Page 150 - ESSENTIAL LISTENING TO MUSIC

Figure 8.7
A portrait of Franz Joseph Haydn at work. His left hand is trying an idea at the keyboard while his right is ready to write it down. Haydn said about his composi- tional process, “I sat down at the keyboard and began to impro- vise. Once I had seized upon an idea, my whole effort was to de- velop and sustain it.” Like some creative writers who need to hold a pen to start the creative juices flowing or painters who need to pick up a brush, Haydn needed to touch a keyboard.
the Classical period. In his “Surprise” Symphony, the shock comes from a sudden fortissimo (very loud) chord inserted, as we shall see, in the second movement in the middle of an otherwise very quiet theme. Haydn premiered his Symphony No. 94 in London in 1792, and it became the third of an eventual set of twelve called the London Symphonies (see Chapter 7). When the London audience heard the “big bang” in the second movement (see Listen- ing Cue), it cheered and demanded an encore . Ever since, this surprising movement has been Haydn’s
most celebrated composition.
The famous opening melody of the second move-
ment (Andante) is written in binary form, a simple AB arrangement (see also Chapter 3, “Form”). Here A is an eight-bar antecedent (opening) phrase, and B an eight- bar consequent (closing) one—more classical balance! Notice how the beginning of the theme (Example 8.6A)
is shaped by laying out in succession the notes of a tonic triad (I) and then a dominant chord (V). The triadic nature of the tune accounts for its folksong–like quality and makes it easy to remember during the varia- tions that follow. These first eight bars (A) are stated and then repeated quietly. And just when all is ending peacefully, the full orchestra, including a thunderous timpani, comes crashing in with a fortissimo chord (see asterisk), as if to shock the drowsy listener back to attention. What better way to show off the latent
dynamic power of the larger Classical orchestra?
The surprise fortissimo chord leads into the B section of the theme, which
also is repeated. With the simple yet highly attractive binary theme now in place, Haydn proceeds to compose four variations on it, adding a superb coda at the end. In his memoirs, dictated in 1809, Haydn explains that he included the sur- prise blast as something of a publicity stunt, “to make a début in a brilliant man- ner” and thereby call further attention to his concerts in London.
Example 8.6A > theme of second movement (0:00) *
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LiSTeN TO . . . Example 8.6A online.
128 chapter eight classical forms
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