=The Three Great Sonata Writers=.—In the year of C. P. E. Bach’s death,
1788, three men had already entered the arena as champions of that
Sonata Form to which he contributed so much. Haydn was then fifty-six,
Mozart thirty-two and Beethoven eighteen years of age. All three added
to the glory of Vienna by making it their dwelling-place in their later
years; and the three formed a triumvirate which not only gave to the
Sonata a permanent and complete form, but also brought this form into
absolute subservience to the expression of every variety of emotional
thought.
=Haydn’s Childhood=.—Franz Joseph Haydn, a native of Rohrau, in lower
Austria, was born on March 31, 1732, the second of a family of twelve
children. His father, an humble wheelwright, was accustomed to bring
his family together in the evenings and holidays, as was the German
custom, to unite in song; and the true ear and feeling for rhythm of
little “Sepperl,” as Joseph was called, was quickly noticeable. So a
cousin of his father, who was a schoolmaster at Hainburg, was allowed
to take the boy home with him, placing him in the school choir, and
directing his studies, which included singing, and the playing of the
violin and other instruments.
=St. Stephen’s Choir, Vienna=.—George Reutter, precentor of St.
Stephen’s Cathedral, at Vienna, paid a visit to the school and was
attracted by the child’s “sweet, weak voice,” as he expressed it, and
offered him a position in his choir. As this was considered a rare
opportunity, he was allowed to go, and at the age of eight we find him
installed in the choir school at Vienna, attending the daily service
and choir practice, besides the regular school studies. But Reutter
seems to have lost his personal interest in the lad, neglecting him
in various ways, doing nothing with his work in musical theory, and
finally dropping all his tuition. Haydn was fond of mischief; and when
his voice began to break and his brother Michael became soloist in his
place, his cruel master took the pretext of some trifling prank to turn
him adrift, penniless, into the street.
=Hardships in Vienna=.—At the age of seventeen, therefore, he wandered
the streets all of one rainy November night, with no friend to whom
to turn. Finally, in the morning, he met an acquaintance formerly at
the school, Spangler, a tenor singer, himself nearly as poor as Haydn.
Nevertheless, he took the outcast home to his garret, where he was
eking out an existence with his family; and thus temporarily provided
for, Haydn set about finding work to do. Small jobs, like playing in
bands, or at weddings and baptisms, and singing in choirs, he eagerly
sought; his spare moments he occupied in writing music for serenades
or garden-parties. While undergoing these hardships, however, he was
becoming familiar with the music dear to the people’s heart, and also
with the varied effects of instrumental combinations.
=Studies and New Friends=.—In 1750, he rented a garret in a house
in Vienna, and, having secured a dilapidated spinet, set himself
diligently to work to study all available musical compositions, notably
those of the new sonata order, and especially the sonatas of C. P.
E. Bach. Theoretical works, also, like the “Gradus ad Parnassum” of
J. J. Fux, and Mattheson’s work on conducting, were eagerly devoured
by the youthful enthusiast. By a piece of good fortune, Metastasio,
the popular opera librettist, roomed in the same house, and learning
of the talent hidden away in the garret, sought Haydn out, gave him
Italian lessons, and ultimately started him on the road to success
by recommending him as clavier teacher to a Spanish lady, to whose
daughter he gave lessons.
=Connection with Porpora=.—Her singing master was the renowned opera
composer, Porpora, who recognized Haydn’s talent as accompanist, and
proceeded to make him useful to himself, giving him instruction in
composition in return for his services, which were frequently of even a
menial nature. Accompanying Porpora on his journeys, he met musicians
like Wagenseil and Gluck; and at the age of twenty had written many
compositions, including a mass in F, an opera and many works of the
sonata order, founded on the style of C. P. E. Bach.
=Better Times=.—Better times now opened before Haydn. Gaining
influential friends, he won, through them, the post of music director
and composer to Count Morzin, a position which he held only a short
time, since the Count gave up his musical establishment soon. But he
was immediately engaged by the wealthy and cultivated Prince Paul
Esterhazy, who had been charmed at hearing a symphony of Haydn’s, as
assistant director of music at his estate at Eisenstadt. The same year
Haydn made an unhappy marriage with the daughter of Keller, a wigmaker,
which he had cause to regret for the remainder of his life.
=Orchestras in Germany=.—To understand Haydn’s work with the Esterhazy
family, it will be necessary to review the state of music in Germany
at this time. When the orchestral overtures of the Italian operas had
become used as concert pieces, a great stimulus was given to this kind
of music. Concertos, string quartets, trios, and, most important of
all, symphonies, came to be written in great numbers; and throughout
Germany a mania for orchestral music arose. Wealthy families vied with
each other in the size and prestige of their musical establishments,
which included instrumentalists and vocalists; and the smaller gentry
even pressed their domestic servants into the service, inducing them
to study instruments, and to perform string quartets and the like on
occasions. Inasmuch as a great part of the music written for these was
not published, and exchange of music in manuscript between different
establishments was attended with some difficulty, it was necessary that
the music director should have the ability to write his own music, as
well as to direct it.
=Haydn’s Work at Esterhazy=.—A rare opportunity therefore opened to
Haydn, with his exceptional gifts as a composer, when he was placed
at the head of an establishment like that of the Esterhazys’, which
was perhaps the most brilliant and competent in Europe. He remained
in active service with this family for thirty-three years, during
which Prince Nicolas Esterhazy succeeded his brother Paul, upon the
death of the latter, in 1762. Nicolas, called the “Great,” on account
of his love of magnificence and his lavish style of living, built a
sumptuous summer palace near Süttor, in Bohemia; and here he spent most
of his time, with his troup of retainers, entertaining royalty, in a
style comparable with that of Versailles. Werner, his head director,
who had never appreciated Haydn’s gifts on account of his old-school
principles, died in 1766, and Haydn, who had made a firm friend of
Prince Nicolas, was given his place. The orchestra and singers were
now entirely under his command; the former was increased from the
original number of sixteen to thirty, all capable performers; so that
his life was spent in a round of rehearsals, dramatic performances and
concerts for the numerous entertainments constantly in progress. Two
well-equipped theatres, one for operas and dramas, and the other for
marionette plays, gave him an opportunity for adequate performances;
he thus had an exceptional chance to study the effects in his numerous
quartets, trios, symphonies and operas, at first hand.
=Journeys to Vienna=.—On several occasions, Prince Nicolas took his
entire troupe of musicians to Vienna, where Haydn conducted the
performances, meeting also the distinguished musicians of the day. It
was on one of these journeys, in 1785, that he met Mozart, whose genius
he was quick to appreciate, and who, from being his pupil, finally gave
to Haydn the added inspiration of his own brilliant thoughts. Haydn’s
reputation had now spread abroad, and his compositions were eagerly
looked for throughout the musical world.
=Haydn in London=.—On Prince Nicolas’ death, in 1790, Prince Anton, his
brother, succeeded, who, however, dismissed the orchestra, providing
for Haydn by a liberal pension. Haydn’s time was now his own; and he
decided to settle in Vienna; but an English impresario and publisher
named Salomon now offered him such exceptional inducements to come to
London that he accepted the offer. He was received with great honor,
being granted the degree of Doctor of Music from Oxford University.
He also conducted twelve grand symphonies, especially written for
this visit, which were, moreover, some of his finest productions. On
a second visit, in 1794-5, he excited even greater enthusiasm; and he
returned to Vienna supplied with money sufficient to insure an old age
free from pecuniary want. Some of his latest works were the Austrian
National Hymn, and his oratorios of “The Creation” and “The Seasons,”
which immediately attained a popularity that has even yet hardly
diminished.
=Honors=.—Haydn, in his old age, was showered with honors both at home
and abroad; a culminating point was reached when, on his seventy-sixth
birthday, at a performance of “The Creation,” his friends, including
many representatives of royalty, united to do him honor. His genial,
child-like disposition won him the sobriquet of “Papa Haydn”; and
this brightness and simplicity of thought he so transmitted to his
compositions that they carry his atmosphere of sunshine wherever they
are performed. He died in Vienna, soon after its capture by the French,
in the Napoleonic wars, May 31, 1809.
=Importance of His Work=.—Haydn has been called the father of the
Symphony and the String Quartet. In neither case is this strictly
true, since he had predecessors in both fields; but his work was
none the less important, since he collected the scattered threads of
their attempts, and wound them into a concise and definite art form,
stamped with the hallmarks of his own genius. The seal of artistic
completeness which he placed on the form of the Sonata was his greatest
achievement; and, written in this form, his symphonies and quartets
were simply an enlargement of his clavier works, the symphonies having
an added Minuet movement between the second and last movements of the
clavier form of sonata, thus extending the piece to larger proportions.
=Sonata-Form as Fixed by Haydn=.—In these clavier sonatas, Haydn fixed
the form which had been the subject of so many experiments, once and
for all. The number of movements with him is almost invariably three,
of which the first, at least, is in the sonata-form. This consists
of a first section, the =Exposition=, in which the first subject, a
distinct melody having the Teutonic individuality, is stated, defining
the principal key; and a second subject, more lengthy and diverse in
character, brings on a close in the contrasting key. In the second
section, or =Development=, phrases or motives from the first section
are cleverly intertwined in modulating keys, with running scales or
arpeggios as connecting links. These, however, lead naturally into the
first subject, in its original key, which opens the third section, or
=Reprise=. This section is practically like the first, save that the
second subject and the close are transferred into the principal key, in
which the movement ends.
=The Second Movement=.—The second, or slow movement, is cast sometimes
in the same form, abbreviated, and sometimes in a simpler form. The
lack of sustaining power in Haydn’s pianoforte, and his attempt to
atone for this by trills and ornaments, make this less successful
than the other movements; a result which is also caused by the fact
that intensity and depth of emotion had not yet been developed in the
harmonic school of music. In key, this movement was contrasted with the
first, sometimes quite sharply, as in one of the sonatas in E-flat, in
which the slow movement is in E major.
=Third Movement=.—The lively third movement is frequently in the
lighter form of the Rondo, or it may be a set of Variations, or a
Minuet. This movement, though sprightly, is apt to be somewhat thin in
its harmonies, and trivial in development. Nevertheless, these last two
movements show an expansion of the forms of the older writers, and a
definiteness of character which insured their future development.
=Definiteness and Unity=.—This element of absolute definiteness is the
most striking feature of Haydn’s work—definiteness none the less in
the general form than in each individual component. Each part of each
section ends with a cadence, giving it absolute finality, and making
the whole a combination of small entities, which, though distinct, are
yet relevant and nicely balanced.
=Humor and Freshness=.—Another quality which he introduced was
that of humor, which is prominent not only in the general tone of
geniality, but in little unexpected twists of harmony, melody or
rhythm, which give an irresistibly comic effect. Especially is this
true in his symphonies, where the various tone colors are used for such
results. Especial mention should also be made of his Masses, in which
tunefulness of melody and sprightly rhythms combine to give an enduring
popularity. Altogether, Haydn’s work is redolent of the spring of
musical activity, where the novelty of each harmonic effect is employed
with an outburst of joy, and where one travels, as it were, through a
sunny garden, filled with the flowers of musical thoughts.