Welcome to the "Story" portion of Program Two.
In this segment, Arnold
and I will journey with you
through three exemplary string quartets by Haydn,
Mozart, and Beethoven, three Classical composers who lived in
or were from Vienna. These selections reveal important
string quartet developments as well as key personality traits of
these composers. We begin our journey
with Franz Joseph Haydn, who lived from 1732-1809.
Haydn created the classical string quartet in the late 1750s.
He is referred to as the "father" of the string quartet
because his 68 quartets establish
the genre, which back then was associated with private
or semi-private performances
in the aristocratic salon or middle-class parlor.
He codified the four-movement approach
to the modern string quartet, which presents a balance
of moods and tempos. Composers have used
or modified this approach over the last two centuries.
The four movements are as follows:
the first movement
is typically the most substantial movement in sonata form
and also fast, or in "allegro" tempo.
The second movement
is slow and emotive, and comes in a variety of forms like
theme and variations, sonata form with no development,
or an ABA ternary form.
Next is the third movement ,
which is a minuet and trio.
It's inspired by a dance meter in three.
The order of the second and third movements can be switched,
so don't be puzzled if you see the minuet and trio
before the slow movement.
To close off the work, we have a fourth and final movement
which is typically in rondo form or variant thereof,
and it's very upbeat in feel.
I encourage you to consult the short video called "Learning
Library" in the supplementary resources
for a more detailed explanation of these formal terms.
Now, Haydn lived
and composed during a time of great stylistic change.
During his childhood and youth, Baroque traditions
(think JS Bach) were still alive
and well. But by the end of his life,
the stability of the Classical style as represented by his own
mature works and those of Mozart,
were being challenged by Beethoven,
who ushered in the Romantic era.
Adapting to stylistic changes was at the heart
of Haydn's early years. He had to come to terms
with the old and the new. How would Haydn
bring the two together? On the one hand,
he was influenced by the serious and grand counterpoint
of the Baroque era, which was gradually
coming to a close. At the same time,
he was absorbing the lighter more entertaining spirit
of the galant style from the Pre- Classical era.
In the Baroque period, composers treated the parts equally
through contrapuntal textures like fugues
and canons, where the parts are in active conversation with each other
through strict imitation. Let's listen
to an example of this.