Piano Sonata Hob. XVI/52

The Piano Sonata in E-flat major, Hob. XVI/52, L. 62, was written in 1794 by Joseph Haydn. It is the last of Haydn's piano sonatas, and is widely considered his greatest. It has been the subject of extensive analysis by distinguished musicological personages such as Heinrich Schenker and Sir Donald Tovey, largely because of its expansive length, unusual harmonies and interesting development.[1] The sonata is sometimes referred to as number 62 based on the numbering of Landon instead of the numbering of Hoboken.[2]

History

Haydn wrote the work for Therese Jansen, an outstanding pianist who lived in London at the time of Haydn's visits there in the 1790s. Haydn served as a witness at her wedding to Gaetano Bartolozzi (16 May 1795).[3] Haydn also dedicated three demanding piano trios (H. XV:27–29) and another two piano sonatas (H. XVI:50 and 51) to Jansen.[4]

With regard to the E-flat sonata, Jansen was evidently the dedicatee of the autograph (hand-written) score but not the first published version. On the title page of the autograph Haydn wrote in Italian, "Sonata composta per la Celebra Signora Teresa de Janson ... di me giuseppe Haydn mpri[5] Lond. 794,[6]" which means "Sonata composed for the celebrated Miss Theresa Jansen ... by myself Joseph Haydn in my own hand, London 1794."[7]

Daniel Heartz implies that Haydn may have left the sonata unpublished for some time so that Jansen could have the work for her exclusive use.[8] Ultimately, Haydn had the work published in Vienna in 1798, three years after he had returned there from London. The publisher was Artaria, and the dedicatee for the published version was Magdalena von Kurzbeck.[9] A London edition, perhaps instigated by Jansen, appeared with Longman and Clementi in 1800 with the title "A grand new sonata for the piano forte composed expressly for Mrs. Bartolozzi, Op. 78."[10]

Structure
1st movement
2nd movement
Performed by Kristian Cvetković
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The work has three movements:

The first movement takes approximately 7 to 8 minutes to perform, the second movement 6.5 to 7.5 minutes, and the third movement 5 to 6 minutes.

The first movement, in sonata form, opens with an expansive, French Overture theme and has a contrasting second theme in the upper, "music box" register that has been identified with the wie aus der Ferne (as in the distance) trope of the nineteenth century.[11] Its harmonic exploration is unusually broad for Haydn's solo piano writing. It has a strong rhythmic character and forward momentum.

References

Notes

  1. ↑ Heinrich Schenker, "Haydn: Sonate Es-Dur," Tonwille 1 (1922), 3–21. Donald Tovey "Haydn, Pianoforte Sonata in E-Flat, No. 1" (1900) in Essays in Musical Analysis: Chamber Music (Oxford, 1944, repr. 1972), 93–105; Lawrence Moss, "Haydn's Sonata Hob. XVI:52 (ChL. 62) in E-Flat Major: An Analysis of the First Movement," in Haydn Studies, ed. Jens Larsen, Howard Serwer, & James Webster (New York & London, 1981), 496–501.
  2. ↑ See List of solo piano compositions by Joseph Haydn#Piano sonatas to see both Hoboken and Landon numbering schemes in a single table.
  3. ↑ Heartz (2009, 515)
  4. ↑ Heartz (2009, 515)
  5. ↑ Abbreviation for Latin manu propria, "[in my] own hand"
  6. ↑ Haydn often left off the initial 1 from years.
  7. ↑ Heartz (2009, 517–518)
  8. ↑ Heartz (2009, 517–518)
  9. ↑ Heartz (2009, 517–518)
  10. ↑ Caldwell (1985, 270)
  11. ↑ Elaine Sisman, "Genre Tertiary Rhetoric and the Opus 76 Quartets" in Haydn and the performance of rhetoric, eds. Tom Beghin, Sander M. Goldberg (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 2007) 294.

Sources

External links

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