The Virtual Haydn
Paradox of a Twenty-First-Century THE VIRTUAL Haydn Keyboardist TOM BEGHIN The University of Chicago Press Chicago and London
Tom Beghin is associate professor at McGill University in Montreal and an internationally active performer on historical keyboards. He is coeditor of Haydn and the Performance of Rhetoric, also published by the University of Chicago Press. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London 2015 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2015. Printed in the United States of America 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15 1 2 3 4 5 ISBN-13: 978-0-226-15677-4 ISBN-13: 978-0-226-19535-3 (cloth) (e-book) DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226195353.001.0001 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Beghin, Tom, 1967 author. The virtual Haydn : paradox of a twenty-first-century keyboardist / Tom Beghin. pages cm Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-226-15677-4 (cloth : alkaline paper) ISBN 978-0-226-19535-3 (e-book) 1. Haydn, Joseph, 1732 1809. Keyboard music. 2. Performance practice (Music) History 18th century. 3. Keyboard instrument music Analysis, appreciation. 4. Keyboard instruments Performance. I. Title. ML410.H4B34 2015 786.092 dc23 2014017216 This paper meets the requirements of ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992 (Permanence of Paper).
to Robert J. Litz (1950 2012) friend and partner in crime
CONTENTS List of Illustrations ix The Virtual Haydn: A Recording Project Companion Website xv Acknowledgments xvii Abbreviations, Scores, and Translations Prologue xxiii xiii xxi 1 A Composer, His Dedicatee, Her Instrument, and I 1 2 Delivery, Delivery, Delivery! 43 3 Short Octaves müssen sein! 77 4 Your Most Humble and Obedient Servant 127 5 An Opus for the Insightful World 169 6 A Contract with Posterity 219 Epilogue 255 vii
viii Contents Appendix A: Physiognomic Analyses of Plate 5 à la Lavater 257 Appendix B: Biographical Outlines of Theresa Jansen and Magdalena von Kurzböck 261 Notes 273 Works Cited 305 Index of Names 321 Index of Musical Works 327
ILLUSTRATIONS Figures Fig. 1.1 Sonata in E Major, Hob. XVI:52 (London: Longman, Clementi, 1799), title page 8 Fig. 1.2 Sonata in E Major, Hob. XVI:52 (Vienna: Artaria, 1798), title page 9 Fig. 1.3 Replica of a 1788 Ignaz Kober Tafelklavier by Chris Maene (Ruiselede, Belgium, 2007) 37 Fig. 1.4 Stoss action (below) and prell action (above), interchangeable in the same replica of a ca. 1782 Anton Walter grand fortepiano by Chris Maene (Ruiselede, Belgium, 2005) 38 Fig. 2.1 Sonata in E major, Hob. XVI:49, autograph, first page turn, facsimile by Schott/Universal Edition (Vienna, 1964) 57 Fig. 2.2 An actor in doubt. Engraving from Engel (1785 86), vol. 1, between pp. 88 and 89 58 Fig. 3.1 Title page of Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, autograph. From a copy in the Gisella Selden-Goth Collection: Music Division, Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. 80 Fig. 3.2 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, mm. 247 275, Henle score (ed. Sonja Gerlach), with author s annotations 91 Fig. 3.3 Castration of a sow in Burgenland 96 ix
x Illustrations Fig. 4.1 Two families joined by marriage 130 Fig. 4.2 Nicolaus Esterházy Sonatas, Hob. XVI:21 26 (Vienna: Kurzböck, 1774), title page 135 Fig. 4.3 Auenbrugger Sonatas, Hob. XVI:35 39, 20 (Vienna: Artaria, 1780), title page 135 Fig. 4.4 Marie Esterházy Sonatas, Hob. XVI:40 42 (Speyer: Bossler, 1784), title page 137 Fig. 5.1 Katharina Freifrau Zois Edelstein, née von Auenbrugger. Miniature by Suwis, 1808 183 Fig. 5.2 Marianna von Auenbrugger, Sonata in E Major, with ode by Antonio Salieri (Vienna: Artaria, ca. 1783), title page 184 Fig. 5.3 Daniel Niklaus Chodowiecki, Sixteen Heads in Profile, from Lavater (1776), vol. 2, supplement 193 Fig. 5.4 Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, A Willful Buffoon (after 1770 [No. 5]) and A Buffoon (after 1770 [No. 13]) 197 Fig. 5.5 Sonata in C Minor, Hob. XVI:36 (Vienna: Artaria, 1780), Menuet (No. 6a) and Trio (No. 6b) 202 Fig. 5.6 Physiognomy and pathognomy of an opus 207 Fig. 6.1 Sonata in E Major, Hob. XVI:52, autograph, second page (recto) 232 Fig. 6.2 Sonata in E Major, Hob. XVI:52 (London: Longman, Clementi, 1799), first movement, mm. 31 43 233 Fig. 6.3 Sonata in E Major, Hob. XVI:52 (Vienna: Artaria, 1798), first movement, mm. 21 37 234 Musical Examples Ex. 1.1 Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI:50, first movement, mm. 1 8 and 120 124 5 Ex. 1.2 Sonata in F Major, Hob. XVI:23, second movement, mm. 21 39 11 Ex. 1.3 Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI:39, second movement, mm. 46 62 14 Ex. 1.4 (a) Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI:21, first movement, mm. 1 6 (transcribed from first edition); (b) Sonata in E Major, Hob. XVI:49, first movement, mm. 1 12 (transcribed from manuscript) 23 Ex. 1.5 (a) Sonata in D Major, Hob. XVI:14, first movement, mm. 1 8; (b) Sonata in C Major, Hob. XVI:48, first movement, mm. 1 10 35 Ex. 1.6 Sonata in E Minor, Hob. XVI:47, mm. 8 12 41 Ex. 2.1 Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI:40: (a) transition between first and second movements; (b) first movement, mm. 73 end, with repeat: written-out performance 45 47 Ex. 2.2 Sonata in D Major, Hob. XVI:42, transition between first and second movements 51 Ex. 2.3 Sonata in A Major, Hob. XVI:26, Menuet al rovescio 54 Ex. 2.4 Sonata in E Major, Hob. XVI:49, first movement: (a) mm. 24 64; (b) mm. 179 186 (transcribed from manuscript) 55 56
Illustrations xi Ex. 2.5 Sonata in E Major, Hob. XVI:22, first movement: (a) opening theme; (b) development and recapitulation 65 67 Ex. 3.1 (a) Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Divertimento Op. 2 No. 2 (WV 53), third movement, mm. 35 end; (b) Wagenseil, Divertimento Op. 2 No. 6 (WV 33), first movement, mm. 89 end; (c) Wagenseil, Divertimento Op. 2 No. 6 (WV 33), third movement, mm. 13 end; (d) Johann Joseph Fux, Suite ( Parthie ) in G Minor (E 117), first movement, mm. 9 10 86 Ex. 3.2 (a) Sonata in E Minor, Hob. XVI:47, first movement (Adagio), mm. 1 12; (b) Variations in A Major, Hob. XVII:2: Var. VI, mm. 97 104; Var. IX, mm. 145 148; Var. X, mm. 161 164; Var. XI, mm. 177 184; Var. XX, mm. 321 324; (c) Sonata in A Major, Hob. XVI:12, first movement, mm. 21 24; (d) Sonata in A Major, Hob. XVI:46, third movement, mm. 72 78 89 90 Ex. 3.3 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, outline 102 Ex. 3.4 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, mm. 1 23 106 Ex. 3.5 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, mm. 24 61 107 Ex. 3.6 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, mm. 62 84 108 Ex. 3.7 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, mm. 85 114 109 Ex. 3.8 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, mm. 114 157 110 Ex. 3.9 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, mm. 157 190 112 Ex. 3.10 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, mm. 114 157 113 Ex. 3.11 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, mm. 233 265 115 Ex. 3.12 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, mm. 265 273 116 Ex. 3.13 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, mm. 274 295 117 Ex. 3.14 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, mm. 296 315 118 Ex. 3.15 Capriccio in G Major, Hob. XVII:1, mm. 315 368 119 20 Ex. 3.16 (a) Divertimento in F Major, Hob. XVIIa:1, first movement: theme, mm. 1 10; Var. III, mm. 101 106; Var. V, mm. 161 166; Var. VI, mm. 181 184; (b) Baryton Trio in A Major, Hob. XI:38, theme, mm. 1 8 122 23 Ex. 4.1 Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI:40 (Speyer: Bossler, 1784), first movement, mm. 1 8 154 Ex. 4.2 Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI:40 (Speyer: Bossler, 1784), from first movement, m. 80, to second movement, m. 5 156 Ex. 4.3 Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI:40, from end of first movement to beginning of second movement, rewritten without transition 157 Ex. 4.4 Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI:40 (Speyer: Bossler, 1784), second movement, mm. 22 52 158 Ex. 4.5 Sonata in B Major, Hob. XVI:41 (Speyer: Bossler, 1784): (a) first movement, mm. 1 8; (b) second movement, mm. 1 8 161 Ex. 4.6 (a) Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI:40 (Speyer: Bossler, 1784), second movement, mm. 1 10; (b) Sonata in D Major, Hob. XVI:42 (Speyer: Bossler, 1784), second movement, mm. 1 8 162
xii Illustrations Ex. 5.1 One idea, different executions: (a) Sonata in C Minor, Hob. XVI:36, second movement, opening; (b) Sonata in G Major, Hob. XVI:39, first movement, opening 170 Ex. 5.2 Opus tonality of the six Auenbrugger Sonatas, Hob. XVI: 35 39, 20 176 Ex. 5.3 Incipits of the eighteen Auenbrugger pieces 194 96 Ex. 5.4 (a) Nun ich meinen Wurstel habe, from Die Feuersbrunst, Hob. XXIXb:A, opening line; (b) No. 6b transposed from C major to D major 200 Ex. 5.5 Baryton Trio in A Major, Hob. XI:35, Trio, mm. 17 24 203 Ex. 5.6 Physiognomy of an opus 204 Ex. 5.7 Comparison of Numbers 3, 5, and 13, opening measures 205 Ex. 5.8 Comparison of Numbers 2 and 14, selected measures 205 Ex. 5.9 Pathognomy of an Opus in C Minor 210 Ex. 5.10 Sonata 6, third movement (No. 18), mm. 102 end 213 Ex. 5.11 Sonata 4, first movement (No. 10), development and part of recapitulation (mm. 29 57) 216 Ex. 6.1 Sonata in E Major, Hob. XVI:52 (London: Longman, Clementi, 1799), first movement, mm. 1 13 236 Ex. 6.2 Jan Ladislav Dussek, Sonata in G Minor, Op. 13 No. 3, first movement, mm. 1 4 236 Ex. 6.3 Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata in B Major, Op. 22, fourth movement, mm. 1 8 241 Ex. 6.4 Sonata in E Major, Hob. XVI:52 (Vienna: Artaria, 1798), first movement, mm. 6 12 242 Ex. 6.5 Theresa Bartolozzi-Jansen, Grand Sonata in A Major, three movements, incipits 246 Plates (following p. 130) Plate 1 Viennese short octave : close-up and diagram Plate 2 Lungau Sauschneider, anonymous gouache (late eighteenth century), and Hanswurst, detail from Kinderspiele, colored etching by Johann Martin Will (1780s) Plate 3 Letter of Princess Marie Esterházy to Empress Maria Ludovica Beatrix, March 20, 1812, first and third (final) page Plate 4 Letter of Haydn to Marianne von Genzinger, February 9, 1790, first and fourth (final) page Plate 5 Physiognomic snapshots of author s performance Plate 6 Franz Xaver Messerschmidt, Character Heads, selected from Krapf (2002), passim Plate 7 Lobkowitz Festsaal and ca. 1790 prell-action Anton Walter fortepiano (replica by Chris Maene, 2005) Plate 8 Holywell Music Room and 1798 Longman, Clementi, & Company piano (replica by Chris Maene, 2004) Plate 9 Karl Anton Hickel, William Pitt Addressing the House of Commons, 1793 94
THE VIRTUAL HAYDN: A RECORDING PROJECT The Virtual Haydn: Complete Works for Solo Keyboard by Joseph Haydn, performed by Tom Beghin, is available from Naxos either as a boxed set of four Blu-ray discs (Naxos NBD 0001 04, released in 2009) or twelve CDs and one DVD (Naxos 8.501203, released in 2011). Showcasing the new technology of virtual acoustics, the recordings were produced at the laboratories of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) and the Schulich School of Music of McGill University. Martha de Francisco was the producer; Wieslaw Woszczyk the virtual acoustics engineer/architect. Many of the concepts espoused in this book have found their sonic counterpart or, conversely, their inspiration in the eighteen hours worth of recorded material. Fifteen hours are pure audio (in the Blu-ray package presented as both 5.0 surround DTS-HD and high-resolution stereo PCM); three hours are HD video, including a feature-length making of documentary, entitled Playing the Room, directed by Robert J. Litz and Jeremy Tusz. Listeners experience Haydn s solo keyboard works in nine virtual rooms replications of actual rooms where Haydn or contemporary players of his keyboard music would have performed. These have been acoustically xiii
xiv The Virtual Haydn sampled, electronically mapped, and virtually reconstructed in the recording studio. Featured rooms range from private to public, from Haydn s own study in his Eisenstadt home to the Holywell Music Room in Oxford, England. Enhancing the experience are the seven historical keyboards on which the music is performed. All seven instruments, from a 1760s clavichord to a 1798 English grand piano, were especially built for this project, some for the very first time since the eighteenth century. As a special bonus, the user may navigate from one virtual room to the next or from one instrument to another mixing, matching, and comparing the performance of a short piece for musical clock, for a total of sixtythree (seven times nine) possible combinations.
COMPANION WEBSITE All examples printed in this book may be listened to or viewed at the designated website thevirtualhaydn.com/book. Especially for chapters 3 and 5 (where it is absolutely necessary to also see ) and chapter 6 (where part of the argument concerns the acoustics of rooms), we recommend that the reader consult the website in tandem with the book. But the website also serves this book s broader performance-oriented message: that image and sound take over where score or prose must stop. To allow for easy cross-navigation, captions and numbers have been kept identical between book and website. Sound and video excerpts are mostly taken from the author s own commercially available recordings, by permission of Naxos. In addition, the website features newly recorded video material, notably, for chapter 3, the non-haydn short-octave examples and Haydn s four-hand Divertimento Il maestro e lo scolare, Hob. XVIIa:1 (with Gili Loftus); for chapter 5, Marianna von Auenbrugger s E Major Sonata (by Gili Loftus) and Antonio Salieri s Ode Deh si piacevoli (with April Babey); and, for chapter 6, Theresa Jansen s Grand Sonata in A Major. Especially noteworthy too are the evocative readings in their original language of Marie Esterházy s and Haydn s letters (for chapter 4), by Geneviève Soly and Tom Pohl. xv
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I now smile at the ambition of a budding performer-scholar, but for the blessing of two giants in the worlds of historical performance and musicology I will be forever grateful. Seated at that special kitchen table in Ithaca, New York, when I unveiled my plan to study the complete Haydn, were Malcolm Bilson and James Webster. Their support has blossomed into warm collegiality and friendship a privilege that I ve never ceased to cherish. Various granting agencies have sponsored my research over the years. I wish particularly to thank the National Humanities Center in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, where I was William J. Bouwsma Fellow in 2002 3; the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), which supported both the recording project (2003 8) and the present book (2011 14); and the Fonds québécois de la recherche sur la société et la culture (FQRSC), which supplied crucial funds during my first years at McGill University. The Joseph Haydn-Institut in Cologne houses the world s most significant collection of Haydn-related primary and secondary sources, and it became one of my favorite destinations, especially during my sabbatical year in 2009 10. I thank the director, Armin Raab, and his remarkable team of xvii
xviii Acknowledgments researchers for their warm welcome. The institute has furthermore helped me develop friendships with scholars I greatly admire, such as László Somfai (whose wisdom and inimitable pragmatism in Haydn-related matters I ve always taken to heart) and Elaine Sisman (whose originality and excellence have continued to inspire me). On the home front in Montreal, I must salute the hardworking and delightfully supportive team of librarians at the Marvin Duchow Music Library under the directorship of Cynthia Leive. Both at the undergraduate and graduate levels, at the University of California, Los Angeles (1997 2002) and at McGill University (2003 present), I have submitted many students to my developing ideas on eighteenth- century performance and Haydn. It has been particularly fulfilling to see some of them explore uncharted territories on their own I think of Erin Helyard s work on Muzio Clementi and Katelyn Clark s on Theresa Jansen. Over the years my historical-piano studio has grown into a true laboratory, where knowledge and insight have emerged collectively. The accomplished musicians I ve had the privilege of working with include, among others, Katharina Brand, Erin Helyard, Alejandro Ochoa, Katelyn Clark, Pascale Roy, Gili Loftus, Meagan Milatz, Ruxandra Oancea, Andrea Botticelli, Ethan Liang, Mélisande McNabney, and Michael Pecak. One crucial element in our laboratory has been the actual musical instrument itself. I thank Alfons Huber, curator of the instrument collection of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, for his groundbreaking research into eighteenth-century keyboards, and for his example of always putting evidence over assumption. My admiration for the skill and genius of Chris Maene has only increased since he built my first fortepiano back in 1991. I have since had the good fortune to collaborate with other extraordinary builders or restorers, all of whom have become dear friends: Yves Beaupré, Rob Loomis (who sadly passed away in 2013), Joris Potvlieghe, and Martin Pühringer. It was in Montreal and at the newly established Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music Media and Technology (CIRMMT) that sound technology added a new dimension to my work. I owe the virtual in the title of this book and much more to my colleague Wieslaw Woszczyk, an expert in the domain of virtual acoustics. Together with Tonmeister Martha de Francisco we formed what felt like a dream team, our collaborations culminating in a special boxed set of recordings. With its catalog number of NBD0001 (as Naxos s first Blu-ray release), I like to think we wrote a bit of history. I thank Klaus Heymann for his trust and vision. But the recording couldn t say it all. After Haydn and the Performance of
Acknowledgments xix Rhetoric, coedited with the classicist Sander Goldberg (itself an immensely inspiring partnership), I was thrilled to receive renewed confidence from the University of Chicago Press. Editor Kathleen Hansell encouraged me to submit my first draft; her successor, Marta Tonegutti, along with her assistant, Sophie Wereley, expertly guided me through the production process; the professionalism of copy editor Barbara Norton and manuscript editor Erik Carlson helped make the last stage remarkably stress-free. I thank the two reviewers for their astute and helpful comments. One of them formally disclosed her identity, allowing me to thank Elisabeth Le Guin for her inspiring artistry and scholarship, for her friendship, and for the opportunity to make music together, mostly in partnership with Elizabeth Blumenstock. I long for more Trio Galatea moments and sometimes wish that shifting institutional affiliations hadn t sent us in opposite geographic directions. Kathleen Hansell and Marta Tonegutti went beyond the call of duty to help me with Italian translations, as did Thomas Pohl, an Austria-based German actor featured on the website, with some challenging eighteenthcentury German. The multitalented Erin Helyard took precious time away from his own academic duties to typeset the complex musical examples, and Robert Giglio lent meticulous assistance in matters of copyright and permissions and prepared the two indexes. Jonathan Hong, Jeremy Tusz, and Ryan Frizell were instrumental in constructing the accompanying website. For their support over the years, especially in matters relating to Haydn, I thank Koen Uvin, producer of Klara (Belgian Public Radio), and Geert Robberechts, who has helped me with much more than just the business side of being a musician. Three chapters are expanded versions of previously published work. Chapter 1 is based on an essay with the same title originally published in The Cambridge Companion to Haydn, edited by Caryl Clark (Cambridge University Press, 2005). Chapter 2 was revised from Haydn and the Performance of Rhetoric, edited by the present author and Sander Goldberg (University of Chicago Press, 2007). A much shorter version of chapter 4, in German, was first printed in Haydn Studien 9 (2006) as Votre très humble & très obéissant serviteur : Männliche und weibliche Rhetorik in Haydns Sonate Hob. XVI:40. Finally, I thank my wife, Griet Vankeerberghen, for her critical yet encouraging eye every time I showed her what I thought was going to be that next killer draft, and for her love and support. My sons, sixteen-year-old Oscar and eleven-year-old August, are two remarkable individuals who continue to teach me a lot beyond historical keyboards (even as their knowledge