The Haydn-Dedication Quartets: Allusion or Influence?

Author(s): Jan La Rue

Source: The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 18, No. 2 (Spring 2001), pp. 361-373
Published by: University of California Press
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The Haydn-Dedication
Quartets:
Allusion or Inuence?*

he language that Mozart used in dedicating

six quartets to Joseph Haydn has suggested to many writers that Haydn
inuenced Mozarts style, as evidenced in small fragments of similarity
whether of melody, harmony, rhythm, dynamic arrangements or other
perspectives. A brief similarity, however, may involve nothing more than
unconscious recall. True inuence leaves deeper evidence: the embedding of reminiscent passages within similar structural processes.
Many people, I feel sure, can tell the difference between the music
of Mozart and Haydn. It may not be so easy, however, to explain just
how we differentiate the two styles. First we must strip away the classic
conventions that appear so frequently, not just in works of Haydn and
Mozart, but throughout the classic repertory. For purposes of testing
passages for structural inuence I should like to propose two necessarily oversimplied conclusions: Mozarts fundamental process involves
expressive balance; Haydns fundamental process requires continuous exploration. These processes can be found at all levels, from motivic treatment to large sections and occasionally even between whole movements. Within the present telegraphic limitations, two short examples
will serve to illustrate these fundamentally different procedures. (The
thematic functions discussed below are abbreviated as follows: P refers
to primary thematic material; T to transitions; S to secondary material;
and K to closing material.) In Example 1 the main balances of rest and
motion occur between the stable primary material followed by the active T (transitional) passage, re-stabilized by the S-theme (secondary)
in the dominant, only to re-activate in the closing area (1 K, 2 K). A
large-scale thematic balance can be seen in the rising triad of P balanced by the falling triad of S. In the Haydn example (Example 2) the
Volume XVIII Number 2 Spring 2001
The Journal of Musicology 2001 by the Regents of the University of California
* Reprinted from Mozart-Jahrbuch (1991), with kind permission
of Brenreiter Verlag.

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361

t h e j o u r n a l o f m u s ic o lo g y
example 1. Mozart, Sonata in C, K. 545/I:12, 5, 14, 18

&c2

Allegro

P: stable

&

&

T: active

362

&

14

S: stable

K: active

example 2. Haydn, Sonata, Christa Landon No. 49, H. XVI/36:I, 13.

&

####

offbeat eighths

P: exploring

qqq q

&

exploration begins almost immediately with a variant of the staccato,

repeated-note gure presented as a legato, melodic idea. Then later in
the exposition the S-theme appears not as a balance to P but as a further variant of the opening turn and triad gure.
With these signicantly different processes in mind, we may now
examine a number of Mozart passages that arouse a sense of reminiscence, sometimes with rather close correspondences.
The opening ornamented octave in Example 3a and Example 3b in
the same key looks very similar, but the whole phrase in Haydns treatment has a vigorous, rustic effect, whereas Mozarts loud triple-stops are

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h ay d n - d e d i c at io n q ua rt e t s
example 3a. Mozart, K. 428/III:17

b 3
&bb4

Minuetto
Allegretto

b 3
&bb4
B bb b 43
? b 3
bb4
b
&bb

b
&bb 2
p
B bb b 2
p
? b
bb 2
p

2
2
2
f
2
f
2
f

2
2
22
2
2

2
2

2
f
2
f
2
f

immediately balanced by a smooth line in neatly slurred eighths. After

Haydns initial four bars, he continues the rustic manner, exploring
possibilities of the initial opening with a two-bar melodic-rhythmic variant.
If forced to choose between the musical perspectives of rhythm and
melody, Mozarts choice would likely fall on melody, Haydns on rhythm.
Rhythm thus offers an obvious area in which Mozart could make an allusion to his admiration for Haydn. Testing this possibility, one reliable
evidence of the importance of rhythm to a composer can be seen in the
relative frequency of repeated notes or patterns, which by denition
limit any emphasis on melody. In comparing two crisp nales (see Examples 4a and b), Mozart actually uses more repetitions.

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363

t h e j o u r n a l o f m u s ic o lo g y
example 3b. Haydn, Op. 33, no. 2/III:16

b 3
&bb4

Scherzo
Allegro

b 3
&bb4

B bb b 43

? b 3
bb4

364

b2
&b 4

Allegro assai

b2
&b 4
B bb 42
? b2
b 4

. . . . . .

. . . .
p

. . . .
p

2
2
2

example 4a. Mozart, K. 458/IV:19

2 b
2

. .

. .

. .

. . . .

. .

. .

f
f

Yet Mozart balances slurred and staccato within each subphrase,

and at the end of the line we see a forte presentation arriving to balance
the piano opening. Quite differently, Haydn immediately varies bars 12
in the following two bars, and even before the double-bar he has found
other intensive variants that quicken the whole ow.
The explorer principle in Haydns expositions may disconcert or
even confuse listeners who expect a recognizable sequence of PTSK thematic materials. Within this evolving convention Mozart notably claried the sonata design by establishing a lyric character for S as a balance

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h ay d n - d e d i c at io n q ua rt e t s
example 4b. Haydn, Op. 33, no. 3/IV:18

2
&4

Rondo
Presto

2
&4

p
j
.
p
j

j
B 24

.
.
p
.
.
?2 J J
4
p
&

& #
B

. . . . .

. . . . . . . .

.
.
.

.
.
.

.
.
.

. . . . .

.
.

..

j ..

..

j ..

to the forceful, declarative primary theme. In the Haydn-Dedication

quartets, therefore, any departure from this convention immediately
suggests a possibility of Haydn inuence. As an example, the S-theme
of K. 387/I projects a jocular character quite different from Mozarts
general habits (see Example 5).
Notice, however, that the chortling staccato 16ths immediately lead
to a legato dialogue with the cello, and nally to a typical Mozartean
chromatic phrase and cadence, an elegant recovery of balance. In a
similar situation, Haydn would have developed a whole infectious collection of chuckles.
Folk-like themes occur commonly enough in Haydn that one might
expect Mozart to make noticeable allusions to this characteristic. Two

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365

t h e j o u r n a l o f m u s ic o lo g y
example 5. Mozart, K. 387/I:2530

&

24

&

#
#

B#
?#
&

29

366

Ho-ho

j #
p

#
& n

B#
?# 2

p
p

. #. . . .

. . .
#2

j .

j .

. #. . . .

2
2

j .

j .

examples that have distinct resonance for my ear both belong to a gentle Lndler style more rare in Haydn than the vigorous folk-dance
genre. Notice the smooth effect of the legato cross-string bowing over
pedal-points in the cello in Example 6a.
In Example 6a, the expansion of texture for the repetition and the
added counter-melody in Violin I reminds us of Mozartean balance,
which makes variants without changing dimensions. Haydns exploration (Example 6b), on the other hand, typically makes structural alterations.
The Haydn procedure that most likely affected Mozarts composition is the handling of surprise. We can nd dynamic, orchestral, harmonic, and structural surprise in the Haydn-Dedication quartets. Of
these the most subtle is structural surprise, which raises the question:
Where is the downbeat bar? Haydns favorite technique in producing

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h ay d n - d e d i c at io n q ua rt e t s
example 6a. Mozart, K. 464/IV:6674

##
& #

#
B ##

66

##
& #
? ###
&

71

&

###
###

#
B ##
? ###

#2

.
2
2

p
p

#2

.
#2

metric mystication involves repeating a single bar until we lose our

metric moment: A bar may become either a down-bar or an up-bar to a
new phrase. A particularly delightful example occurs at the point of
rst-movement recapitulation in Symphony 85, La Reine (see Example 7). Listening to this, it is easy to be reminded of a similar mystication in K. 428/III (Example 8). Here the Mozart mystication actually
goes beyond Haydn, since upper and lower regions of the texture do
not seem to agree on phrasing, as noted by the numbers on the example. Could this type of rhythmic suspense be considered as an inuence? Denitely, but not with these examples, unless Mozart could foresee Haydns solution: Symphony 85 was probably composed two years
later than K. 428. But there are plenty of earlier Haydn examples (see
the nale of Symphony 80).

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367

t h e j o u r n a l o f m u s ic o lo g y
example 6b. Mozart, K. 458/I:9299

b
& b .. J
p
b
& b ..

90

B b b ..

b
&b

368

b
&b

2.
p

2.

2.
p

2.

.
p

? b ..
b
95

2.

2.

2.

? b
b 2.

2.

2.

B bb

2.
2.

. . .

b 2.
&b
b
&b

B bb
#
? b 2.
b

# #

n .
.

2.

. . .

example 7. Haydn, Symphony 85/I:204212

204

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# n

2.
p

JJJ
p

h ay d n - d e d i c at io n q ua rt e t s
example 8. Mozart, K. 464/III:1622

b
&bb .
b
&bb
B bb b

? b .
bb 2

. ...
1

16

22 ..
22 ..
2.

. ...
2

22 ..
22 ..
2.

.. ..

22 ..
22 ..
2.

....

n
f
f

p
p
p

As we study the later quartets of the Haydn-Dedication group, the

likelihood increases that Mozart intended various gestures of musical
homage, since by this time he undoubtedly had the group-dedication
in mind. The motivic compression of several passages in these quartets
seems unusually close to Haydns processes of exploration as shown in
Example 9.
On close examination, however, we see that Mozart achieved his
own highly effective exploration within a balanced framework (2+2,
4+4) that Haydn might well have compressed to eleven bars or expanded to thirteen.
All of the examples discussed above deal with relatively small details
of style that momentarily suggest a link between the creative processes
of the two composers. When we consider larger areas, however, the individual expressions of Mozartean balances versus Haydnesque exploration reveal more differences than similarities. The question of surface
inuence then becomes less relevant as we increasingly sense the controlling personality of Mozart behind each example. Two areas in the
last quartets, however, seem to reveal a deeper penetration of Haydns
thinking into Mozarts creative processes. First, the Menuetto of K. 465
(see Example 10) contains such a concentration of Haydn procedures
that the possibility of direct inuence cannot be ignored.
Here we nd (a) an innocent chromatic phrase followed by (b) a
jolting dynamic contrast (c) further heightened by sharp juxtaposition
of chordal and unison textures; (d) 1-bar imitations leading to a surprise sforzato of a chord that throws the whole phrase structure offbalance; and (e) cadencing with tricky repositions of a 5-beat gure

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369

t h e j o u r n a l o f m u s ic o lo g y
example 9. Mozart, K. 464/I:2535

##
& # n2
p

n .

25

##
& # n
p
#
B ## n
? ## #
##
& #

31

370

##
& #

n
#

#
B ## n 2

? ## # n
. .

n.

#2
2
. .

n n

n2.

.
2

n2

#2

cresc.

cresc.

n 2

n. .

n 2

n2 .

8va

n .

# n
f
f

n. .

cresc.

cresc.

within the 3/4 meter. This collection of shock waves occurring seemingly at random certainly evokes the spirit of Haydn; but notice also
many balanced features: soft versus loud dynamics; alternation of legato
and staccato; harmonic versus melodic textures; complex counterpoint
dissolving into a single, sustained chord. And if you beat time to the
exampleone, two; one, twoMozart has a surprise for you: all the bar
groupings are multiples of two: 4, 2+2, 4, 4, 4. This specially subtle tribute to Haydn conceals its Mozartean substructure so smoothly that we
can scarcely nd it. A veritable catalogue of Haydns musical tricks
come together without missing a beat. Ende gut, alles gut.

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h ay d n - d e d i c at io n q ua rt e t s
example 10. Mozart, K. 465/III:120

3
&4

Menuetto
(Allegro)

3
&4

B 43

&
B

?
&

14

&
B

# n

. .
. . .#.
p
p
p

# n

&

?3
4
8

# n
f

Repos.

n #

# n

p
p

2.
S

#. . . .
p.

2.
S

2.
S

#2 .
S

..

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..
..
..

371

t h e j o u r n a l o f m u s ic o lo g y
example 11. Mozart, K. 464/I:1, 39, 66

##3
& # 4

.#

Allegro

##3
& # 4

#
B # # 43
? ### 3
4
&

39

372

# ## #

##
& #

#
B ##

&

66

# ##

##
& # n2 .
#
B ## 2 .
? # ##

2.

2#

2.

2#
2.
n

#
#

# n

2.

2 #

S (inversion)

? # ##

.#

2.
p
2.
p

2 #
2.
2.

#
2

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2.

h ay d n - d e d i c at io n q ua rt e t s
A second example, the opening movement of K. 464 (see Example
11), contains one of the most convincing evidences of Haydn inuence
that I have been able to nd: the use of material from the primary
theme to construct transitional, secondary, and closing theme. In this
context I should like to speak strongly against the term monothematic, often used to describe one of Haydns most important and characteristic techniques. Monothematic gives an impression of sameness
and monotony, just the reverse of Haydns inventive variants. A more
accurate term would be multifunctional, though the technical sound
of this word would probably grate on Haydns ears and make Mozart remember the fake-medical scene in Cos fan tutte, K. 588. But please,
until someone thinks of the perfect word, let us reserve monothematic for composers who deserve it. Returning to music and K. 464:
Mozarts variants show a richness of imagination that should have
pleased Haydn. Following well-travelled Haydn processes, the transition
emerges almost unnoticed from the primary material; the secondary
theme inverts and lengthens the chromatic motion from bar one, also
inverting the general melodic shape from fall-rise to rise-fall and
adding Mozartean touches of balancelong notes answered by rapidly
owing triplets, leading to a brief, imitative treatment. Finally the opening of P returns in almost exact transposition to generate a closing section timed to perfection (and do not miss the thematic-chromatic viola
line in the cadence).
In a spirit of reciprocity I am now collecting examples for a paper
entitled Haydns View of Mozarts Style. Remembering that we have
just seen Haydnesque explorations smoothly tted into Mozartean balances, the obvious question for the next paper is: will Haydns borrowings of Mozartean balance be able to hold their own against his thrusts
of thematic exploration?

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373