Franz Joseph Haydn: The Erdödy String Quartets

Reading Daniel Boorstin's fascinating The Creators has just included a chapter of the innovators of 18th century classical music, including the great Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809), whose phenomenal portfolio includes over a hundred symphonies, more than eighty string quartets, an immense number of piano works, and much else.  As Boorstin observed and echoed in the liner notes to the Naxos recording of the composer's string quartets, published in 1799, and dedicated to the Hungarian Count Josef Georg von Erdödy, Haydn was long-blessed with an enthusiastic and generous patron, Prince Nicolaus Esterházy, and he was able to generate the massive quantity and superlative quality of work over nearly thirty years.  When the prince died in 1790, his successor and brother was not musically inclined at all, so Haydn left and enjoyed two fruitful periods in London.  He then returned to work for the new prince of Esterházy, both at the family palace at Eisenstadt, as well as at Vienna, where Haydn lived until his death.

In 1797, he completed a half-dozen string quartets, dedicated to Count Erdödy, and the first three of the set comprise this disc, recorded in 1989.  They are performed beautifully by the Kodály Quartet, formed in Budapest, Hungary in the mid-1960s, and which has recorded the complete string quartets of Haydn, as well as those of Beethoven and Schubert.  The last of the trio of pieces, known as the Emperor Quartet, is the most widely known because of its quiet, stately and gorgeous second movement melody, written from the composer's "Emperor's Hymn" for the Emperor Franz of Austria and inspired by Haydn's hearing of "God Save the Queen" when in England. Also impressive is the first quartet with its sprightly first movement, its gorgeous and understated second movement, and its uplifting finale.

Franz Joseph Haydn: Symphonies Nos 1-20

A recent reading of a biography of the remarkable composer Charles Ives by the equally distinctive composer Henry Cowell and his wife Sidney, included some interesting perspectives by Ives about the "pretty music" made by composers of bygone eras.  This also came out in a reading several years ago of Harry Partch's Genesis of a Music.  In both cases, highly idiosyncratic composers seeking to exercise their creativity in breaking molds and expanding ideas outside traditional areas of melody, harmony and time offered pointed criticisms of "pretty music."

For this listener, music is usually about mood.  In other words, what do we feel like listening to today based on a number of factors?  Where Ives, Partch and many others felt the need to make a clean break, at least theoretically, from their precursors, there may be times for this blogger in which their music, say, Ives' "General William Booth Enters Into Heaven" or Partch's "The Bewitched" sounds really appealing.

Then again, there are those times when "pretty music" is best suited for a certain frame of mind.  As often as we may have heard Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky and other purveyors of "pretty music," those composers and their works just happen to fit a mood at a given time.

The reasons are not entirely clear from a technical standpoint to this amateur, but the music of Franz Joseph Haydn is particularly appealing a great deal of the time. It stands to reason that his brilliance in perenially writing beautiful, flowing, lilting melodies with a steady and confident handling of harmony in a consistent and reliable sense of time make his music so attractive that it is easy to go back regularly to indulge in the richness and emotionally uplifting dynamics of his work.

An excellent presentation of the master's 104 symphonies is through the Esterhazy recordings by the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Orchestra led by conductor Adam Fischer on Nimbus Records.  The orchestra was built to play the composer's music with a conductor and performers deeply committed to performing these works with the passion and feel that shines through on these recordings.

The only reason that this initial set of the first numbered symphonies, which are not necessarily those in order of actual composition, though they are all early (meaning around 1760), is the subject of this post, rather than some other set in the series, is that, eventually, the whole run will be featured.

Basically, for this admirer, the work of Haydn is full of "pretty music" that will be uplifting at just about any time. As much as more atonal and dissonant work has interest, given the mood at the moment, it's hard to go wrong by listening to Haydn's symphonies at any time, especially when they are as well performed as they are by the orchestra on these recordings.

Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 64, #s4-6

From the late 1980s on the German budget label, Pilz, comes this fine recording of three of Haydn's best-known string quartets, filled with gorgeous melody, rich harmony and excellent playing by the Caspa da Salo Quartet.

Composed in 1790 and often called the Tost quartets after Johann Tost, a Hungarian violinist who assisted the composer in finding a publisher for much of his work and who is given a dedication by Haydn for the Op. 64 works, this trio includes the fifth, called the "Lark Quartet", and which is one of the most famous of his pieces.

All six of the set are remarkable works.  The quality of these pieces reflect Haydn's full development, by his sixties, of both the string quartet and the symphony genres.

They were also written just as the maestro was ending a decades-long employment at the Esterhazy court and soon to be sent to London, where he reached new levels of fame with some of his late symphonies.

When it comes to bargain-basement budget classical labels, Pilz is probably the most notable of all.  This blogger has hundreds and hundreds of classical recordings, many on high-end labels, and quite a few on Naxos, Pilz and other budget ones, and does not have any pretension as to knowledge or deep understanding of the technical underpinnings of the music.  But, this recording and the few dozen others from Pilz are enjoyable.

Click here an interesting take on what the Pilz series has to offer for the "frugal" classical music consumer--this was definitely relatable!

Franz Josef Haydn: Symphonies 94. 99 and 101 & Concerto For King Ferdinand, No. 5

This double-disc budget release on the German Pilz label from 1990 features fine performances of three of the great Haydn's later symphonies by the Philharmonia Slavonica, the Süddeutsch Philharmonie and the Camerata Romana--none known in the upper echelons of orchestras or smaller ensembles, but still excellent nonetheless.

Haydn was one of the modern developers of the symphony, though the form was still relatively brief at roughly 25 minutes for each four-movement work, even in the composer's later years--nothing like the gargantuan works by Mahler, Bruckner and others who followed a century and more later.  These were also not monumental sonic blockbusters as with those later composers and were, instead, lighter, more melodic and, yet, still quite rich and complex.

Each of the three symphonies featured in this set was composed during Haydn's first stay in London.  The Symphony #94 was written in 1791 and is usually denoted as the "Surprise Symphony" because of a famed little joke the composer inserted in its second movement.  There is a quiet passage with piano when suddenly a quick loud fortissimo burst erupts from the orchestra before the movement resumes its ambient quietude.  A biographer asked the aged composer whether this was done to awaken a sleeping audience member, to which Haydn replied, "No, but I was interested in surprising the public with something new."

The Symphony #99 was written in late 1793 and premiered early the next year on Haydn's second visit to England and is notable for being the first of the composer's symphonic works to feature clarinets.  Coming at around the same time and premiered within a couple of months as the other, the Symphony #101 is usually known as the "Clock Symphony" because of a notable "ticking" rhythm in its second movement.  As with most of the dozen London (or Salomon, after Johann Peter Salomon, a musician, composer, and impresario who brought Haydn to Britain) symphonies, it was very warmly received and, like the others, is frequently performed.

The fifth concerto for King Ferdinand of Naples (later of "The Two Sicilies" in Italy originally featured a pair of that monarch's favorite instrument, an Italian one similar to a hurdy-gurdy.  Modern performances forego that unusual sound and soloists usually feature flutes and oboes.  The second and third movements of the concerto, which was completed in 1786, were recycled the following year in Haydn's Symphony #89.

Haydn is often overshadowed by Mozart, who was a generation younger, but his later works in particular are amazing and the composer became a favorite of this listener from the time his music was first heard a quarter century ago, in 1990.  These symphonies are timeless classics that never get old or timeworn.

Franz Josef Haydn: Symphonies 94 and 100

Born in 1732 to a wheelwright and a cook in a small hamlet in Austria near the Hungary border, Franz Josef Haydn grew to be a towering figure in 18th-century music, known as a key developer of both the modern symphony and string quartet.  He also was highly influential in the popularity of piano trees and the sonata form of composition.

Haydn struggled to establish himself as an independent musician and then found work as a music director (or Kapellmeister) for a nobleman before taking the same type of position for the Esterhazy family.  For three decades, until about 1790, he worked for the family, who were avid music lovers who gave Haydn access to the material and personnel he needed to being a prolific and varied composing career.

Trips to London in the first half of the 1790s brought Haydn fame and money.  Two of the most famous of his 104 symphonies (though, at about 20-25 minutes each, they were far shorter than the gargantuan efforts of later symphonic composers like Bruckner or Mahler, which could go on for 80 minutes or so) were written in England and are featured in an excellently-recorded and packaged CD from The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded in 1994 and released six years later.

Haydn's remaining fifteen years were spent in Vienna and, though he retained his music director position with the Esterhazy's, though on a part-time basis, he continued to work independently, composing some well-regarded oratorios, a trumpet concerto, and his final string quartets.  By 1802, however, his health was failing and he had to give up composition.  He died in May 1809, just as Napoleon was invading Vienna, at age 77, and he stands with his good friend Mozart as a giant of his era and a major influence on his student, Beethoven.

The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra performances of the two symphonies, commonly referred to as the "Surprise" (94) and "Military" (100) are very nicely done and melodies known the world over abound in these two works.  In the "Surprise," composed and presented in 1792 during his first London sojourn, there is not only the famed melodic statement in the first movement, but the name comes from a point in the second movement in which a quietly-played series of variations on a melodic theme with piano is suddenly interrupted by a powerful blast by the orchestra before returning to its placid variations.  While it is said that Haydn did this to stir sleeping noble audiences during a quiet passage, he claimed otherwise, saying he was looking for something unusual to mark his British debut.  In any event, the novelty became renowned, even though the melodic beauty and rhythmic variations of the piece are exceptional.

The Military, so named because of the second movement's use of trumpet fanfares and percussive power, was an even greater success when it premiered in England two years after the "Surprise."  A gorgeous melody marks the first movement, even though the war-like bombast of the second garnered much attention. A folk-like theme in the finale has also been a major mainstay of the classical recordings and concert performances before more military-style percussion brings the piece to a powerful, unforgettable end.  This symphony also marked an early use of timpani (or kettle drums) as a solo device, in both the second movement and the finale.

Haydn may not be as famous or highly-regarded as his compatriot, Mozart, but he had a long, brilliant, and highly productive career, including many concertos, masses, operas, piano trios, string quartets and solo piano pieces.  Funnily enough, this CD was purchased at a Pic 'n Save along with others in the same series that will be highlighted here, but the performances are excellent and the sound quality is high.