Beginning with Op. 9 and extending through Op. 33, Haydn cultivated a certain type of vocally inspired, soloistic Adagio designed to showcase decoration in a
(b) mm. 39–43
t a b l e 6 . 1 Variation movements in the Haydn quartets (The five columns are arranged to highlight the chronologi-cal distribution of different variation types.)
Strophic Varied reprise Alternating Ternarya Other 2/6/i
aExcluded from this list are two finales (Opp. 54/2/iv and 64/5/iv) that may be construed as ternary, but that bear little significant resemblance to the core repertory of interior, slow-tempo forms in this category.
bStrophic variations, followed by a (partially) fugal summation in which a final variation is embedded.
cTechnically an instance of varied reprise, though it differs in style and concept from others in this category: hymn-style melody persists in lower instruments as a cantus firmus, while the first violin has free elaboration.
dIncluded here since they are slow-movement ternary forms like the oth-ers, but variation in the recurrence of the A section is underplayed in Opp.
64/6/ii and 71/1/ii, and virtually absent from Op. 103/i.
varied first part. (See table 6.2, where basic elements of the movements in ques-tion are summarized and compared; as noted in table 6.1, one later instance, Op.
54/2/ii, qualifies technically as a species of varied-reprise form, although it differs from the other movements listed in basic matters of theme, formal premise, and texture.)
How did the notion of a varied reprise come about, and what was its special appeal? For insight into contemporary musical practices by which these
move-ments may have been inspired, it is helpful to consider C. P. E. Bach’s reflections on extemporized variation in his Versuch über die wahre Art das Clavier zu spielen (Essay on the True Art of Playing Keyboard Instruments), part 1, 1753, as well as certain remarks in the preface to his 1760 Sechs Sonaten für Clavier mit verän-derten Reprisen (Six Keyboard Sonatas with Varied Reprises). In the treatise, Bach cautions that “many things . . . cannot be readily varied” and declares that
“all variations must relate to the piece’s affect, and they must always be at least as good as, if not better than, the original. . . . Constant attention must be given to preceding and succeeding parts; there must be a vision of the whole piece.”4 Noting in his preface to the sonata edition that varied repetition is expected of every performer, he argues as follows: “But supposing the performer has the where-withal to vary a piece appropriately: is he disposed to do so at all times? Will un-familiar pieces not give rise to new difficulties in regard to [variation]?” Bach ad-dresses the dilemma by supplying varied repeats that release performers from the task of “either inventing their own, or having others write them out and learn-ing them from memory with great effort.”5
Haydn’s varied repeats in the movements included in table 6.2 resemble those of Bach’s sonatas by mimicking the spontaneity of improvised embellish-ment. In so doing, they turn what would otherwise have been a prerogative of the performer into a vehicle for the composer’s own rumination on the musical discourse at hand.
Generally speaking, the five primary examples of this device follow a similar course of action in their first parts: a tonally stable theme (preceded in Op. 9/2/iii by an operatic-style introduction, mm. 1–8), subsequent expansion in range and expressive scope, and eventually a decisive close in the secondary key. Melodic delivery falls mainly in the hands of the first violin, whose trills, turns, leaps, and salient melodic peaks signify a solo presence even in this first phase of the form.
But then comes the varied reprise: diminutions enliven the melody, fracturing t a b l e 6 . 2 Slow movements with varied first reprise
Opus Key Meter Tempo Form
9/2/iii Cm –34 Adagio–Cantabile Intro., binary (irreg.) with abbreviated 2d reprise and cadenza
9/4/iii B Adagio. Cantabile Sonata form with short development (10 mm.) and cadenza
17/4/iii E 34 Adagio. Cantabile Large binary with cadenza
20/6/ii E Adagio Large binary
33/3/iii F 34 Adagio ma non troppo Slow-movement form with transition to recap (6 mm.)
(54/2/ii Cm 34 Adagio Rounded binary; mm. 1–8 repeated with free elaboration in vn1)
some of the pitches that had previously been sustained, and streams of figuration in small note values engulf passages originally marked by rhythmic variety. The resulting gain in momentum accentuates the impact of melodic goals and struc-tural punctuations. Soloistic intensity tends to slacken, at least temporarily, as the varied reprise comes to an end, and in three instances (Opp. 9/2/iii, 20/6/ii, and 33/3/iii) Haydn’s telescoping, inflecting, or eliding of the divide between sections helps compensate by quickening the turn to a new, less solo-dominated phase of action. The impression of having pressed the varied-reprise technique almost to exhaustion is especially pronounced in Op. 9/2/iii: the abbreviated sec-ond part barely lasts long enough to accommodate a hasty return to tonic, prepa-ration for an improvised cadenza, and a final closing formula. Op. 17/4/iii differs from this plan by fully honoring the break between sections and then proceed-ing to a substantial-size second part; but the first violin nonetheless earns relief from sustained solo effort by temporarily passing responsibility to the cello, whose sixteenth-note figurations predominate for a full nine measures (mm. 71–79).
In addition to the core repertory of varied-reprise slow movements, Haydn sometimes altered his binary repeats within one or more segments of a compos-ite form—a local phenomenon, not necessarily soloistic in character. Instances of this device, listed in table 6.3, occur with some frequency among ternary, strophic, or alternating variation forms, including the early strophic variations of Op. 2/6/i, whose time of composition likely predates any contact with Bach’s Versuch or with his sonata edition cited earlier.6Additionally, there are several dance movements and rondos in which altered repeats add decoration, textural variety, contrapuntal intrigue, or extra rhythmic life.