More numerous than either varied-reprise or ternary forms, Haydn’s strophic variations span virtually the entire oeuvre, with at least one example in each opus group. Nearly all begin with a two-reprise form (Op. 76/3/ii is the excep-tion) followed by a succession of variants, each of which normally retains the underlying shape and harmonic content of the theme itself. Duple meter and flat key signatures are preferred choices in all phases of the repertory, and with one exception (Op. 50/1/ii, which proves less conventional in several respects), each of the two-part themes has a first reprise of eight measures. (Table 6.5 provides a summary overview. Variations that diverge significantly from the form or har-monic basis of the theme are mentioned in annotations that accompany the table;
also flagged are two cases, Opp. 50/3/ii and 77/2/iii, in which the strophic design is complicated by developmental episodes.)
Harmonic simplicity tends to go hand in hand with the strophic variations’
accent on rhythmic life and decorative melodic play, but not always. Exceptions
47 48 49 50
55 56 57 58
51 52 53 54
59 60 61 62
e x a m p l e 6 . 3 Op. 64/6/ii, mm. 47–62. Statement and varied repeat compared
to the rule of limited harmonic color and tonal range include the chromatic ex-travagance of the Op. 20/4/ii coda, the several major-key strophic variations (for example, Op. 50/1/ii) that incorporate a harmonically enriched variation in minor, and the slow movement of Op. 64/1, where a move to the parallel minor (F minor) and its relative major (A) are featured within the theme itself.
A certain “walking” style7figures prominently among the strophic variations’
themes, with a metrically regular stride that accommodates sharply outlined me-lodic profiles while avoiding the rhythmic density and expressive accents more commonly encountered in varied-reprise and ternary movements. And whereas variation procedures in those other two types often highlight the original theme’s t a b l e 6 . 5 Strophic variation movements
Opus Key Meter Tempo Form (B binary; RB rounded binary)
2/6/i B 24 Adagio B: 4 variations (varied reprises in Var. 4) 9/5/i B 24 Poco adagio RB: 4 variations (varied reprises in Var. 4) 17/3/i E 24 Andante grazioso B: 4 variations
20/4/ii Dm 24 Un poco adagio e B: 3 variations, reprise of theme, and coda affettuoso
33/5/iv G 68 Allegretto–Presto B: 3 variations and coda (varied reprises in Var. 3)
50/1/iia E 68 Adagio B: 3 variations and coda (Var. 2 in minor) 50/3/iib B 24 Andante più tosto RB: 3 variations, added segment between
allegretto Vars. 2 & 3 (Var. 1 in minor; varied 1st reprise in Vars. 2 & 3)
55/3/iic E 24 Adagio ma non troppo RB: 2 variations and coda
64/1/iii F 24 Allegretto scherzando RB: 2 variations (varied 1st reprise in Var. 2) 64/2/ii B 34 Adagio ma non troppo B: 3 variations and coda (reprises of theme
varied)
74/2/iid B 24 Andante grazioso RB: 3 variations and coda (Var. 2 in minor;
varied 1st reprise in Var. 3)
76/3/ii G Poco adagio. Cantabile 4 variations on a theme in a a b c c form 76/6/i E 24 Allegretto–Allegro RB: 3 variations and a (partially) fugal
summation
77/2/iiie D 24 Andante RB: 3 variations; added segments between theme & var. 1, and between vars. 1 and 2
aVar. 2 digresses from both the harmony and the phrase structure of the theme.
bVar. 1 digresses from the harmony as well as the melodic profile of the theme; the added segment (8 6) has a repeated first part that modulates to the dominant (unlike the theme), and its abbreviated 2d part is open-ended.
cVar. 2 is developmental, digressing from the form of the theme; the end of the 2d reprise is truncated.
dVar. 2 differs substantially from the theme in design, harmony, and melodic profile.
eVar. 1 is curtailed; var. 2 is extended; the end of var. 3 is altered and merged with a brief extension.
points of contrast, the strophic forms incline more toward uniformity or homo-geneous continuation within a given variation.8
Haydn draws from the full range of variation technique in his strophic forms, although there are certain differences of emphasis between one phase of the oeuvre and the next. It is mostly among earlier works that he uses constant bass or con-stant harmony procedure. (That he may have regarded such a simple premise as too old-fashioned or thematically loose-jointed for extensive use among later works is easy to imagine.) Correspondingly, his later fondness for cantus firmus technique seems understandable in light of the limitless opportunities it offered for contrapuntal invention, coloristic accompaniment, and ensemble interaction.
Melodic outline technique, which in Haydn’s usage typically involves delicate balances of melodic freedom and constraint, could be said to mediate between those other two possibilities as a source of expressive nuance as well as decora-tive extravagance.
Different techniques often occur within a single strophic variation movement, and on occasion they combine or intermingle in ingenious ways. In Op. 76/6/i, for example, Haydn draws on cantus firmus and melodic outline procedures to explore the idiosyncrasies of an ungainly, antic theme (quoted in ex. 6.4) whose peculiar traits include a series of short-breathed, two-measure units stubbornly sepa-rated by rests (mm. 1–12, 17–22), spans of jarring dotted rhythms (mm. 13–15, 28–32, 34–35), and a succession of disconcerting hiccups (mm. 23–27) before the final phrase of the second reprise.
As the variations unfold, the theme as cantus firmus is joined by other voices whose counterpoint either magnifies the eccentricities or else compensates for hindered momentum. In the second reprise of the first variation, for example, an unaccompanied duet (mm. 45–52) places the halting melody in the second vio-lin while the first lends continuity by spinning out a continuous thread of six-teenth-note figuration below. In the opening phrase of variation 3, Haydn elabo-rates on the stop-and-go jerkiness of the theme by having the viola and cello chime in a measure late with a comparably disjointed series of two-measure par-ticles (mm. 110–13). Then a welcome torrent of sixteenth notes at the start of that variation’s second reprise (mm. 117–23) transports us to a realm of (appar-ently) freewheeling embellishment, but here, as in the previously cited figural work from variation 1 (mm. 45–52), there is also an abundance of control. The sixteenth-note figures of measures 45–52 faithfully trace the profile of the lowest sounding part from measures 9–16 (see ex. 6.5a and b, where the corresponding passages are sampled), and in measures 117–24 the principal melody itself is ani-mated by the craft of melodic outline variation as it combines impressions of un-trammeled rhythmic flow with calculated melodic constraint (ex. 6.5c; see the circled pitches in the examples, which represent points of connection with the theme’s unembellished gestures of mm. 9–12).
Haydn’s strophic formats typically favor events and processes of the moment, and as the variations present themselves, comparison with the theme in its origi-nal form is generally of paramount interest. To varying degrees, however, atten-tion may also be directed to larger unifying forces. On a basic level, the principle of periodic return, continually retracing the theme’s temporal framework, im-poses a kind of large-scale rhythm whose cohesive force is enhanced in the four earliest strophic variation movements (those of Opp. 2/6, 9/5, 17/3, and 20/4) by having the original melody return virtually intact after a series of diminution-rich variations—a signal that the variation process has come full circle, perhaps, or has exhausted itself and is ready to conclude. In both Opp. 2/6/i and 9/5/i, the returning theme is treated to a varied first and second reprise. This valedictory adornment elevates the theme’s stature while at the same time accelerating the structural rhythm (or rather setting up a new rhythm of alternation between un-adorned statement and varied repeat) as the movement nears its end.
A degree of cohesion can also be sensed in variation movements that trace a long-range thematic trajectory by having the theme migrate among the instru-ments from one variation to the next. In Op. 76/3/ii, for example, the path of the
30 24 16
9 Allegretto
e x a m p l e 6 . 4 Op. 76/6/i, mm. 1–36 (violin 1 only)
Va
Vc
8va Vn2
Vn1 9
e x a m p l e 6 . 5 Op. 76/6/i (a) mm. 9–12
(b) mm. 45–48
(c) mm. 117–24 (violin 1 only)
Emperor’s Hymn through the ensemble may be heard as an inverted arch extend-ing from the theme through the final (i.e., fourth) variation: violin 1, violin 2, cello, viola, violin 1. An all-encompassing directional force arises in strophic movements that feature patterns of progressive surface diminution, sometimes intensified by quickened rates of change in other elements along the way. In Op. 9/5/i, for instance, the original theme moves mainly in quarter notes and eighths; the first variation introduces sixteenth-note diminutions; the pace quick-ens in variation 2 with streams of triplet sixteenths and moments of rapidly changing relationship among parts; and in variation 3, rhythmic acceleration culminates with figuration in thirty-second notes.
Still other manifestations of large-scale profile are felt in strophic move-ments that incorporate a variation in tonic minor (Opp. 50/1, 50/3, and 74/2).
Vn2 Vn145
121 117
The change of mode suggests removal to a shadowy, unsettled space from which the return to major emerges as a kind of renewal—a resumption of the main line of thought—and thus a decisive turn in the projection of the movement’s design.
In Op. 50/3, the form is later complicated by an open-ended segment (beginning at m. 81) whose special thematic intrigue—the altered, transposed recurrence in measures 89–92 of a melodic thread from the latter part of the variation in minor (mm. 41–42)—marks this as a crucial juncture in the form. A related case of complex strophic design, the third movement of Op. 77/2, features two inter-ruptions of the strophic sequence (mm. 23–39, 59–73), almost in the manner of a rondo form’s episodes, the second one involving a turn to the opposite mode.9 As indicated in table 6.5, several of the strophic forms incorporate the rhetorical weight of a bona fide coda. That of Op. 20/4, the first of these cases, turns out to be among the most emphatic in its implications for large-scale co-hesion. The stratagem of building to a climax is embedded within the theme it-self, whose gradually approached melodic apex (d3, mm. 16–17, underscored in m. 16 by the urgency of an augmented sixth chord) comes just before its final ca-dence in measure 18. The coda, beginning in measure 89, interrupts the theme’s summarizing return at this very point, using the climactic note as a springboard for a cadenza-like series of culminating events whose heightened intensity has the effect of projecting the shape of the theme (i.e., its property of building to a climax) onto the scale of the entire movement.10