47. évfolyam / 4. szám (2009)

Fifty Years in Haydn Research
A Personal Account
László Somfai

Presented as the opening address at the Haydn 2009: A Bicentenary Conference (Budapest & Eszterháza, 27-30 May 2009), this is a critical review of Hungarian Haydn studies primarily based on the sources of the nationalized Esterházy private collection in the Széchényi National Library and other public institutions in Budapest. The reviewer worked in the music collection of the library from 1958 to 1963 among others scrutinizing the operatic material once conducted by Haydn. The first period of researches focused around the Haydn Year 1959 with the presentation of new scholarly achievements at the International Haydn Conference in Budapest (17-22 September 1929), including the publication of a catalogue of the primary sources of Haydn's music in Budapest, followed by two major books printed a year later (Haydn emlékére, collected studies by Hungarian authors, and Bartha & Somfai, Haydn als Opernkapellmeister). During the 1960s Dénes Bartha became an internationally recognized Haydn scholar, among others editor of several operas in the series Joseph Haydn Werke, and the volume Gesammelte Briefe and Aufzeichnungen; in the following period mostly the reviewer published documents, facsimile editions, studies. The survey ends with a short and personal view on the achievements and shortcomings of the last decades of Haydn scholarship.

Haydn’s Sensibility
James Webster

Recent interpretations of both Haydn's personality (as a man) and his musical style (or 'persona') have focused on the two opposed categories earnestness and wit. The present essay adds a third category on both sides of the equation: sensibility (German Empfindsamkeit), and argues that it is equally important. The various meanings of sensibility are laid out and their applicability to Haydn discussed, including his rich and varied relationships with lovers and intimate friends. The problematics of the possible correlations between an artist's persona¬lity and his style are discussed; it is argued that, contrary to recent theories of their separation into different domains, these are in fact closely related.
Sensibility was a central aspect of mid- and late 18^th-century aesthetics, both in ideas about ideal human behavior, and in prose fiction, opera and drama, etc. –as well as instrumental music (Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach). In Haydn's case, not surprisingly, it has so far been located in genres destined primarily for private use: keyboard music and lieder; this is illustrated by an analysis and interpretation of „Das Leben ist ein Traum” (Hob. XXVIa:21; published 1784). In such works we may imagine Haydn as 'speaking to' the dedicatee of the work, as well as the sympathetic listener.
However, sensibility is also an important aspect of style in the string quartet and symphony, where it has almost never been considered relevant. Examples are discussed in the slow movements from the quartet op. 76 no. 5 and the symphonies nos. 75, 88, 92, 98, 99, and 102. It is argued that the old notion of 'Clas¬sical style' (fortunately now on the decline), with its rigid demarcation of 'high' instrumental genres from both vocal music (Haydn's operas) and earlier instrumental Empfindsamkeit (Emanuel Bach), was the primary reason that scholars and listeners have until now remained unmoved by Haydn’s sensibility.

Professor James Webster’s (Cornell University, Ithaca) essay in the original English language is expected to be issued in Studia Musicologica 2010/1-2.

Tradition, Innovation or Utopia:
Haydn’s mehrstimmige Gesänge
Balázs Mikusi

Haydn’s mehrstimmige Gesänge, composed between 1796 and 1799, have mostly been given but scarce attention by scholars. In this paper I strive to recontextualize the partsongs both as regards Haydn's own oeuvre and the history of the genre in general. I argue that, while the composer may have been aware of the male quartets by his brother Michael, and was certainly familiar with the English glee tradition, his partsongs consciously seek to redefine the genre by raising its compositional, as well as performing, standards to a uniquely high level (hence the word "utopia" in my title). While the composer's aim appears to have been to set an example by exploring diverse artistic possibilities of the genre, the reception of his partsongs proved highly selective: the religious songs were praised as worthy models by conservative writers, whereas the comic pieces puzzled critics with their combination of highly elaborate music and resolutely "lowbrow" texts, which did not seem to deserve, as it were, such compositional care. Thus, the reception of the partsongs reinforces a common Haydn stereotype of the early 19^th century: he is seen as a master of outstanding originality and compositional skill, whose achievements can only be admired, but whose example is not always to be followed.

Haydn-Gellert: »Betrachtung des Todes«
A Meeting of Tradition and Innovation
Katalin Komlós

This paper investigates Haydn's Betrachtung des Todes, a late little masterpiece which represents the simultaneity of the old and the new. The text is the second verse of Gellert's fourteen-verse poem "Wie sicher lebt der Mensch, der Staub!", No. 50 in the volume Geistliche Oden and Lieder, 1757. In the short catalogue at the end of the volume Gellert names the hymn "Herr Jesu Christ, meines Lebens Licht!", as the appropriate melody for the poem. Haydn's vocal trio with basso continuo is perhaps the most extraordinary setting in the series of the Mehrstimmige Gesänge (Hob. XXVb:3). Its harmonies and key changes uncannily foreshadow the language of Schubert and Mendelssohn. The musical representation of the poetic lines, on the other hand, is full of rhetorical devices. Most startling is the presence of figured bass, as an anachronistic code for the keyboard accompaniment.
Co-existence of Baroque and Romantic, or "First Viennese Modernism" (James Webster): the roots of the composer's professional education preserved in a highly innovative setting of an old Protestant poem, in the very last years of the eighteenth century.

Becoming a Complete Kapellmeister
Haydn and Mattheson’s Der vollkommene Capellmeister
David Wyn Jones

Both Griesinger and Dies identify Johann Mattheson's treatise, Der vollkommene Capellmeister (1739), as an important influence on Haydn's musical development in his youth. Perhaps because Griesinger then gives more emphasis to Fux than Mattheson and Dies reports some disparaging comments on the treatise by the aged Haydn, the range and nature of Mattheson's likely influence on the young musician have not been fully explored. Several authors have alluded to the relevance of Mattheson's comments on aesthetic matters but, in a more behavioural mode, the treatise lays emphasis too on the duties and expectations of being a successful Kapellmeister, qualities that were to be exemplified in Haydn's long career. The paper will document this wider, formative role, including making the composer aware of the nature of his own immediate tradition. Consideration of Mattheson's influence leads to a more nuanced understanding of Haydn's personal and musical education, or Bildung to use a later concept.

Professor David Wyn Jones’s (University of California, Berkeley) essay in the original English language is expected to be issued in Studia Musicologica 2010/1-2.

Two Compositional Essays in the Erdõdy-Quartets Op. 76
László Somfai

The paper revisits the Erdõdy- Quartets with the premise that the choice for copying score of three from the six quartets (D minor, B flat major, E flat major), as exemplum for his own library, was Haydn's intention; there is no reason to assume that scores of the other three got lost. While the compositional tour de force in the D minor is the opening movement, in the B flat and E flat the adagio movements accomplished a carefully designed pair of compositional essays. Among other „tertiary rhetoric" (Elaine Sisman's term) pairs of movements (see Table 1), the E flat adagio of the B flat major quartet and the B major Fantasia of the E flat, both in 3/4 time and emphasizing the same motivic starting point, present two diagonally opposite learned-style strategies; even the rhythmic vocabulary and the use of ornaments shows premeditated contrast (music example 4). In the „Sunrise" the space and time, register and pulsation is in focus (including subtleties like per arsin et thesin entries, see music examples 6-7), in the much-analyzed Fantasia the modulation and the tonal surprise-shifts.

Altpapierverwendung in 18. Jahrhundert
Zu einigen Fragmenten in den Aufführungsmaterialen des Esterházyschen Opernbetriebs
Christine Siegert

Untersucht man die Materiale der Opernaufführungen, die unter der Leitung Joseph Haydns von Mitte der 1770er Jahre bis 1790 auf Schloss Eszterháza stattfanden, stößt man immer wieder auf Einlageblätter oder eingefügte Zettel, die in einem anderen Kontext (meist auf der Rückseite) bereits früher beschrieben wurden. Wurde dieses ursprüngliche Notat nicht mehr benötigt (etwa, weil eine Oper nicht mehr gespielt wurde oder weil eine Arie ersetzt wurde), konnte das Papier wieder verwendet werden. So ermöglicht die Untersuchung der Fragmente tiefere Einblicke in die Arbeitsprozesse im Esterházyschen Opernbetrieb (ggf. auch in Bearbeitungsvorgänge, die vor dem Erwerb des Materials für Eszterháza lagen).
In Umfang und Inhalt sind die Fragmente höchst unterschiedlich; sie reichen von einzelnen Noten bis hin zu Instrumentalstimmen von gesamten Nummern. Zwei Gruppen von Fragmenten sind von besonderer Bedeutung: Fragmente, die sick Haydns Opern zuordnen Lassen und so die Quellenbasis der Werke vergrößern, sowie Fragmente, die von Haydn selbst notiert wurden. Drei unbekannte Fragmente konnten bislang als zur ersten Gruppe gehörig identifiziert werden: zwei zu Armida und eines zu La fedeltà premiata. Unter den Notaten Haydns ist insbesondere ein Singstimmenfragment von Interesse. Es ist Teil einer Bearbeitung des Terzetts „Non partir, m'ascolta, oh dio“ aus Giuseppe Sartis Didone abbadonata.

Dr. Christine Siegert’s (Universität Bayreuth) essay in the original German language is expected to be issued in Studia Musicologica 2010/1-2.

The Largo of Haydn’s »Tempora Mutantur« Symphony No. 64 Reconsidered
Zoltán Farkas

The title (or motto) of Haydn's Symphony in A major (Hob. 1:64) „Tempora mu¬tantur" has provoked many explanations so far. Jonathan Foster identifies these words with the first part of an epigram by John Owen (c. 1565-1622): Tempora mutantur, nos et mutamur in illis, etc. Foster suggests that the rhythm of the rondo-finale theme corresponds to the poetic meter of the first line of the epigram. James Atkins finds Foster's arguments unconvincing and associates the title with the slow movement of the symphony instead. Elaine Sisman gives a refined analysis of the Largo and argues that the movement is nothing but a musical interpretation of the key couplet in Shakespeare's Hamlet: "The time is out of joint". Sonja Gerlach reveals that the wrapper of the copied parts of the symphony in the Frankfurt source (which is the only source the title is written in) is not the original one so she doubts whether the motto had anything to do with Haydn.
Whether inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet or not, the Largo in D major was written in a highly original and unusual way. Besides its curious, durchcomponiert form, the phrase structure of its main theme deserves special attention. Haydn steadily avoids making a clear cadence in the melody. And when the belated melodic cadence arrives, it proves to be not the ending but rather the opening of the new phrase. This continuous ambiguity creates an "otherworldly" character of the movement. This paper attempts to reveal whether Haydn's process has a literary model. A syntactic ambivalence of Classical poetry called apo koinou shows a grammatical structure very similar to that happens in the musical syntax of this movement. (Some examples taken from Latin, German and Hungarian poetry illustrate this poetic device.) The question arises whether Haydn was familiar with examples of apo koinou to any extent, and if so, he consciously recognised it as such or not. In spite of the composer's remarkably extensive library, rich of Classical readings (e. g. Ovid's Metamorphoses etc.) the probable answer is the latter. In the second half of the article the author finds further phenomena in Haydn’s music which can be paralleled with Hamlet’s monologue.

Haydns Sinfonien:
Besetzungsprobleme und Aufführungstraditionen
Andreas Friesenhagen

Heute noch werden Sinfonien Joseph Haydns oft in einer Form aufgeführt und auf Tonträger eingespielt, die nicht den Intentionen des Komponisten entspricht. Das betrifft unter anderem bestimmte Besetzungsvarianten, zum Beispiel die Ausführung von obligates Violoncello-Partien durch ein einzelnes Instrument und die Besetzung einiger Sinfonien mit Trompeten und Pauken oder mit Hörnern in hoch C. Anhand der Violoncello-Stimme im langsamen Satz von Sinfonie Hob. 1:102 wind ausführlich dargestellt, dass Haydn trotz der Angabe „Solo" zu Beginn dieser Stimme keine Ausführung durch ein Instrument allein beabsichtigte. Gleiches gilt für die meisten anderen, mit „Solo" gekennzeichneten Violoncello-Passagen in seines späten Sinfonien. Aus der Überlieferung kann ferner begründet werden, dass Haydn vor etwa 1768 nicht für Hörner in hoch C schrieb und dass die zu einiger Sinfonien erhaltenen Trompeten- und Pauken-Stimmen nicht authentisch sind. Zum Beleg dafür, dass diese Besetzungsvarianten dennoch in heutigen Aufführungen weite Verbreitung gefunden haben, werden ausgewählte Tonträger-Einspielungen aus der Zeit von 1950 bis zur Gegenwart herangezogen. Zur Einführung ist dem Aufsatz eine kurze Darstellung der Geschichte von Haydns Sinfonien auf Tonträger seit 1950 vorangestellt.

Dr. Andreas Friesenhagen’s (Joseph Haydn-Institut, Köln) essay in the original German language is expected to be issued in Studia Musicologica 2010/1-2.

Schoenberg and Haydn
Alexander Carpenter

This paper explores Arnold Schoenberg's curious ambivalence towards Haydn. Schoenberg recognized Haydn as an important figure in the German serious music tradition, but never closely examined or clearly articulated Haydn's influence and import on his own musical style and ethos, as he did with many other major composers. Although Schoenberg liked and valued Haydn's music, and would reasonably be expected to have listed Haydn—for his rigorous use of germinal motives and innovations in structure and form—among his principle influences and precursors, this paper argues that Schoenberg failed to recognize Haydn as a major influence because he saw Haydn as he saw himself, namely as a somewhat ungainly, paradoxical figure, a "conservative revolutionary" with one foot in the past and one in the future.
This paper considers a number of issues surrounding Schoenberg's view of Haydn. In his voluminous writings on music, Arnold Schoenberg frequently groups Haydn with Mozart, Beethoven, and a handful of other iconic composers, but virtually never affords Haydn the designation "master" or "genius." Haydn is mentioned by Schoenberg far less frequently than Bach, Mozart, or Beethoven, and his music appears rarely as examples in Schoenberg's theoretical texts. When Schoenberg does talk about Haydn's music, he describes above all—with tacit negativity—its accessibility (Schoenberg's particular bugbear), counterpoising it with more recondite music, such as Beethoven's, or his own. On the other hand, Schoenberg strongly praises Haydn for his complex, irregular phrasing and for harmonic exploration he finds more adventurous than Schumann's.
Ultimately, Haydn appears in Schoenberg's writings as a figure invested with ambivalence: an irrevocable member of the First Viennese triumvirate, but at the same time he is curiously phantasmal, and is accorded an awkwardly peripheral place in Schoenberg’s version of the canon and his own musical genealogy.

Professor Alexander Carpenter’s (University of Alberta, Edmonton) essay in the original English language is expected to be issued in Studia Musicologica 2010/1-2.