Saturday, June 16, 2018

Tricky Mr. Haydn

I'm still working my way through the Haydn box (up to CD 122!) and, indeed, still in the baryton trios. I was just listening to No. 28 in D and heard a minuet I have to share. Haydn delighted in putting both players and listeners off-balance and sometimes he would even do it in the usually very staid context of a minuet. Here is the third movement of the Baryton Trio No. 28 in D:


Now doesn't that sound weird? Sounds like they just stop and add a beat every now and then. Haydn creates this illusion by fooling you as to where the downbeat is:

Click to enlarge

If you notice, the first note is tied over from the third beat to the first so that you think that it is a half note on the downbeat. But no. You aren't quite sure where the downbeat us until the eighth measure. And then it starts all over again. 
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2 comments:

  1. Will WilkinJune 16, 2018 at 9:34 PM

    My sight reading is held back by my weakness in recognizing rhythm in the notation, though I am slowly improving. I don't yet count time though I try to keep a pulse in a gentle swing in my body, and enough to approximate a doubling of the time for every flag added to a note. I'm sure I don't quite have the rhythm to use a downbeat properly. Still, I enjoyed "playing" the menuetto and trio in this page, but I'm sure the composer would say I hacked it badly. But for me, it was fun!

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  2. Bryan TownsendJune 16, 2018 at 9:46 PM

    I like these trios quite a lot!

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