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

The last fugue for baryton trio, from no.114, is not especially remarkable
except in the manner of its closing. As we have noted, the Classical norm for the
instrumental chamber performance of fugues was a uniform forte throughout
(contrasting with the dynamic flexibility of the galant style). Here, however, Haydn
writes out a concluding diminuendo. After pausing on a strong, widely-spaced
dominant seventh chord, the effect of the sudden piano combined with the cessation of
polyphonic activity is, in its own small way, surprisingly dramatic. The reverse
procedure—a forte close after playing sempre sotto voce occurs in all the op.20 fugues,
which had probably been written by this stage.
Haydn was far too much of a courtier, both musically and personally, to divulge
any hint of what he might have felt about the time he spent writing Gebrauchsmusik
for his prince when he could have been extending his style in new and challenging
ways, making a name for himself in the wider world. Given this discretion, it is
difficult to weigh up the extent to which these trios were shaped by Prince Nicholas’
personal taste, by Haydn’s attitude to their composition, and by the character of the
instrument itself. In particular (for our purposes) we need to ask why, relatively
speaking, fugal writing should have been so predominant in these works.
Taking the last point first, the baryton trio was a timbrally homogeneous
ensemble for private amusement rather than public display. It is hardly surprising
therefore that the equal division of interest among the parts which fugue offered should
have been an obvious textural solution—especially when we remember that at this
time he was reasoning very much along these lines in his op.20 quartets. 27 While on
the subject of instrumentation it is worth pointing out the way in which the baryton’s
sympathetic strings are sometimes given important thematic material in the fugues
(another reason for slow, first species subjects). Thus an utterly conventional passage
such as Ex.3.8b is given a whole new life and interest by this unexpected timbral
27 This trio and op.20 were both written in 1772 (op.20 was published in 1774).
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