Day 97: Of Snowstorms and Bagels

HaydnCD97As I type this, Michigan is in the middle of a winter storm warning the likes of which we haven’t seen in years.

It’s a good day to be holed up at Panera, drinking Light Roast coffee and eating a bagel.

Or, it’s a good day to be holed up at home, not venturing out into the weather. But I’m a bit of an adventurist. Or a fool. Take your pick.

Either way, today’s CD features Haydn’s Op. 64 quartets (Nos. 1, 2, 3), composed in 1790. Haydn was 58.

For some reason, these are called the “Tost” quartets. I’ll find out why soon enough.

After a bit of Googling, I found this as a pdf for I don’t know what:

From 1783 to 1788 the Hungarian Johann Tost was principal second violin in the Esterházy orchestra of which Haydn was music director. When Tost left Esterházy in 1788 to freelance in Paris, Haydn entrusted 6 quartets to him with a view to finding a publisher. Tost was successful, and they were published in Paris in two sets of three as Op 54 and 55. A later set of six, Op 64, were written in 1790, the year that Haydn first visited London. Around this time Tost returned from Paris, married the housekeeper at Esterházy (of whom Haydn was also fond) and used her money to set up a successful cloth business in Vienna. There in 1791 he also found a publisher for this Op 64 set, which are gratefully dedicated to him. Tost continued to play the violin and commission chamber works, whose performances in aristocratic homes provided an entrée for his cloth business; incidentally he is possibly the dedicatee (“composto per un amatore ongarese”) of the last two of Mozart’s string quintets.

Oh, now I see where that pdf came from. This web site. It’s an organization in the UK called Strings Attached. Cool. Patronize them, people.

Here’s background on the Tost quartets from the Naxos web site:

The string quartets of Opus 64 constitute a second set of six quartets for the violinist Johann Tost, who had led the second violins of Haydn’s orchestra at Esterháza from 1783 until his departure for Paris in 1788, although he was mentioned as Music Director for the Seipp theatre company in Pressburg (the modern Slovak capital of Bratislava) in the previous year. In Paris Tost’s sale of Haydn compositions caused some trouble that may be understood in the light of his earlier suggestion for the pirating of music belonging to Prince Esterházy. In 1790 Tost returned to Vienna, where he married a housekeeper in the Esterházy service, prospering thereafter as a cloth-merchant. Nine years later he is heard of again in his suggestion to Spohr that he buy exclusive rights to the latter’s chamber music, thus securing for himself entry to the houses of rich patrons, something that would materially assist his business. The arrangement was one to which Spohr assented. Mozart also apparently provided Tost with chamber music, namely his last two string quintets.

The Opus 64 quartets were written in 1790 and announced for sale in the Wiener Zeitung in February 1791, with an English edition appearing in London in June of the same year, after their performance at concerts under the direction of the violinist-impresario Salomon at the Festino Rooms in Hanover Square, when the performers were Salomon himself, the second violinist Hindmarsh, cellist Menel and viola-player the older Damen.

So, there you have it. That’s why these are called the Tost quartets.

Now, on to the music itself.

Haydn String Quartet Op. 64 No. 1 in C

For the most part, I didn’t sit up and take notice to Op. 64 No. 1 until Movement IV (“Finale: Presto”). That was lively, but intriguing at the same time. It was a flurry of activity, lots of “sawing” as my wife would say, some of which smacked of dissonance, although I think dissonance was frowned upon in Haydn’s day. So it couldn’t have been dissonance.

Movement IV ended like one of Haydn’s previous compositions did, just kind of stopping seemingly in the middle of a musical expression. Odd.

Haydn String Quartet Op. 64 No. 2 in B Minor begins with an “Allegro spiritoso” Movement I that is more compelling than the opening of No. 1. It’s clever. But not especially captivating to my ears.

So far, I haven’t been terribly impressed by Haydn’s melodies. Mozart, on the other hand, created melodies that could be hummed and people would get them in just a few notes. Haydn, not so much. So far, I haven’t heard anything from Haydn that rocks me to the core like I heard when I listened to the complete works of Mozart.

To see if I was just being too critical of the man who inspired other Classical composers, I checked Amazon to see if such a thing as Haydn’s Greatest Hits existed. It does. And I’m listening to selections from it now.

Just as I thought. I’m not hearing anything in these “greatest hits” that I could immediately identify as Haydn. Granted, I’m not a musicologist. I’m just a guy who likes music. So it’s possible my Haydn-dar (like gay-dar or radar) isn’t as fine-tuned as it could be.

Whatev. I’m enjoying the music even though I likely won’t remember a note of it later on.

Movement II (“Adagio ma non troppo”) is stately and soothing. But not exactly memorable.

Movement III (“Menuet: Allegretto”) is a welcome return to a livelier tempo. But the music isn’t memorable to me.

Movement IV (“Finale: Presto”) is a nice way to end No. 2. There’s a bit of melody there, too, at least in the beginning. It doesn’t just sound like instruments warming up, or playing for a snooty wine-and-cheese reception in an art gallery.

Haydn String Quartet Op. 64 No. 3 in B Flat

Movement I (“Vivace assai”) starts out in a promising manner. It sounds like horses galloping: Da-da-dum-da-da-dum-da-da-dum. It’s the most compelling Movement I I’ve heard today. It’s strong from start to finish.

Movement II (“Adagio”) is a bit too adagio for my tastes. Drags.

Movement III (“Menuet: Allegretto”) is most definitely a minuet. It has a nice lyrical, gentle feel to it. I hesitate to use the word dainty. But it’s certainly not aggressive or bold. Just…pleasant.

Movement IV (“Finale: Allegro con spirito”) rocks. Very con spirito.

Overall, I’d have to say that Op. 64 No. 3 was my favorite today. But not by much.

Here’s what I listened to this morning:

Haydn String Quartet Op. 64 No. 1 in C

Haydn String Quartet Op. 64 No. 2 in B Minor

Haydn String Quartet Op. 64 No. 3 in B Flat NOTE: This isn’t the version I heard this morning. But it’s all I could find.

As I have in previous posts, I can’t forget to introduce the members of the Buchberger Quartet (their site is in German):

Hubert Buchberger violin
Julia Greve violin
Joachim Etzel viola
Helmut Sohler cello

The other players in the quartet do not have their own web sites, apparently. So, no link to them. Sorry.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *