Haydn’s use of silence seems to be one of his favorite tricks. There are a few other symphonies where he does this, but I can’t seem to remember the numbers. Perhaps Elaine can help if she is still active.
Haydn used this sometimes, but typically, not to frequent. Other later composers overdid this, Wagner f.i. This g minor symphony is great, pity that the first movement is played way to slow, we're not getting any Sturm und Drang feel.
@@christianwouters6764 I think the first movement could really benefit from a brisker tempo too.. And as for the silences, I'd think they'd be even more dramatic and apt at that tempo... but, that's just my take.
The use of pauses and silence as you rightly say occurs frequently in Haydn and is characteristic of a ratcheting up of tension and rhetorical drama that is both disruptive and highly effective; it is a lesson Beethoven learned from Haydn, but occurs rarely in Mozart. Two obvious examples of the use of these pauses/silences are in the Finale of the very fine b minor piano sonata Hob. XVI:32 where it is used similarly to here, and another example where used completely differently is in the Andante movement of Symphony 101 (‘The Clock’) where we close on G major, get a pause, then the tick-tock re-starts in E flat; the pause heightens the suspense and then the striking effect of the music re-appearing in the ‘wrong’ key. Regarding the four-and-a-half beat pause across bars 5 and 6 here; this is a master stroke. I have played this to students without the pause, re-starting the music on the upbeat of the last beat of the 5th bar rather than waiting until the 6th bar; in other words, I remove four beats worth of rest, and I have played it as it would have been written by Vanhal or Dittersdorf for example (and probably Mozart as well as the pause would disrupt the supreme balance of his music). Having done this several times on the piano to implant it in students’ minds with just a half beat (quaver) rest, I then play a recording of what Haydn actually wrote ie with the four-and-a-half beat rest. The impact of this experiment is as spectacular as it is powerful; if you can manage a keyboard reduction, I recommend you try this to feel the impact. The only other thing I would add is that these dramatic pauses in Haydn are far too often mis-diagnosed as ‘humour’ and the like which in the vast majority of cases says more about the writer’s lack of understanding about Haydn’s art than it does about the their judgement and taste. PS. The pauses are never ‘…tricks’ in Haydn - he would have found that distasteful; hopefully you will find a far better explanation above.
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Haydn’s use of silence seems to be one of his favorite tricks. There are a few other symphonies where he does this, but I can’t seem to remember the numbers. Perhaps Elaine can help if she is still active.
Haydn used this sometimes, but typically, not to frequent. Other later composers overdid this, Wagner f.i. This g minor symphony is great, pity that the first movement is played way to slow, we're not getting any Sturm und Drang feel.
Try Symphony No 83, which consequently is also in G Minor. The "Joke" String Quartet from Op 33 also uses silences/pauses to an amusing effect.
@@christianwouters6764 I think the first movement could really benefit from a brisker tempo too.. And as for the silences, I'd think they'd be even more dramatic and apt at that tempo... but, that's just my take.
The use of pauses and silence as you rightly say occurs frequently in Haydn and is characteristic of a ratcheting up of tension and rhetorical drama that is both disruptive and highly effective; it is a lesson Beethoven learned from Haydn, but occurs rarely in Mozart.
Two obvious examples of the use of these pauses/silences are in the Finale of the very fine b minor piano sonata Hob. XVI:32 where it is used similarly to here, and another example where used completely differently is in the Andante movement of Symphony 101 (‘The Clock’) where we close on G major, get a pause, then the tick-tock re-starts in E flat; the pause heightens the suspense and then the striking effect of the music re-appearing in the ‘wrong’ key.
Regarding the four-and-a-half beat pause across bars 5 and 6 here; this is a master stroke.
I have played this to students without the pause, re-starting the music on the upbeat of the last beat of the 5th bar rather than waiting until the 6th bar; in other words, I remove four beats worth of rest, and I have played it as it would have been written by Vanhal or Dittersdorf for example (and probably Mozart as well as the pause would disrupt the supreme balance of his music).
Having done this several times on the piano to implant it in students’ minds with just a half beat (quaver) rest, I then play a recording of what Haydn actually wrote ie with the four-and-a-half beat rest.
The impact of this experiment is as spectacular as it is powerful; if you can manage a keyboard reduction, I recommend you try this to feel the impact.
The only other thing I would add is that these dramatic pauses in Haydn are far too often mis-diagnosed as ‘humour’ and the like which in the vast majority of cases says more about the writer’s lack of understanding about Haydn’s art than it does about the their judgement and taste.
PS. The pauses are never ‘…tricks’ in Haydn - he would have found that distasteful; hopefully you will find a far better explanation above.
Thanks! Great music.
14:10
Yay