Roman Rabinovich Franz Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809)
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Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1 HAYDN Nos. 29, 32, 36, 47, 52 Divertimento in E flat major Roman Rabinovich Franz Joseph HAYDN (1732-1809) CD1 Piano Sonata No. 36 in C major, Hob.XVI:21 [20:04] 1 I. Allegro [8:43] 2 II. Adagio [8:12] 3 III. Finale: Presto [3:01] Piano Sonata No. 32 in G minor, Hob.XVI:44 [13:51] 4 I. Moderato [9:36] 5 II. Allegretto [4:15] Piano Sonata No. 29 in E flat major, Hob.XVI:45 [24:18] 6 I. Moderato [9:55] 7 II. Andante [8:36] 8 III. Finale: Allegro di molto [5:36] Total Timing: [58:11] CD2 Divertimento in E flat major, Hob.XVI:16 [9:39] 1 I. Andante [5:02] 2 II. Menuet [2:59] 3 III. Presto [1:32] Piano Sonata No. 52 in G major, Hob.XVI:39 [17:12] 4 I. Allegro con brio [4:45] 5 II. Adagio [7:46] 6 III. Prestissimo [4:34] Piano Sonata No. 47 in B minor, Hob.XVI:32 [15:34] 7 I. Allegro moderato [7:35] 8 II. Menuet [3:16] 9 III. Finale: Presto [4:29] Total Timing: [42:23] ̶ 2 ̶ ̶ Joseph HAYDN: Piano Sonatas, Vol. 1 Joseph Haydn came from Rohrau, a town in Lower Austria the experience of studying and singing some of the best music near the Hungarian border. He was born in 1732, a generation at the cathedral and court in Vienna. before Mozart (1756-1791), and died in 1809, some eighteen years after Mozart’s death and at a time when Beethoven was Haydn’s voice must have been of unusual quality as Reutter already thirty-nine. Both his parents were musical and their had suggested to his father that he become a castrato, but three sons all became professional musicians. At the age of fortunately for the boy, the father would not agree to this. five the first traits of Haydn’s natural musical talent were However, his voice did not break until the age of around shown in his singing voice, and a year later he could play the seventeen and from then his fortunes took a downward turn. violin and harpsichord. At this time when the boy was around After leaving the choir school Haydn had to support himself six years of age, his parents decided to allow him go to the by giving music lessons. As he said himself, ‘When my voice nearby town of Hainburg where he would receive specialist finally broke, for eight whole years I was forced to eke out a tuition from Johann Mathias Franck who was a school principal wretched existence by teaching young people. Many geniuses there as well as the director of the church choir. Within the are ruined by this miserable need to earn their daily bread, next few years Haydn was recruited into the choir school at the because they lack time to study. This could well have happened Stephansdom in Vienna by Georg Reutter where he stayed for to me; I would never have achieved what little I have done, the next ten years. St Stephen’s was one of the main musical had I not carried on with my zeal for composition during the centres of Europe and here Haydn sang soprano in the choir night.’ This was during the late 1740s and early 1750s, and and at court while also receiving tuition in the violin and Haydn was fortunate in receiving lessons in composition from harpsichord. However, although his vocal training was provided Nicola Porpora (1686-1768), who was in Vienna at the time. by the tenor Ignaz Finsterbusch and Adam Gegenbauer, at this He was also helped by the kindness of a few benefactors; time he received no formal training in theory or composition. one, Johann Wilhelm Buchholz, lent him close to a year’s Therefore, Haydn later sought to educate himself further by salary. This obviously meant a great deal to the struggling studying Der Vollkommene Capellmeister by Mattheson and young composer as late in his life he made provision in his Fux’s Gradus ad Parnassum. The latter work, published in 1725, will for Buchholz’s granddaughter. Through his students, served later as his tool for teaching composition as it did for and life among the wealthy upper classes, Haydn came into Mozart. What Haydn did receive during these most important contact with many important musicians including Gluck and formative years between the ages of seven and seventeen was Dittersdorf and learned about the Italian singing style and ̶ 3 ̶ composition from Pietro Metastasio (1698-1782). Due to the being responsible for the court orchestra, performances at influence of Porpora and Metastasio, Haydn’s compositional the court theatre, performing chamber music, and composing ability increased rapidly. Not surprisingly, much of the music he music for many occasions. During the 1760s Haydn composed composed at this time was of a sacred choral variety – motets many more symphonies, keyboard works and concertos, but and masses – and often of Italianate style. his marriage to wigmaker’s daughter Maria Keller in 1760 was not successful and bore no children. By the mid-1750s as his fame and reputation spread, Haydn took on many more freelance jobs including those as violinist- On the death of Esterházy’s old Kapellmeister, Gregor Joseph leader of the convent orchestra of the Barmherzige Brüder, at Werner, Haydn succeeded him, a post he held for the next dances and balls and chamber music gatherings, and as a singer twenty-four years. From this time he composed more large- in church. In this role, he performed in such masterpieces as scale vocal works both for the church and the court opera Palestrina’s Stabat Mater and Allegri’s Miserere. He was all stage and spent less time on instrumental composition. the while composing, but much of this music was written specifically for his pupils including piano trios and keyboard It was not until 1779 that any of Haydn’s works were published sonatas on a small scale. As his reputation as a teacher grew, in Vienna and this was due to the fact that his contract with Haydn was engaged to teach the children of Baron Fürnberg Esterházy forbade the selling of his music or the commissioning who not only commissioned his first string quartets, but also of it by anyone else (although unauthorised editions of his recommended Haydn to Count Karl Joseph Franz Morzin music appeared in London and Paris). However, in 1779 (1717-1783) from whom he gained his first regular post, as he signed a new contract with the Esterházy family which director of music at the end of the 1750s when he was around permitted the publication of his works. He became famous the age of twenty-six. For the first time in his life, Haydn was in England and France and demand for new works from the free from the constraints of having to teach private students public and his publishers was high. By the 1780s he was writing to earn his living. During his short time with Count Morzin, for a specific public and often marketed his works thus, so we Haydn composed fifteen symphonies, some keyboard sonatas find him writing thirteen piano trios in the 1780s and twenty- and chamber music. However, financial constraints prevented four songs, a by now popular genre he had hitherto neglected. Morzin from continuing his musical interests in this way and Also in the 1780s Haydn was commissioned to write his six at the beginning of the 1760s Haydn was employed by the Paris Symphonies and The Seven Last Words of Christ on the famously rich and influential Esterházy family. From the age Cross which, being very successful, he later arranged for string of twenty-nine Haydn was vice-Kapellmeister to the family, quartet and solo keyboard. During this period Haydn met ̶ 4 ̶ and became friendly with Mozart and it is believed that they Rondo. The piano sonatas composed at this time were those played chamber music together. The young Mozart’s work had numbered 50-52. His great success in London both critical and been greatly influenced by Haydn who had practically invented financial led Haydn to consider taking up residence in the British the string quartet (as a development of his string trios) and capital, but upon the death of Prince Anton Esterházy in 1794, between 1782 and 1785 Mozart wrote six string quartets his successor, Prince Nikolaus II, offered Haydn his old post of which he dedicated to the older composer. The dedication was Kapellmeister. He returned to Vienna and turned his hand to unusual as most compositions would have been dedicated to the form of music of his youth – sacred works for chorus and wealthy patrons at that time. orchestra. His oratorios The Creation and The Seasons were composed at this time, as were six masses for the Esterházy The death of Nikolaus Esterházy in 1790 resulted in his unmusical family and his final series of string quartets. Haydn died in his son and heir dissolving the musical establishment of the court birth town of Rohrau in 1809 at the age of 77. although Haydn was retained at a reduced salary. Fortunately, Johann Salomon, a German living in London, heard of this, and went to Vienna to take Haydn back to London with him. Haydn knew of the success of his compositions in London but could not go there while working full time for the Esterházys, so, with More than 80 piano sonatas have been attributed to Haydn a year’s leave granted by Prince Anton Esterházy, he set sail for yet only twelve survive as autographed manuscripts.