II
During the years Haydn lived at Esterhazy he composed between forty and fifty string quartets. These were published usually in groups of six, after 1781 by Artaria; and the appearance of a fresh set of Haydn’s quartets was announced in the papers of Vienna and Berlin, and was occasion for enthusiasm among the amateurs of most of the great capitals of Europe. It was the age of the string quartet, a time when amateurs and dilettanti, men of wealth and influence, often of culture, met at least once a week to play together. Musicians were everywhere in demand.
Haydn wrote six quartets (opus 9, Nos. 1-6) in the year 1769, numbers 21-26, inclusive, in Pohl’s index, and six more before 1771, numbers 27-32. In both these series the treatment of the first violin is conspicuous, and it is noteworthy that during these years he wrote most of his concertos for the violin. The first and last movements of the quartet in C major, No. 21 (opus 9, No. 1), seem to be almost solo music for the first violin, which not only introduces all the principal themes, but which in many pages adds brilliant ornament. In the first movement of No. 24 (opus 9, No. 4), in D minor, again one is reminded of a violin concerto. Likewise in the first movement of No. 22 (opus 9, No. 2), in E-flat major; and before the end of the slow movement in this quartet, which here, as in most of these two series, is the third movement, following the minuet, an elaborate cadenza is written out for the first violin. In the quartets Nos. 27-32 (opus 17, Nos. 1-6), such a brilliant treatment of the first violin is even more conspicuous. The other instruments play for the most part the rôle of accompaniment. The quartets are all in four movements and in the majority, as has been said, the minuet is the second movement and the slow movement is the third.
Over all there is the delightful play of Haydn’s humor. Perhaps the best known and loved of the series is that in G major, No. 31 (opus 17, No. 5).
The next series of six quartets, Nos. 33-38 (opus 20, Nos. 1-6), were written about 1774 and were known in Berlin as the Sonnen quartets. In 1800 they were published by Artaria in Vienna and dedicated by Haydn to Nicolaus Zmeskall von Domanowecz, one of the earliest admirers of Beethoven, to whom, by the way, the latter dedicated his own quartet in F minor, opus 95. The earlier quartets, for all they were generally hailed with praise and admiration, had not gone wholly scatheless. There were conservatives, especially in the north of Germany, who looked askance at the entrance of humor into music, who felt the art was in danger thereby of degradation, who regarded Haydn as a musical joke-maker. These quartets, Nos. 33-38, may have been written by Haydn to prove his command of what was considered the indisputably serious and dignified art of composition. All are contrapuntal in style, intricate and serious in manner if not in mood. In the first movement of the first (opus 20, No. 1), in E-flat major, the style is compact and full of imitations. The minuet is short; the slow movement, affettuoso et sostenuto, closely and richly woven, distinctly polyphonic music.
The second of the series in C major (opus 20, No. 2) has for its final movement a fugue with four subjects, and the last movements of the fifth and sixth are both fugues, the former on two, the latter on three subjects. The entire series at once became currently known as the ‘great’ quartets.
In 1781 another series of six (opus 33, Nos. 1-6) was published by Artaria in Vienna. A female figure on the carefully engraved title-page gave to the set for some time the name of Jungfern Quartette; but they are now more generally known as the Russian quartets. They were dedicated to Archduke Paul of Russia, and had been played at the apartments of the Archduchess during a visit to Vienna. They have also gone by the name of Gli Scherzi, for the reason that in each the place of the minuet is taken by a scherzo.[66] They bear the numbers 39-44 in Pohl’s index. No. 41 (opus 33, No. 3) is perhaps the best known; and has often been called the ‘Bird Quartet.’ The first movement suggests the twitter and song of birds, partly by the nature of the principal theme, with its four long notes and their graces, and the descending turning figures which follow them; and partly by the nature of the accompaniment, which is staccato or half staccato throughout, now in naïvely repeated thirds shared by second violin and viola, now in figures that imitate the chirping of the principal theme. The trio of the second movement suggests birds again. It is a dialogue between first and second violins, staccato and chirping throughout, in effective contrast with the main body of the movement, which is legato, and sotto voce as well. The Adagio is wonderfully calm and hushed. The last movement, to quote Pohl, brings the cuckoo with fresh life and all the forest folk answer him. ‘The merry figures fly from voice to voice, after each other, against each other, in twos and threes, all with the “springing” bow.’
In the Musikalisches Kunstmagazin for 1782 there is a criticism of these quartets and of six symphonies which appeared about the same time, by J. F. Reichardt, part of which may be quoted. ‘Both these works are full of the most original humor, the liveliest and pleasantest wit. No composer has so united individuality and variety with pleasantness and popularity as Haydn; and few of the agreeable and favorite composers have such a good command of form as Haydn shows himself for the most part to have. It is especially interesting to observe with critical eye the progress of Haydn’s work. In his very first works, which were well known among us some twenty years ago, there were signs of his peculiar good-natured humor; rather for the most part youthful spirits and unrestrained jollity, with a superficial treatment of harmonies. Then little by little his humor grew more manly, his work more thoughtful, until now the mature originality, the firm artist, show in all his work.’ Haydn sent a copy of these quartets to Frederick William II of Prussia, who acknowledged the gift with pleasure and sent as a token of his esteem for the now universally admired musician a gold medal and his picture.
These six quartets published in 1781 show Haydn in full command of the art of the quartet. They must have served in a way as foundations for all subsequent writing for a similar group of four instruments, surely so for Mozart and Beethoven. The earlier quartets showed now an experimental mood, particularly as regards the treatment of the first violin, now serious endeavor to disprove the critics who cried out that he had no genuine skill. In these Russian quartets there is perfect treatment of each of the instruments, an even disposition of the music between them all. His mastery shows in the movement of the two inner voices, whereby a constant and at the same time varied sonority is procured. The balance of form is secure, the sequence and length of the movements as well. Only in one particular does he seem unwilling to decide. This is the place of the minuet, which even now he most often makes second in the group. With all this development of skill he has lost nothing of his prevailing cheerfulness, nothing of his spontaneous humor, nothing of his gift of melody. The quartets are perfect as the expression of his own individuality, till now practically uninfluenced by other musicians.
Immediately after, Mozart settled in Vienna. In 1785 he published the famous six quartets written as proof of his admiration for Haydn, his friend even more than his master. Haydn’s excellent opinion, indeed his unqualified admiration, of Mozart is well known. The two men acted favorably upon each other and the work of the older man was hardly less influenced by that of the younger than that of the younger by the older. However, the individuality of both was strong. To compare their compositions is always to find in what ways they are dissimilar rather than in what ways they copied each other. Haydn never wrote with the inexplicable grace of Mozart; nor did Mozart put into his music the wholly naïve and spontaneous gaiety of Haydn. Mozart gained from Haydn in conciseness of form, Haydn from Mozart in refinement of style.
Such a gain shows in the six quartets (opus 50, Nos. 1-6) published in 1787 and dedicated by Haydn to the king of Prussia. These are in Pohl’s index, Nos. 45 to 50. The first movements are all distinctly Haydn in treatment, though a touch of seriousness in No. 48 (opus 50, No. 4) suggests Mozart. The second movements are all slow; and in all six quartets the minuet has come back to its regular place as third in the group. The last movement of No. 48 is in the form of a fugue. The last movements of Nos. 45, 46, 47, and 49 (opus 50, Nos. 1, 2, 3, 5), however, are in Haydn’s inimitable manner. In the last movement of No. 46 (opus 50, No. 2) there is a suggestion of a theme from Mozart’s ‘Magic Flute.’ No. 50 (opus 50, No. 6) has the nickname ‘Frog Quartet.’
In 1789 and in 1790, respectively, two more sets appeared, both dedicated to Monsieur Jean Tost. These are opus 54, Nos. 1-3, and opus 55, Nos. 1-3; and opus 64, Nos. 1-6. In Pohl’s index they are Nos. 51-62, inclusive. Johann Tost was a rich merchant in Vienna who was not only a patron of music but an excellent performer on the violin himself, and later closely associated with Spohr. As if wishing to give Tost full chance in these quartets to display his skill on the first violin, Haydn has consistently given to that instrument an unusually conspicuous part. He not only writes for it in the highest registers, as, for instance, in the Trio of opus 55, No. 1; but frequently allots to the other instruments the rôle of simplest accompaniment, as in the first movement of opus 54, No. 2. The favorite of the series is perhaps that in D major, opus 64, No. 5, the last movement of which is in perpetual, rapid motion, the first violin being the most active.
Prince Esterhazy, Haydn’s patron, died in September, 1790. Shortly after, Haydn went upon his first visit to London. His life was full of occupation with the last symphonies, written for Salomon, the London manager, and with his two great oratorios, ‘The Creation’ and the ‘Seasons.’ Only a few more quartets are to be mentioned. Opus 71 and opus 73 both consist of three quartets. Opus 76 contains six, and the whole set was dedicated to Count Erdödy. In this series two are conspicuous. The first movement of that in D minor, opus 76, No. 2, is built on a simple, impressive motive of four notes. The adagio of opus 76, No. 3, is a set of variations on the hymn, Gott erhalte Franz der Kaiser, which Haydn had composed in January, 1797, and which has since become, as Haydn hoped it would, the national hymn of Austria. The variations are justly admired; and the quartet has been called on account of them the ‘Kaiser quartet.’ Finally there are two quartets, published as opus 77 and dedicated to Prince Lobkowitz. The minuet and andante of the second are given special mention by Sauzay.[67] The last quartet of all, published posthumously as opus 103, is unfinished. It consists of but two movements, the second of which is a minuet. Evidently without hope of completing it, Haydn wrote at the end of the minuet a few bars of melody from a vocal quartet, composed a few years before, called Der Greis. The words are: Hin ist alle meine Kraft, Alt und schwach bin ich. The same melody and words he had printed on a visiting card, to be given to those who came to enquire after his failing health.
There are in all eighty-three quartets. Instrumental music composed to accompany the recitation in church of the seven last words of Christ are no longer reckoned among the quartets. To Haydn more than to any other single man belongs the honor of having established the string quartet as a work of art and as the vehicle for noble musical feeling. Over all the eighty-three sparkles the sun of his peculiar and inimitable humor; yet none the less they show from start to finish an ever-growing skill in handling the slender materials of sound, an appreciation of the separate instruments, a knowledge of how to dispose the parts so as to preserve a rich and varied sonority. They recommended themselves at once to the affection as well as the admiration of amateurs and musicians alike, and indubitably paved the way for the quartets of Mozart and Beethoven. Through Haydn the delicate beauty of such a combination of instruments was first made clear to the world, and with it no little of its power to express the finest ideals which have inspired musicians.