Haydn's Haus

[Herman]

Good luck in finding any sexual pleasure whatsoever with a beastly shrew like Haydn's wife. 

And I see nothing wrong in his desire to have children. (There is some speculation that he did have a son with Luigia Polzelli).

Theoretically it's possible Haydn was the one who did not provide the goods in terms of fertility.
Throw in a distinct lack of mutual attraction and the frequency of 'trying' won't soar either.

The weird thing is, Haydn had not wanted to marry Maria. He wanted her younger sister Theresa. However her dad packed her off to a nunnery and insisted Haydn wed the ugly daughter who did not care for music. Granted, Haydn was no Brad Pitt himself, but he did outperform his in-laws vastly in terms of worldly success, meriting the best daughter, if I may...

[Mandryka]

yes I love that one. It's dedicated to Haydn's London honeybunny, Rebecca Schroeter, just like the preceding G major, with the alla Zingarese finale. The next one, nr 41, in the superdark E flat minor key is great, too.

Great dark first movement in the E flat minor one.

[VonStupp]

This is one of the few indispensable Haydn discs to have in your collection. As I recall it, the LPs boasted an airier, slightly more spacious sound, but the CD version sounds very fine.

I love Haydn's Masses, but the Cäcilienmesse is not a favorite of mine, as I find it rather ungainly amongst his Mass settings, nor do I enjoy this particular recording. (I do not intend this as a negation of your ideas, for I rather enjoyed reading your thoughts on this recording).

Take my own view with a grain of salt though, for I don't care for the boy-treble sound in general, which Wilhelm's performance boasts. On the other hand, these two Marriner EMI Gemini CDs of Haydn's Masses are amongst my favorite recordings of those Haydn works as well, so I still visit the Wilhelm performance once in a while.

Too bad Marriner never recorded Haydn's Harmoniemesse... 
VS

[LKB]

I love Haydn's Masses, but the Cäcilienmesse is not a favorite of mine, as I find it rather ungainly amongst his Mass settings, nor do I enjoy this particular recording. (I do not intend this as a negation of your ideas, for I rather enjoyed reading your thoughts on this recording).

Take my own view with a grain of salt though, for I don't care for the boy-treble sound in general, which Wilhelm's performance boasts. On the other hand, these two Marriner EMI Gemini CDs of Haydn's Masses are amongst my favorite recordings of those Haydn works as well, so I still visit the Wilhelm performance once in a while.

Too bad Marriner never recorded Haydn's Harmoniemesse... 
VS

Actually, he did...

https://www.discogs.com/release/2814490-Haydn-Chor-Des-St-Johns-College-Cambridge-Academy-Of-St-Martin-in-the-Fields-Harmoniemesse

[VonStupp]

Actually, he did...

https://www.discogs.com/release/2814490-Haydn-Chor-Des-St-Johns-College-Cambridge-Academy-Of-St-Martin-in-the-Fields-Harmoniemesse

I guess specificity is important, as I only listen on CD. As a physical media listener, I too often forget online listening as an option for not having LPs. I will do a little searching to see if it is floating around. Thanks for the reminder to look beyond the CD catalog.
VS

[Jo498]

Marriner was concert master but as conductor George Guest (the chorus master, I guess) is credited, as, I believe, in all of these recordings of the late masses.

Marriner recorded some of the late masses later for EMI with Staatskapelle Dresden but I think they don't include the Harmoniemesse.

[brewski]

For lovers of the Haydn quartets, on Sunday, May 4 at 3:00 pm EDT, the Brentano Quartet is performing all six of the Op. 33 quartets in two back-to-back segments, livestreamed free from the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society.

Watch here or on the PCMS YouTube page below.

Part I (3 pm):
Haydn: Quartet in B Minor, Op. 33, No. 1
Haydn: Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 33, No. 2, The Joke
Haydn: Quartet in C Major, Op. 33, No. 3, The Bird

Intermission

Part II (5 pm):
Haydn: Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 33, No. 4
Haydn: Quartet in G Major, Op. 33, No. 5
Haydn: Quartet in D Major, Op. 33, No. 6

[Skogwald]

The more I listen, the more I love Haydn's music!

I think it's telling that on this forum I set "listening to Haydn's Piano Trios" over a year ago and yeah, still valid 

[DavidW]

The more I listen, the more I love Haydn's music!

I think it's telling that on this forum I set "listening to Haydn's Piano Trios" over a year ago and yeah, still valid 

I'm planning on doing a big re-listen to his masses soon, as it has been a while. Starting with Antonini (whose Haydn is always dynamite!) in the Creation:

[brewski]

Though I don't post every review here that I write for The Strad, Haydn fans might enjoy this latest piece, on the Brentano Quartet's marathon last May. It was quite the occasion.

[Que]

Though I don't post every review here that I write for The Strad, Haydn fans might enjoy this latest piece, on the Brentano Quartet's marathon last May. It was quite the occasion.

Very nice, Bruce! 

[lordlance]

I hope that folks can put aside the vitriol for a bit. 

I have to say that I am astonished that Dave is already at number 80 in his Haydn survey. Honestly who else has individually assessed the form of each of the 104 symphonies?

Of course this is where I want to ask the musically literate -- thoughts on his analyses? Rife with errors? Mistakes? Or an admirable labor of love? I can't think of many who are such staunch Haydnites - singularly dedicated to the cause.

[Jo498]

I have not followed more than a few of Hurwitz' episodes on Haydn but IIRC he wrote a book on the composer or the symphonies around 2009 so I'd assume he knows his stuff.

I have listened to all symphonies several times around 2009. We had a "listening project" in a German language forum to listen to all within one year: 2/week (1+104, 2+103 etc. (n + (105-n), so that one would often have one famous and one lesser known piece) and this worked well for most of the year but was abolished (as a community listening project) for reasons that have nothing to do with Haydn (but a rift/splitting of that forum).

#80 is a great, very original symphony that deserves to be better known.

[DavidW]

I have to say that I am astonished that Dave is already at number 80 in his Haydn survey. Honestly who else has individually assessed the form of each of the 104 symphonies?

Musicologists and biographers, probably. Haydn is one of the greatest and most influential composers who ever lived.

Also, Gurn, the topic creator. He has dedicated a big chunk of his life to research into Haydn.

[Madiel]

I mean, the basic forms are not especially difficult (and would doubtless appear in many liner notes). Every one of Haydn's famous double variations can be detected by ear for example. I know because I've detected them.

I've not been following the videos so I won't comment on them.

[Jo498]

Yes and the few symphonies with uncommon movements or movement orders (like the 6 movement "il distratto"#60 or #49 beginning with a slow movement or 3 movement ones like 26 or 30) still follow the same or very similar structures.
However, I don't think that this was meant with "form" above, but I am not sure what exactly was meant.

[Madiel]

Admittedly, I think Hurwitz' approach to form tends more towards humming tunes in a way that is only recognisable if you know the music already, and less towards using words like 'sonata' and 'rondo'. But that's in videos that are focused on best recordings more than on videos about the work itself. And he does still make efforts to describe the shape of the music.

[DavidW]

Admittedly, I think Hurwitz' approach to form tends more towards humming tunes in a way that is only recognisable if you know the music already,

I think that is to avoid copyright strikes. Even though an argument can be easily made that it is fair use, as he is using it for educational purposes and providing commentary and analysis, that doesn't help against automatic strikes.

[Madiel]

I think that is to avoid copyright strikes. Even though an argument can be easily made that it is fair use, as he is using it for educational purposes and providing commentary and analysis, that doesn't help against automatic strikes.

He has the rights to use recordings from certain companies (notably Naxos), and uses them, so that isn't it. He simply chooses to hum in the middle of some his narratives, and isn't a very good hummer.

[Brian]

Copyright strikes are often automated; I've certainly heard of people (not DH) who have had videos removed even though they had permission or were, in fact, the performer.

Since No. 80 is my favorite symphony of all, I decided to listen to that video to see what kind of analysis DH offers. I stopped about 25% of the way through to get work done, but so far he has indeed taught me a few things. He has also only hummed once - to illustrate (vs. the real clip from Nimbus) that a melody is a surprising seven bars vs. the usual eight, and what it might sound like if it had been eight bars instead.