Haydn's Haus

[kishnevi]

Jeffrey,
I have seen that disk but never heard it. Are you saying that they did the Scherzandi in 3 movements each? One of the amazing things about them, and one of their big features, is that each one is a tiny, 4 movement symphony. So they must have combined the 2 inner movements into 1.

Actually, it was me who changed it into three movements.  I didn't have the actual CD in front of me at the time, and for some reason I remembered three movements instead of four.   But now seeing your post, I checked, and it's really four, with the flute appearing only in the Minuet and Trio movement.  Mes regrets. 

[Gurn Blanston]

Actually, it was me who changed it into three movements.  I didn't have the actual CD in front of me at the time, and for some reason I remembered three movements instead of four.   But now seeing your post, I checked, and it's really four, with the flute appearing only in the Minuet and Trio movement.  Mes regrets.

C'est rien. I do that sort of thing all the time, which is why I try not to say much without my cheat notes in front of me.  

I have that same flute concerto by Hoffman, on this disk here:



which is the only recording of this early opera. He (authentically) uses Symphony #1 as an overture, and then the concerto as a closer. Nice disk. Pity Haydn never actually wrote a flute concerto of his own, nor an oboe concerto (probably didn't) either. He had good players at Esterhazy, it could have been quite nice. Our loss...

[Bogey]

I love Davis's steel-toed boot approach to this mass:

[Elgarian]

But I see that sometimes it is just a thing of the moment; i.e. - right now this doesn't appeal, but it could some day if I give it a chance.

Story of my life, Gurn! A series of musical dominoes standing defiantly then falling over at irregular intervals for no obvious reason that I can see. Incidentally, a similar thing happened a few days ago with his cello concerti. I have a Jaqueline Du Pre assorted box of stuff, and her Haydn concerti have never made me turn my head. But on a whim last week I spun the disk, and was enchanted. And it's not even remotely HIP either, which tends to confirm your view that when it's time for the music to strike, it can transcend performance. Next month (when funds are replenished) I'll see about getting a good HIP recording.

[Elgarian]

Vivaldi can get the same rap....however, I believe that both can knock down walls with the correct approach. ....and this goes for Handel as well!

Yes: the effectiveness of the Handel dynamite in particular is well attested here! I'm continually having to call the bricklayers in.

[Leo K.]

Whenever I have free time, I've been listening to this, and it's SO beautiful and refreshing after a difficult day!

[Elgarian]

Simply put, this recording captures the greatness of Haydn's cello concerti.

The performances here are a stunner. They really are.   

Truly, a wonderful recording of these concertos.

I have one of these currently on order as a result of this recommendation. Thanks Leo. (Listening to some samples now of the Brautigam PCs, it seems like I should also invest in those too.)

[Gurn Blanston]

Part 1

1749-50 and before...

I am starting here a series of posts that will, I hope, accomplish 2 things; sharing the results of my last 5 years of research, and suggesting some recordings for each work, in the event you want to build a library of Haydn's music without spending the thousands of dollars that I have spent, trying to find the "right" work for me. This second part relies totally on you trusting me to not go after a bunch of weird stuff. I think you all know by now how my taste runs. I like period instrument recordings, played by an appropriate number of musicians, and in a manner that is consistent with what is known about 18th century music. If you like other styles, no problem, see if you can benefit from the chronological research and then go with a version you like better.

Here is something that you will have to get used to early on; there is almost no documentary information on Haydn's life and musical activity before his employ by the Esterházy court in 1761. This is one though; in 1776 he was asked to write a brief autobiographical sketch for a sort of Austrian Who's Who called Das gelehrte Oesterreich, probably because of the fame he gained in Vienna as a result of his oratorio Il ritorno di Tobia. This took the form of a rather long letter addressed to a Mrs. Leonore Lechner who had been enlisted to solicit him for it. One would have to believe that for all intents and purposes, if Haydn wrote it himself it was probably pretty much accurate (although he starts off in the first sentence saying that he was born in 1733 rather than '32... ). I don't intend to recreate it here. You might have a read of it though sometime, and you might also note, as I did, that when he briefly lists the compositions that he has to his credit at that time, every one of them is a vocal/choral work, his operas, oratorios and sacred works. This is no accident, it shows that he, like everyone else at that time, viewed his instrumental works as insignificant trifles.

The only other primary source (which is to say, from people who knew and interviewed Haydn) are the brief biographies by Georg August Griesinger, Albert Christoph Dies and Giuseppe Carpani, supplemented by parish registers, musical archives, dated autographs and the like. I will be using Griesinger and Dies a lot later on.

Haydn was born into a family of primarily south German stock. His immediate ancestors were not peasants (as legend has it), but artisans and tradespeople. His grandfather and his father, Mathias (1699–1763), were master wheelwrights; Mathias also functioned as Marktrichter (magistrate) of the 'market village' (as Haydn called it) Rohrau. Rohrau was a possession of Count Karl Anton Harrach (1692–1758). Haydn's mother, Anna Maria Koller (1707–54), had, before her marriage in 1728, been a cook at the Harrach castle.

Mathias Haydn was 'a great lover of music by nature', who 'played the harp without reading a note of music'; his mother sang the melodies. Indeed all three of their surviving male children became professional musicians, two of them famous composers. (The third, Johann Evangelist, 1743–1805, was a tenor in a church choir and later at the Esterházy court.) Dies says of Haydn's father that 'all the children had to join in his concerts, to learn the songs, and to develop their singing voice', adding that he also organized concerts among the neighbors.

It was clear early on that Haydn had talent. He tells Griesinger that 'As a boy of five I sang all [my father's] simple easy pieces correctly' and he still remembered these melodies in old age. 'Almighty God ... granted me so much facility, especially in music, that when I was only six I boldly sang masses down from the choir loft, and could also get around on the harpsichord and violin.' In 1737 or 1738 Johann Mathias Franck (a local friend and teacher) was so impressed by Haydn's voice and musical accuracy that he suggested that he come to live with him, 'so that there I could learn the rudiments of music along with other juvenile necessities'. It being clear that his abilities could not be developed in Rohrau, his parents agreed, whether in the hope that he might amount to something as a musician or the belief that musical and educational accomplishments might be useful in what they (especially his mother) imagined as his true calling, that of a priest.

Griesinger writes: He received instruction in reading and writing, in the catechism, in singing, and on almost all the string and wind instruments, and even on the timpani: 'I will be grateful to this man (Franck) even in the grave', Haydn often said, 'that he taught me so much, even though in the process I received more beatings than food'.

In 1739 or 1740 ('in my 7th year' writes Griesinger, but Dies says; in his eighth year) Haydn was recruited to serve as choirboy at St. Stephens in Vienna: 'Kapellmeister Rütter, on a trip through Hainburg, heard my thin but pleasant voice from a distance, and at once accepted me into the Capell Haus' (choir school). At the choir school, 'I was taught the art of singing, the harpsichord and the violin by very good masters'; in singing these included Adam Gegenbauer and the tenor Ignaz Finsterbusch (both d 1753). To be sure, there was apparently little formal training in theory or composition, although the singing included solfeggio and the harpsichord instruction probably entailed figured bass.

Haydn's instruction included lessons from Mattheson's Der vollkommene Kapellmeister (1739) and Fux's Gradus ad Parnassum (1725). Haydn's study of Fux would more plausibly have taken place during the 1750s. In any case, his copy of Gradus is heavily annotated (in Latin); he made it the basis of his own teaching of composition, as did Mozart.

But this life could not last; his voice broke. A characteristic anecdote adds insult to injury by relating that after one performance Maria Theresa (a regular attendee at the Cathedral) said that he sang 'like a crow'. Griesinger states that Reutter had earlier suggested that Haydn might become a castrato, but his father refused permission. Soon after his voice broke he was dismissed from the choir school. Haydn wrote that he remained there 'until into my 18th year' (i.e. April 1749 to March 1750). Carl Pohl, who had access to many documents now lost but gives no source in this instance, writes: 'We find Haydn on the street; it was a damp November evening in 1749'. Pathos aside (the date and atmosphere derive from Framery), the date is consistent with Haydn's statement, he was out in the streets of the city...

The music of 1749 & 1750;

1749
Hob 22_01 - Missa Brevis in F    
Rebel Baroque Orchestra / Burdick  Trinity Choir
Hob 22_03 - Missa 'rorate coeli desuper'    
Collegium musicum 90/ Richard Hickox


1750
Hob 23c_5a – 4 Motets of the Holy Sacrament   (Lauda Sion)
Tafelmusik / Bruno Weil


Not so hard to see where his roots were. After spending his life from 7 to 17 years old as a chorister in the Cathedral, it is no surprise that he started out with sacred music. In a bit of consistency that points to the stability of his beliefs, despite the reams of music that he wrote in his life after this, yet his final complete work was also a mass. We start off here with the Missa brevis, which I am opting to go with Burdick here. His version is the most fundamental, he uses the actual original instrumentation while nearly everyone else uses the 1805 re-orchestration that Haydn himself did for publication in Breitkopf & Härtel's 'Complete Works'.

For the Missa 'rorate coeli desuper', an Advent mass with an uncertain origin, I have chosen Hickox and Co.. Not least because they have deigned to record it and let you hear it for yourself. This is a very simple mass, written in the style of the time, which was having all 4 lines written simultaneously so that extended parts of the Gloria and Credo come out on just a page. The current scholarship, after years of fretting over it, is that Haydn composed the 2 violin parts and the vocal melodies, all of which are less polished, over the perfect figured bass that was probably composed by his teacher, Rütter. So a student work, clearly, but one which is still interesting to listen to if you have the chance.

Finally to 1750, where we find 4 Motets of the Holy Sacrament. From a 13th century text, Lauda Sion! (Praise Sion!) is a series of 4 motets performed at a procession to 4 different altars at the church. In Vienna it was part of the Corpus Christi Day worship. Haydn set it twice; this extremely early version, all 4 in C major, and again in 1765 when he set the texts in the contrasting keys of Bb, d, A & Ab. This is his earliest essay into the Viennese tradition of jubilant, triumphant C major with trumpets and all. I really like the job that Weil and the Tafelmusiker did with this, it smacks of Old Vienna.

So there it is, the beginning of a long, long road. The Baroque is still around, and the road doesn't end until the Romantic (so-called) is in full swing. Haydn spanned the entire age, and in fact, it's name and symbolism, "The Classical Era" derive from the music of this one source. I hope you will enjoy it as much as I do.

[Elgarian]

I am starting here a series of posts that will, I hope, accomplish 2 things; sharing the results of my last 3 years of research, and suggesting some recordings for each work, in the event you want to build a library of Haydn's music without spending the thousands of dollars that I have spent, trying to find the "right" work for me.

Gurn, this (from my point of view) could hardly be more timely. so thanks for it. I shall be following events attentively, you can be sure!

[Leo K.]

Bravo Gurn! I'm gonna really dig this! Thanks!

[Leo K.]

I have one of these currently on order as a result of this recommendation. Thanks Leo. (Listening to some samples now of the Brautigam PCs, it seems like I should also invest in those too.)

I really hope you find much to enjoy from the disks man. 

[Antoine Marchand]

Great idea, Gurn! If I can suggest/ask for something, I think it would be great to wait, say, two or three days between every of your posts to encourage some discussion. I think this kind of systematic approach allows to organize quite better our own listens and to try  to contribute with something of value, both regarding your recommendations and regarding the works themselves.

[Gurn Blanston]

Part 2

1751 - 1752

There is no known surviving music from 1751 & 1752. The likelihood is that he actually wrote a great deal, but it simply didn't survive the ravages of time and the future Mrs. Haydn.

Haydn spoke briefly but passionately about his early days of 'freedom' in Vienna. This is from the 'Lechner Letter' mentioned above;

"When my voice finally broke, for eight whole years I was forced to eke out a wretched existence by teaching young people. Many geniuses are ruined by this miserable [need to earn their] daily bread, because they lack time to study. This could well have happened to me; I would never have achieved what little I have done, had I not carried on with my zeal for composition during the night. I composed diligently, but not quite correctly, until I finally had the good fortune to learn the true fundamentals of composition from the famous Porpora (who was in Vienna at the time)."

From 1749 to the mid-1750's, he was a teacher and freelance musician, as well as practicing his composition virtually every night. During this period he met Metastasio and Porpora, which early on gave him huge advantages in learning and also in making social contacts. Porpora lived in the same building, and Haydn earned money by playing the piano for the voice students who took lessons at the master's apartment. From 1749 through circa 1750, Haydn was offered a garret to live in by another struggling musician, a tenor at the local church, named Johann Spangler. This got him under a roof, more or less, and allowed him a start. He probably moved out in September 1750 after the birth of the Spangler's second child Maddelena. It is an interesting insight into Haydn's personality that in 1768 he hired Maddelena to sing at Esterházy, where she became a featured soprano in some of his operas and oratorios. Her parents' great kindness to Haydn was repaid handsomely down the road.

Griesinger relates an interesting account of this time period, concerning Haydn's next living quarters, another garret in the building adjoining the St Michael's Church;

"In the same house ... lived as well the famous poet Metastasio. He was raising one Fräulein Martinez; Haydn was engaged to give her lessons in singing and on the clavier, in return for which he received free board for three years. At Metastasio's he also made the acquaintance of the aging Kapellmeister Porpora. Porpora was teaching singing to the mistress of the Venetian ambassador, Correr; however, because he (Porpora) was too proper and too fond of his ease to accompany at the piano himself, he delegated this task to our Giuseppe. 'There was no lack of Ass, Blockhead, Rascal and pokes in the ribs, but I willingly put up with it all, for I profited immensely from Porpora in singing, composition and Italian.' In the summer Correr traveled with the lady to the popular bathing resort Mannersdorf ...; Porpora went as well ... and took Haydn with him. For three months Haydn served there as Porpora's valet; he ate at Correr's officers' table, and was paid six ducats [c25 gulden] a month. From time to time he was required to accompany Porpora on the clavier at one Prince von Hildburghausen's, in the presence of Gluck, Wagenseil and other famous masters; the approval of these connoisseurs was especially encouraging to him".

This was the sort of good fortune that dogged Haydn his entire life. He couldn't seem to escape the curse of falling in dung and coming out smelling like a rose. At least it couldn't have happened to a more talented and deserving fellow. Sometimes there actually IS justice in the serendipity of life!


Part 3

1753

By 1753, however, there are many pieces still with us. There seem to be 2 preoccupations now musically. The first, which he spoke of fondly in later years, was the street serenading that was so very popular in Vienna. For a high-spirited 19 year old, dirt-poor musician with many friends in the business, writing and playing serenades and divertimentos was big fun. Secondly would seem to be keyboard music, both private (sonatas & variations) and public (church concertos that accomplished learning, financial and 'making contacts').

The music of 1753:

Hob 02_02 - Divertimento a cinque in G for Strings   
Haydn Sinfonietta Wien / Huss



Hob 16_01 Sonata #10 in C for Keyboard   
Yuko Wataya



Hob 17_07 5 Variations in D for Keyboard   
Derek Adlam



New Dusseldorf Hofmusik / Utiger   Christine Schornsheim
Hob 18_02 Concerto in D for Harpsichord   
Hob 18_05 Concerto in C for Harpsichord   
Hob 18_08 Concerto in C for Organ   



Hob 18_10 Concerto in C for Organ   
Divertimento Salzburg / Haselböck



This is the sort of music that a student composer wrote in those days, and as you will hear, Haydn did it better than many. The divertimento for string quintet turns out to be the only string quintet that Haydn ever wrote. Like the entire of this wonderful box set by the Haydn Sinfonietta / Huss, this is an excellent performance. This is a box that you will be seeing plenty of in future recommendations, and I can't be more laudatory than I am here. It is a superb set and well worth your attention.

The remainder of the surviving works from this period are split between solo keyboard works, sonatas and variations, and keyboard concertos for use in church, where Haydn played daily and where, in the Viennese tradition all sorts of music that one normally doesn't think of as "church music" was routinely played in the Mass.

Secular 'keyboard works' at that time consisted in 2 options; cembalo (harpsichord) or clavier (generically 'keyboard', but colloquially 'clavichord'). Haydn didn't have access to a fortepiano until the early 1770's (as far as is known), so pretty much all of my recommendations until then will be for recordings on cembalo or clavier. Which is no hardship, since we have a rich group to choose from here.

Well, we can't let things like systems of chronology trip us up at this early stage. We are going to take Hob 1, which everyone agrees was composed here in 1753, as the first sonata even though Crista Landon calls it #10! And Yuko Wataya does an excellent job here on a Haas Reproduction clavichord from 1751.

Another very fine clavichord performance is turned in by Derek Adlam on the 5 variations in D. He also uses a Haas Reproduction clavier, although his is based on a 1763 model and was constructed by none other than himself. I am very keen on this Guild disk and recommend it frequently, it's a great acquisition for the Haydnista who loves period keyboards too.

Now we move into an interesting area, one in which I have asked for input previously but not got much back. The four surviving keyboard concertos from this year were probably all composed originally to be played at the Barmherzige Brüder Church, where Haydn had a daily gig playing the organ for Mass. The accompaniment would have been 2 Oboes, 2 Trumpets and Timpani (optional) (although #8 doesn't include the oboes). It is entirely possible that these works were composed with the dual purpose of being sacred or secular, since some of the earliest copies exist with just "Concerto for Keyboard", although the organ has been inferred from the upper range of the solo parts. In any case, Schornsheim plays here 2 of them on the cembalo, and then both her and Haselböck play the other 2 on the organ. If you are only going to have one disk (well, OK, it's a 2 disk set) of these works, then Schornsheim is the one to go with. If you have a chance to pick up the Haselböck disk too, by all means, it is a lovely thing to have.

I know that early Haydn is probably not everyone's cup of tea, just like many don't like early Mozart or Beethoven. However, if you DO like to see where the roots of the music are, all of the disks featured here are excellent and well-worth having.

Please feel free to give me some feedback. Even during this reprint/re-edit phase I will gladly add to my store of knowledge, either of Haydn or of recordings.

[Gurn Blanston]

Thanks for the feedback (already!). 

Gurn, this (from my point of view) could hardly be more timely. so thanks for it. I shall be following events attentively, you can be sure!

That's great, Alan. I think as we go along you will see a disk or 2 that appeals to you. I freely admit that my eccentricities won't appeal to all, but it is the music that is most important. The performances will take care of themselves.

Bravo Gurn! I'm gonna really dig this! Thanks!

My pleasure, Leo. We'll be into some early operas soon too!

Great idea, Gurn! If I can suggest/ask for something, I think it would be great to wait, say, two or three days between every of your posts to encourage some discussion. I think this kind of systematic approach allows to organize quite better our own listens and to try  to contribute with something of value, both regarding your recommendations and regarding the works themselves.

Antoine, I completely agree with you. I am stopping here for now (1753) since after this, some years encompass great chunks of music. In fact, there are some that I may have to split up.





----------------
Now playing:
Quatuor Festetics - Hob 03_29 Quartet in G for Strings Op 17 #5 4th mvmt - Finale: Presto

[Gurn Blanston]

Just to avoid being as arcane as the references that I am trying to make accessible, I would like to point out a couple of things here, and will do further as we go along.

Hob 02_02 - Divertimento a cinque in G for Strings

I don't use the Roman numerals that Hoboken uses. To keep things orderly in my file system, I use Arabic numerals with a leading zero where needed. So yes, "02" does = II. And 23 = XXIII.

And when I used "Divertimento a cinque in G for Strings" that's because this is what Haydn used on the front page. One can also say "String Quintet" there is one cares to, but it would be misleading because of the strong likelihood that he is writing for 2 violins, 2 violas and a double bass, rather than a cello. I don't tend to use phrases like "Divertimento a cinque" myself. But I guess that's how one gets famous.

[Elgarian]

I am amazed to be able to say that ... I own the Christine Schornsheim box set of piano sonatas!! I'd seen it recommended here by someone at a time when I was getting keen on the fortepiano, and had the good luck to find one amazingly cheap somewhere, so I bought it as a future cultural investment! And so here it is, waiting for me to get around to listening to it.

[Gurn Blanston]

I am amazed to be able to say that ... I own the Christine Schornsheim box set of piano sonatas!! I'd seen it recommended here by someone at a time when I was getting keen on the fortepiano, and had the good luck to find one amazingly cheap somewhere, so I bought it as a future cultural investment! And so here it is, waiting for me to get around to listening to it.

That is just the sort of box that you can say "well, if I only have one source of Haydn keyboard music, this is the one I'll take". I love her concept of playing on different keyboards that are appropriate to the time the music was composed. Also, she is an extraordinarily good player, quite versatile, and can play as appropriately for 1753 as for 1795. I use quite a bit of that box in this list, although I have a great number of disks with different instruments and approaches, and I tried to keep them as varied as possible. I would like to make the point here that simply because I chose one performance, doesn't mean I didn't like the others I have. In fact, I like the entire Schornsheim box!   

[TheGSMoeller]

Any other recommendations for Haydn sonatas on pianoforte? The Christine Schornsheim set is tempting but a little pricey for me at the moment. I currently own several Jando/Naxos discs and one from Emanuel Ax, I throughly enjoy them, but have been bitten by the pianoforte bug ever since I purchased The Last 4 Piano Trios with Robert Levin on Sony Classical.

[Gurn Blanston]

Any other recommendations for Haydn sonatas on pianoforte? The Christine Schornsheim set is tempting but a little pricey for me at the moment. I currently own several Jando/Naxos discs and one from Emanuel Ax, I throughly enjoy them, but have been bitten by the pianoforte bug ever since I purchased The Last 4 Piano Trios with Robert Levin on Sony Classical.

Greg, are you talking about a single disk with a variety of sonatas (or variations) on it, or a 'big box' full set?

If you want just 1 disk, my clear favorite is this one;


If you want a big box, I would go with this one (all on fortepiano):


The Brautigam is disappearing from print, I'm afraid. For the longest time it was $45 on AMP. About 4 months ago I noticed that the number of vendors wa way down, and the best price was $55. I had waited to buy because I bought the downloads from eClassical as 320 kbps MP3's a few years ago and postponed paying twice.

If you can't get a good price on the Brautigam, the Brilliant with several players is your next choice. Damn sure nothing wrong with that one, either.


There are lots of singles out there, many of them excellent. The downside being that a lot of them want to play the same pieces...

[Antoine Marchand]

1749
Hob 22_01 - Missa Brevis in F    

Do you know if this is the original 1749 version or the revised version from 1805? I tend to think that Hickox follows the revised score because the instrumental part of the original is composed for two violins, bass and organ and the orchestral accompaniment of Hickox sounds quite more populated.

I thought it would be interesting to add the liner notes from the Chandos disc about the Missa Brevis in F:

In his old age Haydn had the touching experience of re-discovering some long-forgotten works and selling them to Breitkopf & Härtel, sometimes amending the instrumentation. One of these rediscoveries was the Missa brevis in F major, probably Haydn's first mass and originally composed when he was seventeen or eighteen. 'What specially pleases me in this little work', he told one of his biographers, 'is the melody, and a certain youthful fire...'. The mass is scored for chorus, strings and organ, with two delightfully florid parts for solo sopranos. Its neat, unambitious nature should not be taken as the inexperience of a youthful composer; rather the reverse, for it was a very skilful setting of the text designed to further Haydn's career as a composer of church music in mid-century Vienna. This neatness is partly due to the composer's decision to follow the frequent practice of setting the 'Dona nobis pacem' to the same music as the Kyrie. Equally typical of contemporary practice is the Credo, in which several lines of the text are sung simultaneously, and the Benedictus, which adopts the opposite approach: a high ratio of music to words.