurance, inevitability and formal observance – the sure sign, if one were actually needed, of a chief of both genius and humanity. Much of that aforementioned feeling animates the adagio, which Barrett-Ayers considers a fantasia, unfolding from an initial five-notation motif derived from a fragment of the sunrise theme, as if Haydn, similar the states, couldn't go enough of it. The focal betoken of the minuet is its melancholy trio, whose pedals, hesitant syncopations and chromaticism H. C. Robbins Landon identifies every bit Balkan in feeling. On the other mitt, Barrett-Ayres identifies the elegant but vigorous theme of the finale equally English, perhaps in celebration of Haydn's success and happiness there, although a variation that plunges suddenly into the relative small suggests something more Slavish. Just as its energy seems set up to slacken, Haydn quickens the pace with a effigy that careens amongst the instruments, accelerates again and wraps it all upwards in a final flare-up of unfettered energy.

In the last 2 Op. 76 quartets Haydn turns to structural exploration and an aplenty dose of mischievous sense of humor. The opening movement of the fifth, in D major, departs from the sonata course of the first four to what Robin Golding can only draw as "unorthodox variations," every bit it really seems to defy conventional formal assay and thwarts expectations, fifty-fifty while suggesting an intensely human struggle. Thus, its elegant, dignified dance theme in triple fourth dimension devolves into d minor, fragments, repeats the commencement phrase in furious scalar runs, tries to reassert itself, but then breaks away and takes off at a faster clip propelled by sixteenth notes that never release their grip. Finally, the opening phrase keeps repeating itself until it gives upwards into a concluding cadence. The ensuing largo in the remote key of F# major provides another glance ahead to Beethoven with tender phrasing, soft dynamics and searching modulations. Haydn aptly labels it "Cantabile east mesto" – "singing and lamentable." Geiringer attributes its "tone quality of ethereal beauty" in part to the key, which precludes the use of open up strings by any of the players. The minuet, too, contains unorthodox touches – each time it settles into its expected consistent triple time, syncopated duple figures disrupt the footstep, and its trio, with constant activity never ascent above a whisper, hints at deep secrets. The presto finale begins where information technology seemingly should stop – with three insistent tonic cadences – and and then gallops off in unbounded joy broken just by occasional thou pauses, its frantic pace, sustained length and jagged phrasing every bit challenging for the players to maintain as for listeners to curiosity at.

Every bit with the fifth, the final Op. 76 quartet,

The theme of the sixth quartet trio

in E-flat major, begins with a seemingly leisurely sprawling tune that appears headed for a standard set of variations, only later on the expected embellishments and injection of energy subside and it seems gear up to wrap up, it snaps back to generate a fugue, which Haydn had used only in one case since his Op. xx (and previously simply in finales). As Donat points out, the combination of variations and a fugue would be enthusiastically taken upward by Beethoven, Brahms and Reger. Next comes another Fantasia, this time focusing on extreme modulations from B to A-flat major. Indeed, the range is so farthermost that for the start half Haydn doesn't even bother to specify a key signature, preferring instead to sprinkle the score with accidentals. Somfai calls it a "harmonic labyrinth." Donat notes that Haydn wrote the phrase "cum licentia" ("with freedom") on the parts, resorting to enharmonic notation mixing sharps and flats, then extreme are the modulations. Sense of humor (and quite a flake of awe) returns in the trio (labeled "alternativo"), constructed almost entirely of repeated Eastward-flat major scales and, eschewing the usual convention of the score signalling a echo of the entire section, instead is written out at nearly twice the usual length. Vignal hails this department as "a feat of skill if ever there was one," equally if Haydn was boasting, "Run across what I tin do with just a scale." And as if that were non sufficient, the finale, too, is built largely upon curt, rapid tonic scales, only this time with added rhythmic irregularity that often defies the sense of an expected recurrent downbeat. Barrett-Ayers notes that here Haydn leaps over Beethoven and his entire century to anticipate Stravinsky and Bartok, an altogether remarkable finish to an extraordinarily varied and daring set.

Although the six Op. 76 quartets were Haydn's last consummate set, he wrote two more masterworks, Op. 77, and and then tried to write another two in 1803 at the so farthermost former age of 71 just was able to consummate only the ii inner movements, an adagio and minuet.

The
Haydn's calling card

While Hughes cites their "chromatic burn down and passion to evidence that information technology was only the physical vitality that had burned itself out," Geiringer asserts that they evidence a sure lack of inventive power, and indeed one's perception is invariably tinged by the epitome of a depleted master no longer able to fully summon his formidable artistic faculties. When issued in 1806 equally Haydn's final, albeit incomplete, piece of work the year before his death, the publisher reproduced Haydn'south calling bill of fare with its poignant epigram from a favorite vocal, "Der Greis" ("The Old Man"): "Hin ist alle meine Kraft, alt und schwach bin ich." ("Gone is my forcefulness, onetime and weak am I").

But despite all the scholarship, influence and devotion his quartets accept attracted, perchance Haydn had had his last say in an 1802 letter, cited by Geiringer, that he had written to admirers in Bergen, Germany, who had put together an amateur performance of his "Seasons" oratorio and who had conveyed their gratitude for his art:

Frequently, � when my powers both of body and mind were failing and I felt information technology a difficult matter to persevere � a secret feeling inside me whispered, "There are but few contented and happy men here below; everywhere grief and care prevail; perhaps your labors may one twenty-four hour period be the source from which the weary and worn � may derive a few moments' rest and refreshment." What a powerful motive for pressing onward!

No better fundamental has ever been given to unlock the constant wonder, fascination and sheer joy of Haydn's life-affirming quartets.

If any tangible measure of Haydn's success in revitalizing "the weary and worn" with "a few moments' rest and refreshment" be needed, surely it lies in the mostly superb quality of recordings of his quartets. Information technology's difficult to arrive wrong among them, possibly because the very nature of the works inspires an extraordinary degree of enthusiasm, love and devotion among a wide swath of players.

At the outset, we should annotation that few performers of the Haydn quartets bother mentioning whether they employ period instruments, and with adept reason – it hardly matters, since even mod ensembles prize the fabulous string instruments fabricated in Italy by Stradivari, Guarneri del Gesu, Amati and others generations before Haydn and aspire to play the surviving originals, equally their gorgeous tone has never been matched, despite all the "progress" and "improvements" in instrument construction since and so. Even modern craftsmen attempt to emulate them merely accept yet to uncover all their secrets. Even so while the instruments themselves haven't been contradistinct since well before Haydn'south time, techniques of playing them have changed considerably, as accept stylistic approaches to older music. Among the fundamental problems to be adamant by modern performers are tempos (in the days before metronome markings, scores merely specified abstract terms such as allegro, andante, etc.), whether to observe all repeats (and, if and so, the caste to which they should be varied), ornamentation, dynamics and accents (almost of which were omitted from scores, since performers were assumed to have the taste and training to know how and when to apply them), and which of the available editions to use (every bit many of the autographs have been lost, and Haydn's intent tin can be hard to glean beneath the gloss (and errors) added by generations of editors).

While scholars may accept been aware of the telescopic and excellence of Haydn'southward achievements, The Lener Quartet in the public mind during about of the pre-LP era he had written a dozen or and so great symphonies, two oratorios and not much else of value, and then it is hardly surprising that recordings of his quartets were few and far between. Isolated movements occasionally were used as filler to sets of other, presumably more important, quartets that required odd numbers of 78 rpm sides. The first ensemble to devote serious attention to Haydn was the Hungarian L�ner Quartet (comprising Jen� L�ner, Joszef Smilovits, South�ndor Roth and Imre Hartmann), which recorded acoustical versions of Op. 76 # 5 and the spurious Op. 3 # v (probably for its famous serenade). Electrical remakes of both were joined past Op 64 # 5 (the "Lark") and Op. 76 # 3 (the "Emperor"), plus the andante of Op. 76 # 2. All were on Columbia 78s, and now Rockport CDs. Tully Potter describes their sound every bit "soupy" due to their extremely wide vibrato and he adds that their ensemble could be sloppy yet redeemed by a natural flair and warmth. Fascinating comparisons lie in the lighter, brilliant precision of a 1926 recording of Op. 76 # one by the L�ner's compatriots, the Budapest Quartet, and the grace, rhythmic snap and considerably less portamento and vibrato in a 1928 set of the "Distraction" by the Franco-Belgian Flonzaley Quartet, both of which audio comparatively mod. While the comparing suggests that the L�ner may have sounded dated fifty-fifty at the time, their records (which, according to Gramophone, reportedly sold especially well in England and Japan) exemplify the somewhat indulgent romantic view of "Papa Haydn."

The sea modify came in 1932 when the Belgian Pro Arte Quartet The Pro Arte Quartet plays Haydn quartets (Testament CD box cover) (Alphonse Onnou, Laurent Halleux, Germain Prevost, Robert Maas) launched a series of HMV sets of 78s, each with about an hour'due south worth of music on seven records containing iii or four Haydn quartets (at present bachelor in the original configurations on Pristine Audio or combined into ii Testament iv-CD sets). As an indication of Haydn's lack of renown at the fourth dimension and the consistent presumed financial risk, the project was undertaken past a Haydn Quartet Social club, which sputtered afterward the fifth release in 1935, but past 1938 had issued eight volumes with 27 quartets (plus two of Hoffstetter's), only included simply two of Op. 76 (the "Emperor" in 1934 and the "Sunrise" in 1938). In a 1937 review welcoming Volume half-dozen, Gramophone offered its "highest praise," citing "the perfection of ensemble" and "continuous beauty of tone and terminate." Notably, in light of Haydn's letter of the alphabet noted above, which assumed renewed significance on the eve of World War Two, the review alluded to "the sanity of Haydn's music. It spells unbelievable peace to be able to go out this mad world, if just for a while, and recover in these inspired pages – the work of a man who had faith – a sense of proportion, a sense of certainty that all will be well, nonetheless dark the nowadays outlook be." Heard today, the Pro Arte records amply reflect that view – a fine residual between level-headed focus and incisive commitment, with only enough grace and a hint of playfulness to rise above the mundane, and some deeply heartfelt phrasing (especially in the Emperor andante) – both a glance back at the romantic style of their predecessors and a salute to the devotion that the composer lavished on his work, while at the same time forcefully advocating the worth of these pieces for listeners of the future.

Dozens of recordings of individual Haydn quartets were cut throughout the pre-stereo era. The Schneider Quartet plays Haydn quartets (Haydn Society LP cover) While the vast majority of these are no longer available, record catalogs of the time list 78 sets by the Calvert, Capet, International, Poltronier, Prisca, Rich Queling, Roth and Wendling Quartets and LPs by the Amadeus, Bizarre, Borchet, Budapest, Galimar, Griller, Hollywood, Hungarian, Italian, Koeckert and Vienna Kozerthaus Quartets, plus an all-encompassing serial by the Schneider Quartet (Alexander Schneider, Isador Cohen, Karen Tuttle, Hermann Busch) for the Haydn Society. Unfortunately, few are available nowadays to document the evolution and diverseness of styles of the era, only the Schneider series has been restored to currency on the Vinyl Fatigue website. Serious and weighty, their generally slow tempos yield affecting adagios, andantes and largos and respect the primal classical nature of the outer movements, but the minuets in detail tend to lack a vital spark and the sonic quality is rather flat.

The stereo era saw an heady development that heralded growning interest in the depth of Haydn'south output – the production of integral sets of the entire quartet oeuvre. The Aeolian Quartet plays Haydn quartets (London Stereo Treasury LP box cover) The Fine Arts Quartet plays Haydn quartets (Vox LP box cover) During the 1960s the enterprising Vox label issued ten 3-LP "Vox Boxes" divide between the Dekany and Fine Arts Quartets (Leonard Sorkin, Abram Loft, Irving Ilmer, George Sopkin). The latter's versions of the later quartets, including the Op. 76 set, boasts finely graded dynamics and tempo variation within a warm acoustic and a wide stereo soundstage that enables listeners to trace the individual instrumental lines, an important consideration where, as here, the players opt for a well-blended sonority. In the early on 1970s they were joined by a second complete set by the British Aeolian Quartet (Emanuel Hurwitz, Raymond Keenlyside, Margaret Major, Derek Simpson), released in vii boxes of between 3 and six LPs on the Argo label in Europe and on London Stereo Treasury in America (and now combined in a upkeep Decca CD box). Like the Pro Arte, the Fine Arts projects a tangible sense of enthusiasm, sparked past inventive dynamics and added (and occasionally subtracted) grace notes, only always within a aura of elemental dignity that seems appropriate to the spirit of each work.

Although an integral set of the full run of Haydn quartets places the Op. 76 grouping in perspective (and provides an unabridged solar day's worth of by and large fine music), The Tatrai Quartet plays the Op. 76 Haydn quartets (Hungaroton CD booklet cover) at least three are also bachelor in more affordable and digestible segments, mostly comprising a unmarried opus (or combining those having only 3 quartets) on two CDs. The complete Haydn quartet recordings of the Hungarian T�trai Quartet (Vilmos T�trai, Istv�due north V�rkonyi, Gy�rgy Konr�d, Ede Banda) (three LPs, two CDs, Hungaroton) take been universally praised since their series began with the Op. 76 set in 1964, and to many they nonetheless represent the prototype of achievement in this realm, managing a virtually-ideal blend of the range and qualities that make Op. 76 so wondrous � bold nevertheless relaxed, surprising yet logical, detailed yet disarmingly simple, classical nevertheless tinged with sly wit, and above all technically precise nevertheless infused with humanity. No matter how many other renditions you�ve heard, you can always return to the Tatrai fix for an intangible feeling of well-beingness and condolement that subtly compels awe of the magnitude and complication of Haydn�s achievement and still speaks to united states of america, utterly undimmed and allowed from the abrasion and attenuation of all the time that has passed since its cosmos.

A more than recent set by the German Buchberger Quartet (Hubert Buchberger, Julia Greve, Jachim Etzekm Helmut Sohler) on Brilliant, has the added advantage of budget pricing. The Buchberger Quartet plays the Op. 76 Haydn quartets (Brilliant CD cover) Their readings are lively paced and sharply phrased, with incisive rhythm, crystalline recording, and a fresh, uninflected arroyo that seems entirely suitable in the earlier works just may strike some in Op. 76 every bit simply a scrap superficial, lacking character or depth, peculiarly in the slow movements. Besides economical and even more convenient are the more than routine recordings of the Hungarian Kodaly Quartet (Atilla Falvay, Tam�southward Szab�, G�bor Fias, J�nos Devich) on Naxos, all of which are bachelor equally unmarried CDs (so that, for instance, Op. 76 comprises one book of #s 1-iii and some other of #s four-half-dozen). Both the Buchberger and Kodaly complete cycles are available in deeply discounted boxes, which make both storage and economic sense if you lot plan to get more than a few (although mixing and matching for the sake of multifariousness makes sense also).

Besides worth consideration are private sets of Op. 76 past groups that have not ventured into the total serial of Haydn quartets.

Quatour Mosa�ques

The Tokyo Quartet plays Haydn quartets (CBS LP box cover)

The Quartour Mosaiques plays Haydn quartets (astree CD cover)

Tokyo Quartet (Koichiro Harada, Kikuei Ikeda, Kazuhide Isomura, Sadao Harada (CBS LP box; Sony Essential Classics CDs, 1978-9) � In light of the remarkable number of fine cord players who hail from the Far Due east, the excellent musicianship of the Toyko Quartet should come equally no surprise. Despite their secure mechanics, at that place'southward no sense of dutiful fiddling here. Rather, they radiate a thoroughly engaging sense of youthful discovery, invigorating every gesture with ardent enthusiasm that compels renewed appreciation for the extraordinary invention that Haydn poured into these works, at a stage of his life and career when he easily could have fallen back into well-worn routine. Well-baked rhythms, bounding excitement, conscientious enunciation of transitions and structure, and simply enough sweetness ensure a light, appropriate balance that stays well inside the esthetic of the classical era.
Alban Berg Quartet (Gunter Pichler, Gerhard Schulz, Thomas Kakuska, Valentin Erben) (EMI, 1996)
Tak�sz Quartet (One thousand�bor Tak�sz-Nagy, M�roly Schranz, K�bor Ormai, Andr�s Fej�r) (Decca, 1989)
Eder Quartet (P�ter Sz�ts, J�nos Selmeczy, S�ndor Papp, Gy�rgy �der) (Teldec, 1984)
Amadeus Quartet (Norbert Brainin, Siegmund Nissel, Peter Schidlof, Martin Lovett) (DG, iii CD set including Opp. 77 and 103, 1963-70)
I�ve grouped these together because (to me) they lack the historical significance or special touches of the others. They�re all technically secure, played with sufficient enthusiasm, are free of rhetoric, requite a proficient sense of the works, are well-recorded and shouldn�t disappoint. The differences among them seem rather slight. Maybe appropriately, given its naming in award of the Viennese modernist who helped humanize twelve-tone writing, the Alban Berg Quartet has a bit more than spontaneity, equally in the opening of the �Sunrise� which breathes with creative phrasing that animates the score into a living entity, however their readings have little wit � they�re far from grim, yet tend to exist rather serious and focused, although sufficiently swift and light to avoid any feeling of tedium or undue weight. The Takasz have a sweeter sound, in role from their more immediate recording and wider violin vibrato. The Eder, named for its cellist (rather than, as usual, for the get-go violinist and presumed leader), is slightly more mellow, with a richer, balanced sound. Formed in Britain by Jewish Viennese refugees, the Amadeus compiled a vast catalog of solid recordings during its remarkable 40-year tenure, including 27 quartets by Haydn, which are lean, swift (with few repeats) and imbued with no-nonsense clarity.
The Lindsays (Peter Cropper, Ronald Birks, Robin Ireland, Bernard Gregor-Smith) (ASV separate CDs, 2000) � The Lindsays� account is maybe the most controversial (and that�s a rare matter in the genteel earth of chamber music). Writing for Classicstoday.com, David Hurwitz minces no words, calling them �perverse � focusing on matters of rhythm and accentuation to the exclusion of everything else, including � tonal beauty, dynamics, shading, intonation and structural cohesion. � While I certainly adopt personality and character to blandness, the Lindsays footstep over the line into extravaganza. They bury the music with their mannered, neurotic twitching and fidgeting. Information technology's unmusical, unidiomatic, and unpleasant to mind to � .� True, it doesn�t gush with tenderness and it�s a far cry from your granddaddy�s prototype of a kindly, bewigged doddering �Papa Haydn� (and speaking of images, how nearly that comprehend!) equally well equally the focused moderation nosotros have come to look from British ensembles, but information technology�s not all that outr� and hardly as annoying and punishing as Hurwitz suggests. Rather, it makes no pretense of existence idiomatic, and portions admittedly are overstated. But at the chance of displaying appalling ignorance of �proper� mode, I find it riveting, enhanced past extremely shut miking that invites you to experience the visceral strength of the playing. The Lindsays (that�south what they telephone call themselves) may not serve every bit a fair introduction to the subtleties of Haydn�due south work or the classical cord quartet in general, simply their informality and iconoclasm provide an unvarnished and colorful take on works that can get overly familiar and beget a compelling change of step one time you get accustomed to other more routine versions.

Haydn's evolution of the string quartet, the subtleties of which can elude amateurs, has been traced by a number of historian/scholars. Amidst them, I establish these to be extremely insightful and valuable:

Reginald Barrett-Ayres: Joseph Haydn and the String Quartet (Schirmer, 1974) – this is one of those rare books that transcends its nominal subject, placing detailed analyses of each set of quartets in context with acute excursions on musical forms, parallel events and other musicians.
Paul Griffiths: The String Quartet – A History (Thames & Hudson, 1983).
Karl Geiringer: Haydn – A Creative Life in Music (Norton, 1946; 2d edition: Doubleday, 1963).
Rosemary Hughes: "Joseph Haydn" – affiliate in Chamber Music, ed., Alec Robertson (Penguin, 1957).
James Webster – article on Haydn in Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians (2001 edition).
Reginald Barrett-Ayres: notes to the Aeolian Quartet LP boxes of Opp. 0/one/2 and 76/77/103 (London Stereo Treasury STS-15328/32, 15333/36) – these supplement his volume with even more detailed analyses of the individual pieces.
Laszlo Somfai – notes to the Tatrai Quartet CD sets of Opp. 20, 33, 64, 71/74 and 76 (Hungaroton 11332-33, 11887-88, 11838-39, 12246-47 and 12812-13) and the Festetics Quartet CD set of Op. ix (Hungaroton 12976-77).
Istvan Barna – notes to the Tatrai Quartet CD set of Op. 17 (Hungaroton 11382-83) and LP of Op. 77 (Hungaroton SLPX 11776).
Marc Vignal – notes to the Mosa�ques Quartet CD ready of Op. 76 (Astr�eastward E 8665).
Robin Golding – notes to the Lindsay Quartet CD ready of Op. 76 (ASV DCA 1077).
Misha Donat – notes to the Tak�sz Quartet CD ready of Op. 76 (London 425 467).