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EDITORIAL Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mq/article/XLV/4/515/1073999 by guest on 27 September 2021 Of all the great "Classics," Joseph Haydn, Mus. Doc. (Oxon.), Membre de l'lnstitut, honorary citizen of Vienna, etc., etc., was the most celebrated and admired in his lifetime, yet posterity has honored him with parochial condescension. From Bach to Berlioz and beyond the collected works of most great musicians known to the public have been published, a number of them having been the object of two or even three Oenvres Computes or Gesamtausgaben. But the great Breitkopf & Hartel edition of Haydn's works, begun in 1907, remained unfinished, ceasing publication in 1933. After the late war an American enterprise got started, bravely but rather naively attempting to remedy this situation. Unfortunately, after publishing four volumes, the over- extended Boston-Vienna Haydn Society collapsed, and the friends of the patient old master once more had to be satisfied with often faulty scores of the principal works while reams of the other compositions remained totally unknown. Even such important late masterpieces as the Masses were available only in Mr. Vincent Novcllo's unattractive arrangements. Finally, realizing that this is really their responsibility, for Haydn is one of the glories of German musical history, the Germans bestirred themselves and went to work in earnest The Joseph Haydn Institute was founded in Cologne under the presidency of Friedrich Blume, an experienced organizer and executive besides being a dis- tinguished scholar; and Jens Peter Larsen, the leading Haydn expert, was entrusted with the scholarly direction of the project The Institute has a fine home of its own, and what is most important, has secured the assistance of an extraordinary publisher, Giinter Henle. After considerable and thoroughgoing preparation, the first volumes in the familiar Hcnle-blue cover, beautifully printed and copiously edited and annotated, have appeared, accompanied by separate Revisionsberichte 515 516 The Musical Quarterly in a smaller, book-like format Some of the latter are not yet available but are on the way.1 As can be seen from the titles, the Haydn Institute very commendably did not begin its publications with the London Symphony or The Creation, but with works that are far less known, and in some instances entirely unknown to all but specialists who have examined the manu- Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mq/article/XLV/4/515/1073999 by guest on 27 September 2021 scripts. The baryton trios are among these, and they are certainly welcome, though we must confess that to wade through forty-seven of them is somewhat arduous. At that, we must brace ourselves for many more to come: Haydn's 1805 catalogue lists 125! Not that this Is bad music, far from it, but as a whole the species lacks the wonderful variety of the quartets. The reasons for this must be sought in the facts that the trios were turned out rapidly within a couple of years (Nos. 49-72 between 1767 and 1769, Nos. 73-96 within the next two years); that they are written for an unusual and somewhat limited ensemble; and that they were destined for the baryton-fancier Prince Nicholas Esterhazy. To this we must add that the baryton's vogue was quite restricted, and that the instrument's equipment, such as the number of strings (up to fifteen sympathetic strings of metal and six or seven gut strings), changed from builder to builder. Under these circumstances Haydn's achievement is remarkable enough. Though called "trios," these compositions are little divertimentos. Almost all of them have three short movements, usually following the adagio-allegro-menuetto pattern. The close similarity in substance and form attests their "serial" composition. In general one might say that the workmanship is neat, in many instances of true chamber-music quality, as for example in No. 53 or 59, where the texture is that of a finely worked string trio, but most of them amount to no more than pleasant Gebrauchsmusik of a rather specialized sort Everything is on a miniature scale — for instance a variation move- ment will consist of two or three variants, and the sonata movements are minuscule. The latter tend to be stereotyped, with, frequent em- ployment of a quite predictable fausse reprise, yet the great master of the sonata is often present if only for a few measures. The adagios, 1 Jostph Haydn, W*rki. Herausgegeben vom Joseph Haydn-Institut, K61n, unter der Leitung von Jens Peter Lanen. G. Henle Verlag, Munchen-Duisburg. Series XIV, Vol. 3, Baryton Trios Nos. 49-72; Vol. 4, Baryton Trios Nos. 73-96, ed. Hubert Unverricht; Series XXXI, Canons, ed. Otto Erich Deutsch; Series XXX, Part-Songs, ed. Paul Mies; Series XXIII, Vol. 2, Masses Nos. 5-8, ed. H. C. Robbins Landon in collaboration with Karl Heinz Ffissl and Christa Landon. Editorial 517 some of them stately and serious, still show elements inherited from the old trio sonata, with a chaconne turning up here and there, but the counterpoint does not even faintly compare with the impressive variety found in the quartets Op. 20. There is indeed an occasional fugue, as in No. 67, but the composer does not take it too seriously. Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mq/article/XLV/4/515/1073999 by guest on 27 September 2021 At times the score looks a little bare, but the graphic image is deceptive because the sympathetic strings can be plucked all the while the bow is engaged on the regular strings. The edition faithfully repro- duces Haydn's notation, indicating by numbers the metal strings to be plucked. However, since these numbers constitute a tablature, under- stood by the player only, and since there is a very remote chance that anyone other than the specialists bred and maintained by the Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft will ever play, or even see, the instrument, we cannot see the merit of this procedure. Would it not have been far more useful to add another, smaller, staff, rendering the plucked notes in the manner of a realized figured bass? If parts are to be issued for these trios—they would make excellent material for home and school use—we recommend that the part played by the sympathetic strings be assigned to a harpsichord, large lute, or guitar. The result would be pleasant without doing violence to the original. This is the more desirable because in many instances these trios are in reality for baryton solo with the accompaniment of viola and 'cello, written to satisfy the prince's vanity. Nicholas Esterhazy must have been an accom- plished player on the awkward instrument, because considerable ability is demanded by the runs, double stops, and the simultaneous bowing and plucking. According to Carpani, Haydn derived much benefit from the com- position of these trios, and Pohl is also of the opinion that this large amount of intimate chamber music was, so to speak, a proving ground for the maturing composer. It is perhaps not without significance that, aside from some arrangements, none of these trios was published in Haydn's lifetime, and it is doubtful that with the exception of a few single movements these arrangements were made public with his ap- proval. Yet this modern edition is not only praiseworthy but necessary. I can do no better than quote from Oliver Strunk's exhaustive and most informative article on these works.1 1 Haydn's Divertimenti for Baryton, Viola, and Bass, in The Musical Quarterly, XVIII (1932), 216. 518 The Musical Quarterly Since these divertimenti fill in for us what would otherwise be a break in the chain of development [in Haydn's style], it is almost imperative that they be given careful consideration. If they are the conscientious handiwork of an honest crafts- man rather than the spontaneous creations of an inspired artist, the craftsman keeps pace with the artist — and sometimes anticipates him. Hubert Unverricht, the editor, has acquitted himself with distinction, Downloaded from https://academic.oup.com/mq/article/XLV/4/515/1073999 by guest on 27 September 2021 for this must have been a long, time-consuming, and at times a bit tedious labor. * * * The next two volumes also present chamber music, but of the vocal variety. With them we leave behind the amiable piecework of the court composer, dutifully providing his employer with amusement, and meet the sovereign master. Now a free-lance artist, Haydn is aging, yet he is fresher than all his confreres. The counterpoint we behold in these finely spun works is of the most subtle, pliable, and unforced sort, the result of enormous technical experience and of poetic inspiration. The canons are fantastically shrewd, witty, bantering—and serious. Ten of them are called "religious"—they set to music a slightly modified version of the Ten Commandments—while forty-six additional ones come under the heading of "secular" canons. We cannot see much difference between the two species, both of which have a wide range. Some are just tiny epigrams, others have subjects that are veritable aria incipits. Some are lofty, others whimsical or of a folkish nature, but Haydn's wonderful sense of humor remains irrepressible even in the "religious" numbers. While the injunction against killing begins with an earnest and dramatic theme (Ex. 1), the Sixth Commandment apparently did not seem Ex. i i I * " > r r I" U " i Thou ihatt not mur - d*r<J*r,, not mur-devnot mur - dcr too forbidding to the hag-ridden master (Ex. 2). Stealing, on the other Ex. 2 ji P p ff P Elf f Ifi g P g J >U'T Thou ahatt not yidd flw.