Haydn seek

[khiemtran]

I've often wondered why I don't like Haydn more. Or, more accurately, why I've liked every Haydn piece I've heard, but I don't love any of them.

His music clearly has most of the things that I profess to like in Mozart - humour, wit, invention, sonata form games, sticky melodies. But for some reason, the emotional connection is missing. Maybe it's there but I don't have the tools to decode it yet.

One possibility is in the different ways the two composers bend and break the rigid rules of their form. Haydn, to me, seems to have a lot of fun breaking the rules for the hell of it. Mozart seems to use the limitations of the rules to his own advantage, conveying greater emotion by contrasting the expected against the unexpected. The poignant love letter that's just ten words long because it's written in a telegram, the signature on the death order that's even more sinister because of the neat, fussy handwriting.

As usual, there's a lesson here for writing as well. To be able to go beyond subverting the rules of a form and to use those rules to shine a light back upon the truth, that's the thing I'd like to do.

That said, I'm going to hear a Haydn symphony live for the first time this weekend, and I'm really looking forward to it. I wonder if anything will change.

Comments

[green-knight.livejournal.com]

Have you ever listened to Salieri? And what do you think of him?

I'm finding this entry interesting because I've come to almost the same conclusion - I like Haydn, but I don't find him as memorable and I don't deliberately seek him out.

Haydn was deliberately breaking rules, but he does it with an undertone of 'look at me, I'm clever'; I sometimes think that things like the Clock or Surprise are taking it a step too far. Mozart, for the most, is more subversive. (The one piece of Mozart I loathe is his 'musical joke' which is downright cruel.

And in many ways Mozart is fairly conventional, compared, to, say, his father.


I'm currently listening to a CD of concertos for the Dresden Court (ca. 1700-1750) which I recently picked up on sale - who needs to eat when you can listen to little-known music on original instruments?

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

Have you ever listened to Salieri? And what do you think of him

I've heard a few pieces, but nothing that sticks in my memory. I think I'd probably file him under "Early Classical, Other". I did hear an interesting symphony by Heinechen on the radio this week (what you get when the alarm goes off at 5 am and you catch the end of the late night classics programme).

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

I'm currently listening to a CD of concertos for the Dresden Court (ca. 1700-1750) which I recently picked up on sale - who needs to eat when you can listen to little-known music on original instruments?

Featuring the baroque oboe by any chance? I love bargain-hunting for CDs when I can. It also has the advantage that a stack of CDs is still a lot smaller than a bookshelf full of secondhand books, which I used to hunt for. On the downside, with iTMS and amazon it's dangerously easy to just click on a button for instant gratification.

live Haydn

[(Anonymous)]

I'm interested to know how the live symphony affects you, because for me, the Haydn I have most enjoyed has been live string quartets. (I've never heard a symphony live.) I've played a good bit of piano music myself, but I've seldom heard any in concert. It seems odd to think he wouldn't record well (as far as I know he wasn't an elf or a vampire!) but the recordings are just not the same as live--more so than all music.
I agree with Catja that Mozart is more subtle with his unexpectedness. Haydn slaps you in the face with a live fish; Mozart tickles the back of your neck with a feather.
When I read your blog I always check to see if I own what you're listening to. Mostly not, since I go through used CD bins muttering "Must get more Bach."

Mary Anne in Kentucky

Re: live Haydn

[khiemtran.livejournal.com]

It was certainly an experience. I don't think I got everything out of it that I could have, but then again, maybe that was the whole point. I do like the Haydn quartets and they're on my list of things to look for. I have one CD that I bought at a market stall which has the Australian String Quartet playing one quartet each from Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven. The Haydn was actually my favourite of the three until something clicked and I discovered the andante of the Mozart (K. 155).