J. S. BACH Jonathan Berkahn - Victoria University - Victoria ...

unusually regular, if slightly compressed, with some attractive changes of detail (note
b.338, for example). The same dense chain of material is recapitulated, until a
beautiful sliding chromatic sequence (b.351) leads to a final combination: close
imitation at the fourth over horn fifths that obviously recall the opening of the
movement. Nowhere else did Haydn generate an entire movement so completely from
such a tiny melodic fragment; this sort of analytical description can hardly convey the
breathless momentum with which he welds these thematic atoms into a continuous
whole, nor the variety of textures (and, equally important, of phrase lengths) he
achieves in doing so. This is in no sense a hybrid movement; the effortless
counterpoint he had been practising all his professional life is integrated into a piece
that shows no hint of archaism. An example of monothematicism as densely worked
as the finale to his third symphony (though on a much larger scale), the influence of
Fux has here been completely sublimated in this thoroughly modern orchestral texture.
BARYTON TRIOS
We tend to think of the symphony as a ‘public’ genre, the string quartet a
‘private’ one; but there is a sense in which this polarity was reversed during much of
Haydn’s career. The task of providing music for Prince Nicholas’ private orchestra
was central to his role as Kapellmeister, and this remained so throughout the term of
his employment. Although Haydn’s symphonies did find their way into the outside
world almost from the start of his career, they were always written with an immediate
set of circumstances in mind: specific performers, a familiar audience, a particular
occasion. By contrast, string quartet performances seem not to have been a very
important part of musical life at Esterháza; chamber music was not common in
concerts at this time, and Prince Nicholas played none of the relevant instruments.
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