Wit in Haydn's String Quartets
Created | Updated May 11, 2003
http://users.ox.ac.uk/~sjoh1661/
Haydn is often called the father of the symphony: in fact, Haydn is more literally the father of the string quartet: although Scarlatti, Stamitz, Tartini and others had written sinfonie a quattro, these works were written mostly for four-part string orchestras. Using only four soloists and relieving the cello of the bondage of the continuo part (thus allowing its independence) made much more expressivity possible than had previously been the case.
Haydn’s character is seen by some biographers as being almost a split personality (although not in the clinical sense) between a very serious academic and something of a joker. F.S. Silverstope (who spent time with Haydn whilst he was writing The Creation) wrote about this duality:
‘I discovered in Haydn as it were two physiognomies. One was penetrating and serious, when he talked about anything sublime, and the mere word ‘sublime’ was enough to excite his feelings to visible animation. In the next moment this air of exaltation was chased away as fast as lightning by his usual mood, and he became jovial with a force that was visible in his features and even passed into drollery. The latter was his usual physiognomy; the former had to be induced.’
Although the individual anecdotes concerning Haydn as a practical joker may have been grossly exaggerated, the evidence collectively surely shows some picture of Haydn as something of a humorist. Griesinger wrote that ‘a guileless roguery, or what the British call ‘humour’, was one of Haydn’s outstanding characteristics’.
Haydn’s contemporaries, and Haydn himself, viewed his compositional style as a greatly original one. Griesinger quoted Haydn saying:
‘My prince was satisfied with all my works; I received approval. As head of an orchestra I could try things out, observe what creates a [good] effect and what weakens it, and thus revise, make additions or cuts, take risks. I was cut off from the world, nobody in my vicinity could upset my self-confidence or annoy me, and so I had no choice but to become original.’
Haydn’s usage of the word ‘original’ seems to refer to the fact that he did not belong to any particular school of composers, and therefore that he was an individual. The contemporary Kantian aesthetics state that originality is a sign of genius, and whilst Haydn was not immodest, his modesty could not have been said to know no bounds, and so this admission of originality could be an indicator of Haydn’s own opinion of himself.
The quasi-split personality referred to above was admitted by Haydn in relation to his compositional method:
‘I sat down [at the keyboard] and began to fantasize, according to whether my mood was sad or happy, serious or trifling’.
In Haydn’s music, these two opposites are not polarised; although there is some distance between them, he uses many of the devices and moods between these opposites.
Since 1800, indeed, most of the familiar nicknames for his works respond to features that listeners have taken as humorous, for example the ‘Surprise’ Symphony or the ‘Joke’ Quartet op.33 no.2. Other sets of named quartets include the Sun Quartets of 1772, Op. 20, the Russian Quartets written in 1781, Op. 33, and including "The Joke" and "The Bird", the Prussian Quartets of 1787, Op. 50, much influenced by Mozart and including "The Frog". There are three sets of Tost Quartets, Opp. 54, 55 and 64, bearing the name of the Esterháza violinist Johann Tost. The Tost Quartets include "The Razor" and "The Lark". Opp. 71 and 74, the “Apponyi” quartets, were published in 1793 and 1797 respectively, including "The Rider", and the "Erdödy", Op. 76, including the "Fifths", "Emperor" and "Sunrise", both sets named after aristocratic patrons. The ‘ticking’ accompaniment in the slow movement of the ‘Clock’ Symphony, no.101 is an example of Haydn’s humour being a little subtler. Haydn's personality is not what is reflected in the string quartets; rather his pseudo-personality, as if he assumed the identity of a particular character in order to compose.
The word ‘wit’, being related etymologically to the German ‘wissen’, ‘to know’, has an implied meaning of intelligence as well as humour. The rhythm and chromaticism of the Finale of Op. 55, No. 2 (particularly the opening and the conclusion) is a musical example of this, as well as of the conversational feel of many of the quartets. Another example is the opening of Op. 64, No. 2, where the first violin part (which begins alone) could be in either B minor or D major, and is not confirmed as B minor until the F# major chord at the end of the second bar. These are all academic ‘jokes’ which are simple and obvious enough to even fairly uneducated listeners to grasp: the simplest of all Haydn’s humour devices is beginning a piece with an ending and ending it with a beginning, as in the ‘Joke’ Quartet, Op. 33, No. 2.
Another basis of Haydn’s humour might be said to be irony, as recognised by Triest :
‘Haydn might perhaps be compared, in respect to the fruitfulness of his imagination, with our Jean Paul [Richter] (omitting, obviously, his chaotic design; transparent representation (lucidus ordo) is not the least of Haydn's virtues); or, in respect to his humour, his original wit (vis comica) with Lor. Sterne’.
The string quartet Op. 42 in D minor of 1795 is headed “Andante ed innocentemente”, and once the performer has read this, he knows that Haydn is about to joke on a grand scale. The innocence comes from the pianissimo staccato repeated quaver A notes, and this is easy both to see and hear: what is not obvious from the title alone, if it were taken without reference to Haydn’s personality, is the reason for the sforzandi notes at the beginning of every second bar. This cannot be taken as representing anything other than ironic wit. The New Grove article on Haydn postulates that “Haydn often seems to problematise music rather than merely to compose it.”
Op. 9, 17 and 20 expanded the nature of the quartet texture; an example is in the opening of Op. 20 No.2, where the cello has the melody, a violin takes the inner part and the viola executes the bass. The extremes and intellectual dizzy heights of these quartets are replaced in Op. 33 by a less learned style, concentrating instead on humour and simplicity of form: the motifs, ideas and themes are as complex and subtly brilliant in Op. 33 as in Op. 20 (compare the opening of Op. 33 No. 5 with that of Op. 20 No. 1, for example). These quartets experiment with and within the conventions of the genre: although Haydn was creating the ‘rules’ of the genre as he created the modern manifestation of the genre itself, it is almost as if he intended the exceptions to prove the rule without often adhering to the rule itself.
Haydn liked to play with form and structure within (and, with experimentation, outside but close to) the context of the received models of the time; and just as the most widely-understood humour device in spoken language is to put one idea in the context of another (for example, a police officer delivering a church sermon in official police language), so Haydn took musical ideas out of context and placed them in other contexts, or even simply changed the context slightly. The consequence of this, as Rosemary Hughes writes, is that
‘it brings them into close contact with a mind and personality of the utmost integrity, originality and native warmth. Eric Blom wrote of Mozart that “there is no composer with whom familiarity breeds greater love and respect”. No one can live with these quartets without wanting to apply the same words to Haydn.’
Haydn is often called the father of the symphony: in fact, Haydn is more literally the father of the string quartet: although Scarlatti, Stamitz, Tartini and others had written sinfonie a quattro, these works were written mostly for four-part string orchestras. Using only four soloists and relieving the cello of the bondage of the continuo part (thus allowing its independence) made much more expressivity possible than had previously been the case.
Haydn’s character is seen by some biographers as being almost a split personality (although not in the clinical sense) between a very serious academic and something of a joker. F.S. Silverstope (who spent time with Haydn whilst he was writing The Creation) wrote about this duality:
‘I discovered in Haydn as it were two physiognomies. One was penetrating and serious, when he talked about anything sublime, and the mere word ‘sublime’ was enough to excite his feelings to visible animation. In the next moment this air of exaltation was chased away as fast as lightning by his usual mood, and he became jovial with a force that was visible in his features and even passed into drollery. The latter was his usual physiognomy; the former had to be induced.’
Although the individual anecdotes concerning Haydn as a practical joker may have been grossly exaggerated, the evidence collectively surely shows some picture of Haydn as something of a humorist. Griesinger wrote that ‘a guileless roguery, or what the British call ‘humour’, was one of Haydn’s outstanding characteristics’.
Haydn’s contemporaries, and Haydn himself, viewed his compositional style as a greatly original one. Griesinger quoted Haydn saying:
‘My prince was satisfied with all my works; I received approval. As head of an orchestra I could try things out, observe what creates a [good] effect and what weakens it, and thus revise, make additions or cuts, take risks. I was cut off from the world, nobody in my vicinity could upset my self-confidence or annoy me, and so I had no choice but to become original.’
Haydn’s usage of the word ‘original’ seems to refer to the fact that he did not belong to any particular school of composers, and therefore that he was an individual. The contemporary Kantian aesthetics state that originality is a sign of genius, and whilst Haydn was not immodest, his modesty could not have been said to know no bounds, and so this admission of originality could be an indicator of Haydn’s own opinion of himself.
The quasi-split personality referred to above was admitted by Haydn in relation to his compositional method:
‘I sat down [at the keyboard] and began to fantasize, according to whether my mood was sad or happy, serious or trifling’.
In Haydn’s music, these two opposites are not polarised; although there is some distance between them, he uses many of the devices and moods between these opposites.
Since 1800, indeed, most of the familiar nicknames for his works respond to features that listeners have taken as humorous, for example the ‘Surprise’ Symphony or the ‘Joke’ Quartet op.33 no.2. Other sets of named quartets include the Sun Quartets of 1772, Op. 20, the Russian Quartets written in 1781, Op. 33, and including "The Joke" and "The Bird", the Prussian Quartets of 1787, Op. 50, much influenced by Mozart and including "The Frog". There are three sets of Tost Quartets, Opp. 54, 55 and 64, bearing the name of the Esterháza violinist Johann Tost. The Tost Quartets include "The Razor" and "The Lark". Opp. 71 and 74, the “Apponyi” quartets, were published in 1793 and 1797 respectively, including "The Rider", and the "Erdödy", Op. 76, including the "Fifths", "Emperor" and "Sunrise", both sets named after aristocratic patrons. The ‘ticking’ accompaniment in the slow movement of the ‘Clock’ Symphony, no.101 is an example of Haydn’s humour being a little subtler. Haydn's personality is not what is reflected in the string quartets; rather his pseudo-personality, as if he assumed the identity of a particular character in order to compose.
The word ‘wit’, being related etymologically to the German ‘wissen’, ‘to know’, has an implied meaning of intelligence as well as humour. The rhythm and chromaticism of the Finale of Op. 55, No. 2 (particularly the opening and the conclusion) is a musical example of this, as well as of the conversational feel of many of the quartets. Another example is the opening of Op. 64, No. 2, where the first violin part (which begins alone) could be in either B minor or D major, and is not confirmed as B minor until the F# major chord at the end of the second bar. These are all academic ‘jokes’ which are simple and obvious enough to even fairly uneducated listeners to grasp: the simplest of all Haydn’s humour devices is beginning a piece with an ending and ending it with a beginning, as in the ‘Joke’ Quartet, Op. 33, No. 2.
Another basis of Haydn’s humour might be said to be irony, as recognised by Triest :
‘Haydn might perhaps be compared, in respect to the fruitfulness of his imagination, with our Jean Paul [Richter] (omitting, obviously, his chaotic design; transparent representation (lucidus ordo) is not the least of Haydn's virtues); or, in respect to his humour, his original wit (vis comica) with Lor. Sterne’.
The string quartet Op. 42 in D minor of 1795 is headed “Andante ed innocentemente”, and once the performer has read this, he knows that Haydn is about to joke on a grand scale. The innocence comes from the pianissimo staccato repeated quaver A notes, and this is easy both to see and hear: what is not obvious from the title alone, if it were taken without reference to Haydn’s personality, is the reason for the sforzandi notes at the beginning of every second bar. This cannot be taken as representing anything other than ironic wit. The New Grove article on Haydn postulates that “Haydn often seems to problematise music rather than merely to compose it.”
Op. 9, 17 and 20 expanded the nature of the quartet texture; an example is in the opening of Op. 20 No.2, where the cello has the melody, a violin takes the inner part and the viola executes the bass. The extremes and intellectual dizzy heights of these quartets are replaced in Op. 33 by a less learned style, concentrating instead on humour and simplicity of form: the motifs, ideas and themes are as complex and subtly brilliant in Op. 33 as in Op. 20 (compare the opening of Op. 33 No. 5 with that of Op. 20 No. 1, for example). These quartets experiment with and within the conventions of the genre: although Haydn was creating the ‘rules’ of the genre as he created the modern manifestation of the genre itself, it is almost as if he intended the exceptions to prove the rule without often adhering to the rule itself.
Haydn liked to play with form and structure within (and, with experimentation, outside but close to) the context of the received models of the time; and just as the most widely-understood humour device in spoken language is to put one idea in the context of another (for example, a police officer delivering a church sermon in official police language), so Haydn took musical ideas out of context and placed them in other contexts, or even simply changed the context slightly. The consequence of this, as Rosemary Hughes writes, is that
‘it brings them into close contact with a mind and personality of the utmost integrity, originality and native warmth. Eric Blom wrote of Mozart that “there is no composer with whom familiarity breeds greater love and respect”. No one can live with these quartets without wanting to apply the same words to Haydn.’
