Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Piano Variations
Born in 1732 in the village of Rohrau, near the
modern border between Austria and Slovakia, Joseph
Haydn was the son of a wheelwright. He had his
musical training as a chorister at St Stephen’s Cathedral
in Vienna and thereafter earned a living as best he could
from teaching and playing the violin or keyboard.
During these earlier years he was able to learn from the
old composer Porpora, whose assistant he became.
Haydn’s first regular employment came in 1759 as
Kapellmeister to a Bohemian nobleman, Count von
Morzin. This was followed in 1761 by appointment as
Vice-Kapellmeister to one of the richest men in the
Empire, Prince Paul Anton Esterházy, succeeded on his
death in 1762 by his brother Prince Nikolaus. On the
death in 1766 of the elderly and somewhat obstructive
Kapellmeister, Gregor Werner, Haydn succeeded to his
position, remaining in the same employment, nominally
at least, until his death in 1809.
Much of Haydn’s service of the Esterházys was at
the new palace of Esterháza on the Hungarian plains, a
complex of buildings to rival Versailles in magnificence.
Here he was responsible for the musical establishment
and its activities, including regular instrumental concerts
and music for the theatre, opera and church. For his
patron he provided a variety of chamber music, in
particular for the Prince’s favourite instrument, the
baryton, a bowed string instrument with sympathetic
strings that could also be plucked.
On the death of Prince Nikolaus in 1790 Haydn was
able to accept an invitation from the violinist-impresario
Salomon to visit London, where he already enjoyed a
considerable reputation. He was in London for a second
time in 1794 and 1795, after which he returned to duty
with the Esterházy family, now chiefly at the family
residence in Eisenstadt, where he had started his career.
Much of the year, however, was spent in Vienna, where
he spent his final years, dying as the city fell once more
into the power of Napoleon’s army.
Haydn’s keyboard music was at first written for the
harpsichord, with later works clearly intended for the
pianoforte, as dynamic markings show. In addition to
some 47 sonatas, he also wrote a number of other works,
many of them in the form of sets of variations.
The Twenty Variations in G major was written in
about 1765 and in 1788-1789 abridged, re-arranged and
transposed to the key of A major for publication (Naxos
8.553826). The theme is one of great simplicity in the
form of a dance. The first variation decorates the upper
part in triplet rhythms, the second offers a derived
melody and the third indulges in hand-crossing. The
fourth version explores a middle register of the
keyboard, the fifth has right-hand semiquavers and the
sixth rapid accompanying activity in the left hand. The
seventh treatment of the material answers left-hand
chords with rapider right-hand figuration, the eighth is
at first largely in the upper register of the instrument, the
ninth has broken chords, while the tenth and eleventh
feature thirds and octaves respectively. The subsequent
variations continue the somewhat old-fashioned pattern
of what the modern editor Franz Eibner describes as a
chaconne, a Baroque dance-variation form, leading to a
final version of the material that demands an instrument
tuned with a so-called ‘short octave’, making a wider
spread of chord a possibility. There has been some
disagreement among scholars as to whether this and
other works of the period were designed for the
harpsichord or for a square piano perhaps newly
acquired at Eisenstadt.
Haydn’s Theme and Variations in C major has been
conjecturally dated to November 1790 and its
publication was announced by Artaria in Vienna in
February the following year. The work was written
shortly before the composer left for his first visit to
England. The theme itself, marked Andante, is of
greater interest than the earlier work that had probably
been designed for teaching purposes, and the six
variations that follow offer a modest challenge to a
performer in their figuration. The fifth version of the
material is in C minor and there is delicate ornamentation
in the final treatment.
The Capriccio in G major was written in 1765,
perhaps for Haydn’s own performance. It takes as its
basis a folk-song, Acht Sauschneider müssen sein
(There must be eight to castrate a boar), a simple
melody. The Capriccio was published by Artaria in
1788. The theme, after its initial statement, is heard
again in the bass, in D major, interrupted by a sudden
pause. It is then transformed into A minor, after which it
moves into key after key, often unexpectedly related,
before a final return to the original G major.
Haydn’s Arietta con 12 Variazioni, in the key of
E flat major, is based on the Minuet of his Quartet, Opus
9, No. 2, probably written between 1768 and 1770. The
variations have been dated to the early 1770s and were
first published under the present title by Artaria in
1788/9. The first variation uses the upper register of the
instrument, proceeding, in the second, to rapider
figuration. The third introduces a chromatic element and
the runs and arpeggios of the fourth are followed by
dotted rhythms in the fifth version and scale passage in
the sixth. The seventh variation brings dramatic changes
in dynamics, the eighth introduces a brusque triplet
rhythm, the ninth divided octaves. The ornamented
tenth version of the material is followed by a variation
in which the melody is primarily in a middle register
and a final bravura treatment of the theme.
For many years attributed to Abbé Josef Gelinek,
after its posthumous publication in 1815, Haydn’s
Variations on „Gott erhalte“, was seemingly the
composer’s own keyboard arrangement of the variations
on the Emperor’s Hymn that he had included in his
String Quartet in C major, Opus 76, No. 3, written in
1797, the year of the birthday hymn itself. The wellknown
theme is heard first, followed by a version in
which, originally, the first violin added its own
embellishment. The second variation is based on the
version in which the cello has the theme, intertwined
with the tenor line. The third has the theme in an inner
voice, with syncopated accompaniment above and the
fourth and final variation further enriches the harmony.
Haydn’s F major Divertimento: Il Maestro e lo
Scolare (The Master and the Pupil), for piano duet, has
been dated to 1766-1768. It is in two movements and its
material appears in a Baryton Trio of about 1767.
Obviously designed for teaching purposes, as its title
declares, the opening theme, a reminiscence of the
Handel keyboard piece that later became known as The
Harmonious Blacksmith, is played by the master and
echoed by the pupil, fragment by fragment. The
procedure is broadly followed in the eight subsequent
variations, with a third version suggesting the use of
‘short octave’ tuning in the lower part. The versions of
the theme, as they proceed, introduce marginally greater
demands for digital dexterity and allow the teacher
occasional elaboration that is not echoed above by the
pupil. The second of the two movements is a Tempo di
Menuet. Here the pupil may enjoy a modicum of
independence to achieve a satisfactory conclusion to the
lesson.
Keith Anderson