UDK 785.74Haydn Sven H. Hansell (Wien)
Kapriciozne plati Haydnovega kvarteta: vzporednice med glasbenim fraziranjem in italijansko pesniško teorijo
A Capricious Aspect of a Haydn Quartet: Parallels Linking Musical Phrasing to Italian
Poetic Theory
Ključne besede: Joseph Haydn, capriccio, godalni kvartet, glasbeno-poetske strukture, ritmika, fraza
Izvleček
Haydnov Godalni kvartet op. 9, št. 6, kaže uporabo poetskih konvencij v glasbi. Zasnovan kot capriccio, prvi stavek razkriva labirintsko ritmično strukturiranost, ki je didaktična in zabavna obenem. Tabela glasbenih ritmov in seznam tipov glasbenih fraz dopolnjujeta analizo v glavnem besedilu.
Keywords: Haydn, Capriccio, String quartet, Mu-sico-poetic structures, Rhythm, Phrase
Abstract
Haydn's Quartet op. 9, no.6, illustrates the application of poetic conventions to music. Viewed as a Capriccio, movement 1 discloses a labyrinthine rhythmic structure both didactic and amusing. A table of musical rhythms and inventory of musical phrase types supplement analyses.
The capricious is usually cited in connection with the visual and literary arts. But I believe it may be encountered frequently in many a score ofJoseph Haydn. Though hardly ever using the term capriccio as a label for a work or a single movement, the essence of the capricious is more fundamentally disclosed in Haydn's oeuvres, I believe, than in those of any other composer born in the first half of the 18th century in German speaking lands. Since I do not equate the capriccio with the rhapsody or fantasy, the scherzando or divertimento, et al.—although these categories of music might well include capricious elements from time to time—I will begin my essay by turning directly to a single aspect of his music, namely, to a consideration of rhythm as a primary factor. This component, I will argue, expresses in Haydn's music that disposition of creative thought, which I believe nicely illustrates the idea of the capriccio as formulated and cultivated in much Western literature, art and music, since the late Renaissance.
The reader should not expect my including here merely a consideration of humorous qualities. On the contrary. I contend that Haydn's more intriguing and significant capricci are those that involve a system of unusual components, if not a mix of animating qualities that are most often quite earnest if not surprisingly discomfitting. Moreover, Haydn's finest musical constructions point to a didactic function. After all, the capricious often includes an element of puzzle which, like a labyrinth, threatens frustration at the same time it delights with promises of play and discovery, as well as serious instruction.1
To my mind, Haydn's Quartet in A Major, opus 9, number 6, illustrates several capricious tendencies. The quartet displays a great abundance of elements—especially the fairly lengthy, opening movement—along with an unmistakable, attractive quality of spontaneity and vigor. Or is vigor chiefly a quality to be added by performers, as seems the case in the recorded performance of the Buchberger String Quartet (C.D.: Brilliant Classics/Stemra 2004-5), what with its slower tempos and closer miking, in comparison to the Los Angeles String Quartet recording (C.D.: Philips, 2000), characterized by refined sound and far more rapid tempos. Surely, performance style can have very much to do with the focussing of our attention on a musical work's varied if not also vacillating aspects (or lack thereof). Besides, I agree with those, who believe that tempo is an aspect of rhythm and therefore can have very much to do with the character of individual passages as well as entire movements. But, in my essay before you, I strive to deal with Haydn's handling of rhythmic elements in such a way that details may be easily identified, and their effect analyzed objectively: I shall only speak of notated rhythm that the reader can see in the score and readily hear for him-/herself.
Surely, the listener will find in Haydn's A major Quartet, opus 9, no. 6, a complex of intriguing details, a near jumble—in comparison to many of Haydn's later string quar-tets—of different rhythms as well as contrasting melodic elements. I also believe that the process of locating Italianate, poetic rhythms in Haydn's melodic phrasing, should prove enlightening as well as amusing. Like a capricious imposition of procedures in one art (i.e., poetry) upon structural aspects in another art (here, music), the op. 9, no. 6quartet appears to be an unusually clear instance of the transfer of a modus operandi from one art to another. In other words, I am suggesting that, the exploitation of a systemic resemblance linking musical rhythm to rhythmic patterns in poetry amounts to structural elements in the one art heightening the emotional and/or intellectual component in the other art. Briefly stated once again: rhythmic qualities have been transferred from the linguistic to the musical medium with astonishing results. The analysis I give of the opening movement of the op.9, no.6quartet shows that Italian poetic rules can and do function efficiently, and with artistic ingenuity, within the structural procedures of Haydn's music.
Haydn's Phrasing of Melody
At some point early on—I conjecture—Haydn must have attempted to deal with the mechanics of musical phrasing in terms of Italian poetic theory, in order to achieve a
Years (Munich: Prestel Verlag, 2000), copiously illustrated and highly detailed. It also offers a fine bibliography.
flowing, lyrical style. But the poetic system into which he tapped, served not merely as one of several controls he could apply in musical works. The rhythmic elements he adopted and adapted may—arguably—have been especially productive thanks to their capacity to function quite independently of harmonic plan, of traditional musical structures, and even of performance practice (like tempo and playing style). Fortunately, the rhythmic system Haydn developed is capable of examination without the necessity of including, simultaneously, a thorough inspection of other musical aspects—especially harmonic details—within his music.
On the basis of all of Haydn's early quartets, it appears likely—I believe—that keen perspicasity (rather than mere happenstance) brought Haydn to insert the simple rules of Italian poetry into his musical bag of tricks! Permitting clarity and a certain consistency if not total homogeneity of patterns unfolding in time, his sometimes varied yet often reiterating poetic rhythms—so prominent in his compositions—insure that forward push to his musical phrases, ubiquitous in his compositions. Thus, la bellapoesia guided Haydn's composing of elegant flowing rhythms in order to achieve that semblance of human reflection, along with that "stop and go" quality of spoken exchanges, mixing lively with slow, or bold with tentative and gentle.
Poetic Ritmi
In order to get at the mechanics of Haydn's expressive gestures, I will describe in this essay his basis for rhythmic exploitations: namely, Italian ritmi (or ritmiche) identifying the poetic rhythms of differing lengths of Italian verse-lines, which permitted Haydn's achieving and controlling a lyric flow, along with that forward press or push, mentioned above. But taking yet a step farther, I suggest that Haydn's musical adoption of ritmi not only constituted a milestone in the development of his compositional skills: it also stimulated the expanding and refining of his own musical imagination.
The Table of Poetic Ritmi, which I give below, shows graphically how Italian verselines will vary in length from 4 to 11 syllables, and that there is a principle, accented syllable at or quite near the end of each line of verse, towards which a group of syllables push. The musical example appended to my paper (giving a large portion of the opening movement of Haydn's op. 9, no. 6), illustrates how Haydn achieved phrase-termination immediately following a barline: a circumstance so significantly different from some current, modern assumptions—at least, among American writers on the subject —that musical phrases normally begin immediately after the barline (so that, erroneously, the barline will function to mark the accented initiation of a phrase.2
When examining the musical score (showing a large portion of Haydn's op. 9, no.6) at the end of my essay, the reader will be greatly convenienced if he/she bears in mind
William Rothstein devotes a lengthy chapter (pp.125-183) of his book Phrase Rhythm in Tonal Music (N.Y. 1989) to Haydn's instrumental music; however, he has nothing to say regarding Italian ritmi, and makes it clear that, for him, phrases are not primarily goal directed: their basic structures are harmonically and melodically shaped by what I regard as "textbook representations" of conventional 2, 4, and 8 measure structures. That he promotes analysis in terms of "hypermeters," which reduce melodic phrases to a minimum of principle pitches, means that Rothstein hides any clear resemblance of poetic ritmi to the melodies he wishes to represent. To my mind, the relationship between a phrase and the location of a barline or barlines within it, will give that phrase a greater or less fluid quality. Thus, many an Italianate phrases in Haydn's music can be recognized from the flowing (often gentle) way it begins, as well as from the way it continues.
the above cited 18th-century Italian convention of expecting the end of Haydn's musical phrases (i.e., the last, accented note) at the downbeat of a measure. Once again, I emphasize my paper's principle point. The beginning of each of Haydn's musical phrases is never "kicked off" by an accented downbeat: the start of each phrase comes somewhere after the first beat of a measure: which is to say, it invariably starts on a weak beat of a measure. Only the last accented note of a phrase (like a terminal syllable of text located at or near the end of a line of poetic verse) is properly marked off by Haydn's bar-line. Please consult the many musical instances of this "rule"marked in the score at the end of my paper.
A Look at the Italian Rules of Poetry that Relate to Haydn's Melodic Writing
By the late 1760's, and continuing thereafter with exceptions chiefly for special effects, the resemblance of Haydn's musical phrases to 18th-century Italian ritmi (i.e, poetic rhythms) confronts the musician examining the melodies as well as textures of what I consider Haydn's basically Italianate- instrumental-style. Indeed! After careful examination of considerable music of Haydn and his contemporaries, it seems clear to me that, already in Haydn's earliest sets of string quartets, the characteristic of forward movement and elegant flow towards the termination of each phrase of melody (as just described) is ever to be found. Perhaps this circumstance helped many an 18th-century listener conversant with Italian literature to hear in Haydn's instrumental-music not only a close resemblance, but perhaps also a direct reference to some well-known poetic lines. At moments, a semblance of improvisation, as well as shifts back and forth between complexity and simplicity—if not also concentrated reasoning exploded by light humor—are brought to the rhythmical surface of Haydn's music from within the core of a sonorous substance. And like the labyrinth mentioned above, Haydn's music occasionally discloses not only forward motion, but an impression of restarts, redirected thought, and even startling contradictions hightened by unexpected breaks in an otherwise smoothly poetized continuum. To my mind, Haydn developed a technique allowing—nay encouraging—extraordinary flexibility of rhythmic expression impinging on nearly every other aspect of his musical style, including that intriguing succession of unexpected events he seems to have sought and achieved in his music, time and again.3
My annotations (i.e., numbers and other symbols) to the principal melody for the first violin in the opening movement of opus 9, no.6 (shown in the musical score at the end of this essay), identify phrase-types that will be cited and described in the next section of this paper.
Mathematical reflection, as opposed to poetic analysis, seems to be Rothstein's chief interest: cf. fn. 2 above. In principle, this bias is also a motivating element in analyses of Heinrich Schenker — highly regarded and influencial in the U.S. today — whose influence on Rothstein is unmistakable. On the other hand, one could speak of a tradition already in Haydn's day, of promoting a basically mathematical approach to music (although I do not suggest here that Haydn would have agreed with such approaches). E.g., the Spanish mathematician Antonio Eximeno (1729-1808), whose Del' origine e delle regole della musica (Rome 1774) and a few later publications, created a furor in his day. Cf. the discussion on Eximeno in Enrico Fubini: Music & Culture in Eighteenth-Century Europe (Chicago, 1994), pp. 340-46, et passim, along with Padre Martini's distrust of what he considered Eximeno's unacceptable mathematical approach to texted, choral music.
An Examination of Poetic Ritmi, and Musical Phrasing in Haydn's Op. 9, no.6, Quartet in A major (1st movement)
A description of musical phrases in terms of ritmi, i.e., poetic rhythms of Italian poetry, should help the reader locate both accented and non-accented notes, as they are exhibited in the first movement of Haydn's A major Quartet opus 9, no. 6. Thus, my Table of Musical Ritmi below, cites the poetic meters and their modifications, encountered in the first movement of this A major String Quartet. On the other hand, my narrowly focussed Inventory of Ritmi of the First Movement opus 9, no.6, which I also provide below (but after the Table), discloses the frequency of occurrence of different types of musico-poetic phrases within this same first movement. Thus, measure numbers will help the reader not only locate, but compare, musical similarities within each class of ritmi as they are displayed in Haydn's opening movement.
The reader will probably discover that he/she will not encounter difficulties memorizing the basic principles of my Table of Ritmi since a few technical terms, which recur frequently, are distinguished in three basic categories, all nicely illustrated in Haydn's movement under consideration. Thus, a musical phrase:
1)	may consist of the normal, full number of notes defining the phrase-type (commonly called "pieno"); or
2)	may be truncated, i.e., missing the terminal, unaccented note, normally following the principle, accented one (therefore called "tronco"); or
3)	may be extended by a single extra note, creating a pair of notes following the principle, accented one at the end of the poetic line or phrase ("sdrucciolo").
My Table of Ritmi therefore shows that portion of the poetic system (in terms of the syllable count possible in each phrase type) upon which Haydn relied when composing his op. 9, no. 6. On the other hand, my Inventory, of the Ritmi in the 1st Half of the First Movement op. 9, no.6 (first violin part), that appears a page later in this essay, supplies the measure-numbers of each occurence of seven different basic phrase lengths (i.e., from the four-note phrase, "quadernario", through to the ten-note phrase ("decasillabo"), all to be found in the quartet's opening movement. I do not find eleven-note or longer phrases in the Haydn movement under consideration, although Italian poetic theory does allow the 11-syllable line ("endecasillabo") as the longest of those poetic lines frequently encountered from the 17th through the 18th century (and in theory, to the present day).
The reader should also be cognizant of the fact that Haydn's entire movement contains 133 measures, but that it is cast in two repeated halves (totalling 266 measures if both halves are repeated as indicated in Haydn's score). Therefore, my statistics given here merely cover the movement as were it performed once through, without repeats.
The Inventory of Ritmi of the First Movement—given shortly after my Table of Ritmi—identifies the location of each type of phrase within Haydn's movement. Because it uses Italian terminology (i.e., labels used in poetic analyses today), a few additional comments are made here to clarify alternative lengths, which is to say, distinctive shapes, each ritmo may assume.
Hopefully, the reader will consult my Inventory in conjunction with an examination of the musical score (reduced to the 1st violin and cello parts in my transcription) at the
end of my essay. My musical reduction includes horizontal brackets designating the first violin's ritmi, and between staffs (where space permits), the name of each ritmo. Most importantly, a circled number within each ritmo, identifies the primary accent belonging to that ritmo. A plus-sign, identifying the system's permitted addition of a single unaccented note, changes the normal (pieno) phrase into an extended (sdrucciolo) phrase. Also permitted, according to traditional Italian poetic rules, is the deletion of a terminal unaccented syllable (for Haydn, the corresponding unaccented note, at the same location) to create the so-called tronco (or truncated line). All of these details are included as words and/or numbers in my musical reduction.
If not initially, then eventually, the reader should try to consult my Table, my Inventory, and my Musical Reduction together, because redundancies of information deliberately included, will reassure the reader of his/her grasp of terminology pointing to musical functions, and varying musico-poetic contexts. On the other hand, should the reader wish to examine my Table of Ritmi first, and by itself, I offer the following introductory overview of ritmi as encountered in Haydn's music.
A Preliminary Description of my Table of Ritmi
For the convenience of the reader, I abbreviate un-accented and accented syllables with two signs (resembling the letter "u" and slash "/" respectively). In the first case, the quadernario—generaHy abbreviated 4rio or 4riopieno in modern literary sources—refers to the poetic line normally of four syllables [uu/u], and is therefore called 4riopieno, or full. Secondly, if it is lacking its final unstressed (i.e., un-accented) syllable, it is named 4rio tronca. [uu/], which is to say truncated. Thirdly, if it has an extra unstressed syllable after the 4th or last syllable of its so-called normal or full poetic shape), it is named 4rio sdrucciolo. [uu/uu]. But important to bear in mind is that the simple designation 4rio, may be used to identify the 4rio sdrucciolo as well as other length of 4rio lines, because the basic, most important information that the term quatternario or "4rio" discloses, is the exact location of its primary, accented syllable (always in the same position; always the 3rd syllable). In other words, a single type of phrase may include different possible lengths. But this circumstance has a raison d'etre that is very simple. The crucial point to commit to memory is that the designation 4rio (in all its guises) tells us exactly where the principle accent of a musical phrase (and of a poetic phrase in the case of texted music) is located. This information is significant, and fortunately, quite easy to see in a musical score, as well as to hear in performance.
Let me also remind the reader that the principle accent at the end of an Italian poetic line set to music for singing, will always be placed just after the barline, i.e., on the downbeat! To wit: the defining syllable of a poetic line must always coincide with the defining, accented note of a musical phrase, which the reader should now expect immediately after the barline. Fortunately, such musical technicalities as these, are extraordinaily easy to observe, since the system of ritmi is constructed as were it not only to regulate poetic expression, but to simplify analysis. The musician needs only to count back from the principle accent (almost always marked off by the barline) in order to see how many syllables there are—which in turn defines the type of musical phrase in question.
Surely, the simple rules spelled out here, make clear why an Italian poem (and Haydn's music, even when he mixes different phrase lengths in succession) must flow so nicely. The accented syllable (or note) near or at the end of a poetic line (like a musical phrase), can be positioned to insure a uniform pulse or rhythmic flow that pulls syllables (notes) towards termination, where speaker (musician) will momentarily breathe or relax to signal the end of a "thought".
In the same way that Haydn employed the 4rio (phrase of four notes), he exploited phrases of five through ten-notes, in his Opus 9, no. 6, A Major Quartet, and in a way consistent with the scheme of poetic-lines of Italian poetic theory. As the reader will see, I give a schematic representation of Haydn's musical phrases in my Table of Ritmi. Hence, this table is chiefly meant to emphasize the fact that, while the principles of musico/poetic procedures are consistent, lengths of phrases (in syllable-counts and note-counts) are flexible.4
Regarding the poetic line named endecasillabo (for the eleven-syllable line), I have not seen its musical equivalent within the Opus 9 Quartet movement. Moreover, it is interesting that there is no verse-line of twelve-syllable length in Italian poetic theory, in light of the fact that, one may add two lines of quadernario (i.e., 4 syllables) together to create an ottonario (8 syllables). And one may not—according to common poetic practices—connect two differing lines (like 4rio plus 7rio to produce a line of 11 syllables, although I have seen this in a few Haydn's phrases in different works, here and there).5
Table of Musical Ritmi
My table below describes different ritmi of Italian poetry (which can be associated with various musical phrases in Haydn's Op. 9, no. 6). Thus, my letter "u" represents a note normally unstressed; my slanted stroke "/" stands for an accented note. The reader, presumably, will find these two symbols clear and convenient for marking un-accented and accented musical notes, respectively, in analyses of Haydn's other musical scores (as well as all of the Italian poetry of his era).
N.B. I use the standard abbreviation -rio when designating an Italian verse-line, like 4rio for quadernario (i.e., the four-syllable line). However, Italian ten- and eleven-syllable verse-lines demand the suffix sillabo. Thus, decasillabo for the ten syllable line is abbreviated 10bo.
As pointed out and illustrated, the abbreviation 4rio stands for the poetic line of four syllables: quadernario. This, and similar abbreviations, is widely encountered in Italian guide books on literature. (Cf. Putnam Aldrich's Rhythm in 17th-Century Italian Monody, op.cit., pp.14-15, for primary sources of the 17th century, and pp.105-9, et passim, for published explications of the 17th but also 19th- & 20th-century.) Virtually all of Aldrich's sources discuss the verse lengths including the five-syllable line: quinario, the six: senario, the seven: settenario, the eight: ottonario, the nine: novenario, and the ten: decasillabo, abbreviated 10bo.
Cf. again, Aldrich: Rhythm in Seventeenth-Century Italian Monody. Although his chpt. 5 (pp.103-133), devotes space to poetic rhythms in 17th-century Italy, this earlier century's solo vocal music is extremely simple in comparison to the instrumental movements of Haydn under consideration here. Nonetheless, Aldrich's application of terminology and descriptions thereof, are excellent and fully applicable here.
Quadernario
4rio tronco: uu/ Quinario 5rio tronco: uuu/ Senario
6rio tronco: u/uu/
Settenario
7rio tronco: u/uuuu/
Ottonario
8rio tronco: uu/u uu/
Novenario
9rio tronco: uu/uuuu/
9rio pieno: u/uu/uu/u 9rio sdrucciolo: uu/uu/u/uu
5rio pieno: uuu/u
4rio pieno: uu/u
8rio pieno: uu/u uu/u 8rio sdrucciolo: uu/u uu/u
6rio pieno: u/uu/u
7rio pieno: u/uuu/u
5rio sdrucciolo: uuu/uu
4rio sdrucciolo: uu/uu
6rio sdrucciolo: u/uuu/uu
7rio sdrucciolo: u/uuu/uu
Decasillabo
10bo tronco: uu/uu/uu/ 10bo pieno: uu/uu/uu/u 10bo sdrucciolo: uu/uu/uu/uu Endecasillabo
11bo tronco, 11bo pieno & 11bo sdrucciolo: are in theory possible (but in Haydn's op.9 no.6 quartet they are not used).
An Inventory Citing the Occurence of Different Ritmi in the First Violin Part of Haydn's Quartet, op. 9, no. 6, (1st movement)
In my Inventory, below, measure-numbers refer to the location of one or several rhythmic elements within a musical phrase, which I equate with a poetic ritmica, so that the reader may locate each phrase but also observe its frequency of utilization within Haydn's movement. By now, the reader will know that I use the word ritmi or ritmiche (having borrowed this technical terms from Italian poetic theory) to describe musical phrases in Haydn's movement. When a ritmica (singular of ritmi) is repeated one or more times to stretch over several measures, I show (in my inventory) such linked measures by means of a dash. Thus, 63-67 does not mean that a statement of a single 4rio tronco has been stretched out over five measures, but that there are several different quinari phrases occuring in succession, through these five measures. The reader is urged to consult a full score in order to grasp more fully the character of varying phrase lengths and shapes in succession (details which I choose not to crowd into my inventory). On his or her own, the reader should find, by consulting a score, how many statements of a single, repeating rhythm may be linked within a series of consecutive measures. Moreover, I indicate phrase-groups as briefly as I can, not only because I wish to shorten and simplify my chart: I also want to call attention to the occasional repetition of a single rhythm, even though Haydn's op.9, no.6, 1st mov't., includes but a few series of a single, specific phrase type.
Unless otherwise stated, ritmiche cited here are in the hands of the first violinist, who, like a concerto-soloist, dominates the three accompanying players of the string quartet.
Inventory of Ritmi in the first half of the 1st Movement, Op. 9, no. 6. 1st Violin Part only.
4rio tronco: measures 7. 10. 63-67. 89-90. 105-6. 113. & 115.
4riopieno: measures 4-5. 16-17. 30 & 52-53.
4rio sdrucciolo: no instance.
5rio tronco:measures 6. 14-15. 85. 92. 107-8. 105-6. 107-8.
5riopieno: measures 24. 30-31. 86-87. 116-23.
5rio sdrucciolo: measures 6. 26-29. 68-84. 91. 103-4. 110-11. 130-33.
6rio tronco: measures 3. 13. 91-2. 123-5. (and 2nd vl: 128-29. 131-33)
6riopieno: measures 1-2. 8-9. 46-51. 93-94. 126-27.
6rio sdrucciolo: measures 87-88. 131-32.
7rio tronco: measures 18-19. 40-41. 116-23.
7riopieno: measures 20. 96-99. 128-29.
7rio sdrucciolo: measures 21-23. 32-39.
8rio tronco: measures 58-59.
8riopieno: measures 52-57. 96-102. 110-14.
8rio sdrucciolo: measures 11-12. 112.
9rio tronco: no instance.
9rio pieno: measures 60-62. 86.
9rio sdrucciolo: measures 42-45. 93-95.
lObo tronco: no instance.
lObo pieno: measures 60-62.
lObo sdrucciolo: no instance.
N.B. There is no instance of the 11-syllable line (the endecasillabo, in any of its three possible forms: tronco, pieno or sdrucciolo) in this quartet by Haydn. As far as I have been able to ascertain, the endecasillabo seems to have been used but rarely in 18th-century Italian poetry. On the other hand, there are in the Opus 9, no.6Quartet a few unusual combinations of different ritmiche occuring simultaneously as well as successively. Unhappily, some measures (110-113 for example) show phrasing (i.e., ritmi) that may represent errors of editors who do not read Haydn's intentions correctly—per-haps—because they think in terms of modern phrasing or bowing instead of looking for possible or typical 18th-century markings in conjunction with likely articulations and/or harmonic details.6
The Ever Lingering Possibility of Capriccious Elements
I hope that technical details I cite in conjunction with the idea of poetic patterns serving as models for a musical phrases, may seem to the reader akin to a capricious practice, which is to say, a manipulating of intellectual elements to achieve an artistic consistency promoting qualities of flow with subtly articulated rhythmic accents. Involved,
H.C.Robbins Landon. N.B.: measures 116-23, of the Opus9, no. 6, first movement, are also quite unusual in that a syncopated, or off-beat pattern, tends to obscure what I consider 5riopieno (as I have indicated in my inventory above).
surely, is an ingenious trick—if my interpretations are correct—despite those poetic-musical linkages anticipated (in principle) in Italian monodic song of the 17th century (this earlier repertory being the subject of Putnam Aldrich's book, cited in footnotes 4 & 5 above). Nonetheless, Haydn played an important role by re-inventing (or rather, re-applying) a connection between the mechanics of poetry and music, and doing so with highly sophisticated, and far more complex instrumental means, unquestionably outstripping those of 17th-century monodic songs and dances. If I single out Haydn for special praise, it is because I fail to locate contemporaries in German or Italian speaking lands, that reach Haydn's artistic level of manipulating rhythmic complications until after they would have had opportunity in the closing decades of the 18th century to have studied his published scores.
Future research into the so-called Period of Classicism and into Haydn's role in the 18th century, may object to any isolation of Haydn from a large group of German-, Slovak-, and even Italian-speaking composers, in order to assign him a special position in the development of instrumental forms. But Haydn's manipulations of ritmi as I view them (coordinated with ever more complex harmonic, contrapuntal and tonal structures in conjunction with orchestrations for ensembles both large and small) indicate to me a pathbreaking achievement. A close reading of works by numerous composers I have examined in the Kaiser Sammlung at Vienna's National Library and elsewhere, make me reflect that, decade for decade, Haydn's high level of inventive manipulation of ritmi is neither matched, nor anticipated, in repertories written by other composers.7
Closing remarks on Haydn's String Quartet in A, op. 9, no. 6
In one sense, my Inventory may produces a misleading view of Haydn's first movement of op. 9, no. 6 quartet. Being organized not chronologically but somewhat casually by phrase-types (albeit for the sake of the reader's convenience), my Inventory turns the continuity and unfolding of Haydn's movement into a jumble of information that does not bear directly on the gradual unfolding of musical gestures, and therefore fails to link rhythmic phrases with longer melodic shapes, let alone the succession of tonalities that do so much to determine larger aspects of this movement's form. (E.g., the first movement's opening section is in the tonic A major, the second in the dominant E major, etc.). However, my Inventory should direct attention to the individual shapes of phrase-types on the micro-level of individual notes, and of separated clusters of notes. It also endeavors to teach the reader how many rhythms are involved in a single movement, as it teases the reader into looking at different melodic elements reconfigured in different shapes.
But, nothing I say here denies the point that Haydn's brisk tempo (presto) for the opening movement does much to insure continuity, if not the semblance of an improvised highly charged, forward motion. The fast tempo may well have been a tactic to fool the listener into an acceptance of a rare, irregular continuity of musical patterns. Surely,
Warren Kirkendale's study of the Kaiser Sammlung is included in the English, expanded revision of his German doctoral dissertation (Vienna 1966). Entitled Fugue and Fugato in Rococo & Classical Chamber Music (Duke University Press 1979), this book surveys with splendid commentaries many Haydn scores in MS. Although he does not include consideration of Italian poetic phrasing per se, he remains ever deeply concerned with styles, textures, and structures of this repertory.
a slower presentation of Haydn's mix of ritmi would not and could not have generated the exciting results, which Haydn's Presto signals.
I hope my analysis of this opening movement offers a strong case for the hypothesis that, by the late 1760's, Haydn had grasped the musical value to borrowing and exploiting basic principles of Italian poetry in a creative way that 18th-century literati would never have attempted or even contemplated, limited as they were to the medium of the spoken word alone. Thus, it was Haydn's idea, I assume, to let a capricious situation be set forth by means of an artistic medium—I mean music—allowing an amalgamation of elements that few Italian poets considered, and then only began to explore in experiments of the 20th century (as the avant guard began delving into complex rhythmic juxtapositions of traditionally incompatible elements).
The opening, presto of the opus 9 no. 6, is an inventory, if not a guide to the exploitation of Italian ritmiche by exploiting finely nuanced rhythms, in a plethora of ways. I argue that so much data is displayed in my Table and Inventory, that Haydn's inventive knack cannot be brushed aside or simply attributed to accident. The information is elegant in its adherence to a simple, basic system.
Or does the movement under consideration gain its corherence thanks to a simple natural phenomenon? Would it be reasonable, for example, to suppose that Haydn's opening movement discloses melodic rhythms that describe the flow of a fast-moving river, with a pluality of currents caused by hidden yet disrupting stones on the river-bed. My image of moving water is apt, perhaps, if it helps suggest why both the Buchbinder String Quartet, and the Los Angeles Quartet seem successful, despite very different performance tempos, in projecting or describing disruptions in the melodic flow. A comparison of their performances in such terms may suggest that a hidden, rocky structure under water are akin to elements shaping musical phrases to display differing surface qualities (i.e., in the 1st violin part, of course).
The Origins of Haydn's compositional technique?
Surely, the origins of Haydn's compositional method would be very interesting to know. After a bit less than a decade serving the Esterhazy Court, Haydn had incorporated to a notable extent, it would seem, the musical equivalence of Italian prosody into his compositions. But what linguistic guidance, specifically, might he have enjoyed in the process of learning about poetic ritmi? What nicely honed judgements had he and his aristocratic patrons possibly exchanged and pondered? And what artistic counselling may he have seized but to refine?
Surely, the opening decade of service at Esterhazy must have meant for Haydn a period of maturation as music historians generally contend, but without—I believe—pointing toward the technical system that made expansion of forms as well as artistic expression so extraordinarily significant throughout his later career. The many dozens of quartet movements I have examined closely, convince me that a re-examination of manuscript sources is needed along with a detailed inventory of the many instances of poetic rhythms that crowd his instrumental music to the very end of his career!
A few final musical examples.
On the next page I give the two-staff reduction of the op. 9, no. 6, to which I have referred occasionally throughout my essay. I regret that my transcription of the opening movement of the Quartet in A major, op. 9, no. 6 is lacking parts for 2nd violin and viola; and yet the resulting treble-bass texture, along with my added labels do identify the types of ritmi, and the accented notes of each ritmo encircled. With this skeleton score in hand, the reader may be guided, initially, in examining prominent features of the quartet's 1st movement. Although my reduction is also limited to the first half of the movement, it should suffice to illustrate the character and large number of different ritmi (as cited in my Table of Ritmi, above). Despite the possibility that this movement may never gain the public admiration shown so many other Haydn quartet movements, it does seem to me that this relatively early work is an astonishingly fine demonstration of the flexibility and control of the mechanics of composition mastered already by the late 1760s.
In order to illustrate Haydn's continuing though slightly different handling of ritmi, I include below a brief musical excerpt from the London Symphony in D major, no. 104, of 1795, that will remind the reader of Haydn's propensity to charm and amuse the English public. In my brief example, disruptions, which I have marked, interrupt the melodic flow, but not the continuity of a single ritmo: the quinario in this instance is humorously extended (as I trust my markings suggest).
In Haydn's Minuet of the Quartet in B-flat of 1797, op. 76, no. 4, nicknamed Sunrise, the two violins alternate to produce the standard 6rio, or "six syllable rhythm", which by definition has accents on the 2nd and 5th "syllable". As the two violins wait for each other, rests are used as markers. Such rests are also encountered in many other works. But I show the start of the quartet's 3rd movement, Minuet, to suggest that, because there is no three-syllable line permitted in the scheme of Italian poetic rhythms, the two violins must cooperate to produce the standard 6rio or six syllable rhythm. (with accents on the 2nd and 5th syllable as just mentioned). Thus, the two violins must be interrupting as they complete each others' remarks. We see (and hear, of course) a detail pointing to the fact that, for Haydn, the tradition of Italian poetics was never abandoned, even when his musical ideas were extremely simple, disarmingly so! Or is there a hidden trick at hand? However that may be, I rather like the idea that Haydn would have enjoyed provoking music-lovers and scholars to disagreements, especially when his phrasing is so remarkably unassuming, nearly naive, in its simplicity.
It is intriguing to suppose that the relatively complicated capricci of Haydn's earlier works gradually yielded to broader, more obviously displayed gestures. His addressing of a wider public in later works may have driven subtleties aside? And yet, the countless examples I believe I find in late symphonies, as well as chamber music, suggest that the composer ever remained faithful to a cultivation of the capriccio, and specifically, the capricci exploiting the rhythmic components of his music.
Appendix: analytical scores