One thing that I become more and more aware of as I wander through the Haydn symphonies is how beautifully integrated the melody, harmony and rhythm are. The rhythmic creativity of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven is often neglected, but is actually crucial to the whole musical concept. Take the first movement to the Symphony No. 47. There is a particular mood created by all the musical elements that is, as all musical moods, not quite describable in words, but the words "jaunty" and "sauntering" come to mind. Here is the opening:
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The movement unfolds rather as might be expected until here:
This comes right where we might expect the recapitulation. But instead of G major, Haydn gives us G minor! And he underlines it by recapitulating the whole first part of the exposition in minor. Then, where the triplets came in in the exposition, he just switches back to G major and continues the rest of the recapitulation as if nothing had happened. In some pieces we might have a false recapitulation that comes too early or in the wrong key, but this seems to be a real recapitulation--just in minor, not major which breaks all the rules, of course. You may have noticed that Haydn doesn't follow the rules and this is for the simple reason that all these supposed "rules" about sonata form date from the 19th century and later. They are supposed to be codifying the standard practices of people like Haydn, but it is pretty obvious that there is no such thing as "standard practice" for him. Every really good piece of music is unique...
The lovely second movement is like garlands of harmonic flowers that keep twining around one another. It begins with a theme thirty measures long--here is the first part:
There follow four variations. The first three are in increasing note-values: first sixteenths, then sextuplet sixteenths and thirty-seconds. The fourth variation returns to the eighth notes. Everything comes to a halt, there is an unexpected D minor chord--an echo of the unexpected G minor in the first movement as this movement is in D major, then a few more garlands and the movement is over.
The third movement, a minuet and trio, is why this symphony is nicknamed "Palindrome". As you know, the term comes from language where a palindrome, such as the phrase "Able was I, ere I saw Elba", is the same read forwards or backwards. Haydn writes the minuet and trio so that the second half of each is the same as the first half played backwards. Here is the complete score:
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The last movement is so fast it is performed one beat to the bar: what I mean is that the conductor just needs to beat once for each measure. The whole movement is based on this theme which is like a seed from which everything else grows:
The whole effect is of a brilliant, intense, hard-driving juggernaut.
Now let's listen to the whole symphony. Here is Christopher Hogwood and the Academy of Ancient Music:
6 comments:
That "palindrome" movement is just wonderful. For me, this is a great example of compositional complexity that is still musical, rather than it being a technical exercise.
Haydn was always a very practical musician. It is only since the 20th century that we have composers that seem to write music of such abstract complexity that most listeners can't fathom what is going on.
This is a great analysis of a wonderful symphony. It's such a pity that it isn't better known. The reference to 'garlands of flowers' in the second movement is so appropriate. This is an effect often seen in the music of Haydn and Mozart which is sometimes termed 'summery' or 'fragrant' by commentators. The whole symphony is a masterpiece, and the music of a contented and happy man.
Hi John, and welcome to the Music Salon. Thanks for commenting on this older post.
Bryan, I am doing a report on Haydn's symphony no. 47 for a class. I need to describe specifically the: melody, harmony, rhythm, texture, timbre and form. Could you help?
Thanks Troy
I think I already did, Troy! Please feel free to quote my comments on the melody, harmony, rhythm, texture and form. I don't think I said much about timbre!
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