Although Haydn abandoned the idea of an ornate, varied-reprise Adagio after exploring this type in Opp. 9, 17, 20, and 33, he did retain something of its spirit and technique among later slow movements cast in ternary form—a plan in which a contrasting middle section (B) unfolds between presentation and recurrence of an A section that comprises a two-reprise entity in itself. Table 6.4 lists the in-terior movements in question. All begin and end in major, all feature marked harmonic contrast in their middle sections, and six (Opp. 54/3/ii, 74/3/ii, and the four ternary movements of Op. 64) have middle sections with parallel-minor key signatures.
To what extent does Haydn apply soloistic variation procedures to these movements? In Op. 103/i, recurrence is virtually literal; in Op. 71/1/ii, a peculiar array of disjunct grace notes colors the A theme’s recurrence; and in Op. 64/6/ii, there are changes in the distribution of lines among the parts, but new decorative embellishment is mainly confined to two measures in the first violin (mm. 56–57).
t a b l e 6 . 3 Other instances of notated repeats* involving variation procedures
Opus Key Meter Tempo Location of varied reprise
1. Strophic variation movements
2/6/i B 24 Adagio Variation 4, 1st and 2d reprise
9/5/i B 24 Poco adagio Variation 4, 1st and 2d reprise
33/5/iv G 68 Allegretto–Presto Variation 3, 1st and 2d reprise 50/3/ii B 24 Andante più tosto allegretto Variations 2, 3, 1st reprise 64/1/iii F 24 Allegretto scherzando Variation 2, 1st reprise 64/2/ii B 34 Adagio ma non troppo Theme, 1st and 2d reprise 74/2/ii B 24 Andante grazioso Variation 3, 1st reprise 2. Alternating variation movements
33/6/iv D 24 Allegretto Both variations of major theme: both
parts
50/4/ii A 24 Andante 1st variation of major theme: 1st reprise
55/2/i Fm-F 24 Andante o più tosto 1st variation of minor theme: 1st reprise allegretto 1st variation of major theme: 1st reprise
2d variation of major theme: both reprises
3. Ternary slow movements
64/3/ii E 24 Adagio A: 1st and 2d reprise; B: 1st reprise
64/4/iii C 24 Adagio. Cantabile e A: 1st and 2d reprise sostenuto
64/6/ii B 34 Andante A: 1st reprise; A1: 1st reprise
76/2/ii D 68 Andante o più tosto A1: 1st reprise allegretto
4. Other movements: rondo (Opp. 33/4/iv, 54/1/iv), minuet (Opp. 50/1/iii, 55/2/iii, 77/1/iii), nonstandard (Op. 76/5/i)
33/4/iv B 24 Presto 1st and 2d recurrence of refrain, 1st
reprise (mm. 77–84, 155–62)
54/1/iv G 24 Vivace 1st full recurrence of refrain, 1st
reprise, mm. 102–9 50/1/iii B 34 Poco allegretto minuet: 1st reprise varied
55/2/iii F 34 Allegretto minuet: 1st reprise varied
77/1/iii G 34 Presto minuet: 1st reprise varied
76/5/i D 68 Allegretto–Allegro mm. 1–8 varied in mm. 9–16 (decep-tive cadence in m. 16)
*Certain instances have been excluded from the table because the repeats are nearly literal. Two involve initial struc-tural changes (Op. 54/2/iv: first binary form; Op. 76/4/iii: trio, 1st reprise); three have strucstruc-tural alterations at the end: deceptive cadence or truncation (Op. 54/2/iv: fast-tempo binary form; Op. 64/6/ii: A, 2d reprise; Op. 76/4/iv, B, 2d reprise); one has various minor changes (Op. 77/1/iii: trio, both reprises).
Most of the other ternary movements have third sections whose greater wealth of embellishments, diminutions, and amplified points of contrast recall the ear-lier Adagios’ varied repeats; and in several cases, Haydn adds an extra layer of complexity by inserting varied-reprise technique within one or more parts of the form, thereby incorporating elements from the earlier Adagios in two respects:
the immediate, altered repeat of one or more subsections as well as the higher-level plan of decorating a recurring principal section.
Haydn’s ternary movements obviously differ from the earlier varied-reprise forms in their accent on variation procedure in the last section, a circumstance that entails a different perspective: here the middle portion of the form, perhaps not unlike that of a da capo aria, represents a counterforce to be weighed against an initial proposition. The final section is thus charged with reaffirming order and reestablishing tonal equilibrium, and the added element of variation—en-riching, amplifying, and persuading—invites an eloquent response to the B sec-tion’s contrasts.
Op. 54/3/ii vividly illustrates this play of forces. An idyllic mood prevails throughout the first part (mm. 1–24), but this quality is shattered by the B sec-tion (mm. 25–38), whose throbbing sixteenth notes underlie spans of solo figu-ration in thirty-second notes and even sixty-fourths. A semblance of stability is eventually regained in the A1section, but not without a new element of agita-tion that transforms recurring material into a showcase of solo display, complete with rising and falling lines in sixty-fourth notes as well as turns and other em-bellishing figures. The heightened activity suggests nothing less than a mingling of the A and B sections’ disparate elements, the middle portion’s disturbance en-during as an implacable undercurrent while the final section runs its course.
Of the ternary designs with embedded altered repeats in one or more sec-tions, Op. 64/6/ii may be singled out for the subtlety with which the device
en-t a b l e 6 . 4 Inen-terior slow movemenen-ts in en-ternary form
Opus Key Meter Tempo Form of A section
54/3/ii A 34 Largo. Cantabile Rounded binary
64/3/ii E 24 Adagio Binary
64/4/iii C 24 Adagio. Cantabile e sostenuto Rounded binary
64/5/ii A 34 Adagio. Cantabile Rounded binary
64/6/ii B 34 Andante Binary
71/1/ii F 68 Adagio Rounded binary
74/3/ii E Largo assai Rounded binary
76/2/ii D 68 Andante o più tosto allegretto Rounded binary
103/i B 24 Andante grazioso Rounded binary
riches the movement’s final portion (the A1). Here a nearly straightforward re-currence of the opening eight-measure strain flows seamlessly into a variant in which the principal melody passes continuously from one voice or register to another: violin 2 (mm. 55–56), violin 1 (mm. 57–58), cello (mm. 59–60), vio-lin 1 (mm. 61–62; see ex. 6.3, which compares the statement and recurrence in question: mm. 47–54 vs. 55–62). Overlapping the last of these thematic migra-tions, a derivative of the cello’s arpeggiation of measure 52 materializes high in the first violin (m. 60); and as this thrust continues into measure 61, it merges with recollections of the first violin’s own line from measure 53 as it aims toward a cadence in measure 62 (now an octave higher than in the corresponding m. 54).
By virtue of the melodies’ shifting locations and the plasticity of their changing profiles, performers and listeners are drawn into an engrossing web of intertwined relationships between the original idea and its varied repeat.
The phenomenon of ternary variations calls to mind two additional cases, neither of which actually belongs to our family of interior slow-tempo movements of this type. The first of the two, Op. 71/2/ii, is a sonata form, but the soloistic manner of its exposition resembles that of the earlier Adagios with varied reprise, and its recapitulation highlights diminutions and other decorative touches that invite comparison with a ternary variation’s third section. Altogether different in character, although nonetheless related in principle, is the opening move-ment of Op. 76/5, whose scheme of opening section (A), contrast (B), and em-bellished recurrence (A1), all marked allegretto, leads to an allegro whose elabo-ration of material from the preceding A and B sections carries the movement to a brilliant conclusion.