ARTARIA EDITIONS Balitrial Board ALLAN BADLEY » CLIFF EISEN ROBERT HOSKINS + BERTIL VAN BOER IGNAZ PLEYEL String Quintet in F minor (Benton 277) ited by Allan Bad AES?E67 IGNAZ PLEYEL, Suing Quintet in F minor (Benton 277) Sources ~ISMLP. PMLPL63492-pleyelb277%0279 (Gmbaul PN 143, 1789); (André, 2de edition, PN 3058, 1811-1812) Editor ~ Allan Badey| Engraving & Layout ~ Promethean Editions Limited © Antara Editions Limited 2023 Published by Artara Editions (Hong Kong) Limited in Hong Kong, ISBN 974-888-8708-72-7 (print) ISBN 978-888-8708-73-4(igitl) ISMN 979.0-805700-75-5 aE? =FOREWORD [eerie tis os rt ra Ter noo nn ars ep aa the concert hall he founded in 1830, survive to this day rom the ages of fifteen to twenty Pleyel lodged with Haydn in Bisenstadt as his pupil. His patron, Count Ladislaus Eddy, was so satisfied with his progress that he presented Haydn with a carriage and two horses as a measure of his gratitude, Although nothing is known about Pleye’s stud ies per , we can infer from the experiences of other Haydn pupils that he must have undertaken a systematic course of contrapuntal studies based on Haydn's own annotated and revised copy of Fu’ Gradue ad Parnassum and received su- pervision in his exercises in free composition, Dusing his time with Haye, Pleyel’ marionette opera Die Fee Urgelere- ceived its premiere at Eszterhéza (November 1778) and itwas also performed at the Nationaltheater in Vienna. Haydn's rmarioneste opera Die Feuerbrunst (Hob, XXIXb:A) was also performed in 1776 or 1777 with an overture now believed to bbe largely by Pleyel, Pleyel’ first professional position was probably as Kapellmeister to Count Erdody. Our knowledge of this pe- riod in his life is woefully inadequate and there is no cet= tainty ether as to the date of the appointment nor when Pleyel officially severed his ties with the count, The dedica- tion addressed to unt Erdody in the six String Quartets, (Opa ie gracious in its acknowledgement of hie support and ‘encouragement but such sentiments, however genuinely felt, were clearly not enough to induce Pleyel to remain in his service for long, He travelled & and immersed himself thoroughly in the musical lfe there Pleyel's tal Ualy in the eatly 1780s sn experiences exerted a profound influence on his own emerging style and clarity of texture, easy lyricism and elegance of structure ~ all hal music ofthe period ~ became his aesthetic touchstones. His Imatks of the best Taian phenomenal suecess owed much to his ability to rellect the spit of the Italian style while maintaining many of the technical and structural innovations pioneered by Viennese ‘composers such as Wanbal, his first important teacher, and Haydn, While in Naples he secured commissions to write pieces for lia organizzata for the King and an opera Jgenia in Auld, which received its premiere at the Teatro San Carlo ‘on 30 May 178. Around this time Pleyel was appointed assistant to Franz Xaver Richter at Strasbourg Cathedral, He succeeded to the pasition on Richter’s death in 1789, shortly after the Revolution broke out, but before long, both the religious services and Pleyel's public concerts were cancelled. In spite of these difficulties the Strasbourg years were the most pro- ductive musically for Pleyel most of his major compositions date from the years 1787-1795. With his professional circumstances in Strasbourg so un certain in the aftermath of the Revolution, Pleyel accepted an invitation from the Professional Concerts in London and hie sur- prise and embarrassment, he found himself in direct compe- stayed there from December 1791 until May 1792. T tition with Haydn who was the star of the rival concert series organized by Johann Peter Salomon. Pleyel and Haydn re- sumed their easy relationship in London. They met frequent- iy, dined together and even played each other's music. While ‘Haydn was cleszly the man of the moment, Pleyel’s concerts were well attended and his symphonies concertantes and ‘quartets in particular received generous praise in the press. With the establishmen in 1795 Pleyel began to scale down his act poser and his last works were written early in the new cen= hie music business in Paris ties as a com- tury. Much of bis later output seems to have been tailored to Parisian tastes although his music proved popular every: where. The urgent, taut athleticism of his early works written inthe shadow of Haydn i rarely to be heard, As eazly 281789 Dr Charles Burney commented that this ‘ingenious and en- gaging composer [was] drawing rather more from the foun- tain of his invention’ than it would bear, He also expressed the view held by many connoisseurs that Pleyel’ imitation of “Haydn's style had developed into mere affectation, evidence that ‘his fancy, though at frst so fertile, is not ‘ble! These comments are not without merit hough they. {ail to recognize that Pleyels aesthetic approach to composi- tion par ‘This is particularly evident in the string quartets where his & company with Hayda’s very eatly in his career concentration on concertante writing calls for simpler tex- tures and a lyrical as opposed to motivie approach to the- Pleyel's music continued to be popular in the decade or 0 after his ‘retirement’ as a composer although by the time he died in 1831 it had long since ceased to be fashionable He remained unswervingly of the opinion that music ad reached the peak of perfection in the works of Haydn and 0637 =iMozart He had little time for Beethoven and was generally scornfl ofthe works ofthe rising generation of composers. Pleyel’ legacy as a publisher is immense. In the course of its thirty-nine year life Maison Pleyel issued over 4000 ‘works including compositions by Boccherini, Beethoven, Clementi and Haydn, Among the histor portant publications issued by Maison Pleyel were the first ially most im- ‘miniature scores, and, in 18on, a Collection complete des quatuorsd'Heaydn, dédige au Premier Consul Bonaparte he string quintet, lke the trio for violin, viola and violoncello, was nota popular medium in Vienna in the middle decades of the 18% Century. The origin of Pleye’sinterest i the quintet ie unc have encountered works of this kind during his Italy during the eatly:740s, The only Viennese composer of string quintels who might plausibly have inuenced him during his early career was Wanhal who published a set of quintets in the mid-3770s. Any direct influence, however, is not immediately appazent and it seems more likely that Pleyel's interest in the quintet was spurred by his experi- ‘ences elsewhere ‘The present work is one of fifteen quintets composed by Pleyel between the years 1785 and 1789. Mozart owned ‘copy of at least one of these works, che Quintet in E Hat (Benson 271), and was clearly struck by the musical pos- sibilities offered by the expanded ensemble. He drafted Dut did not complete part of a quintet movement in E dat ‘which shows clear knowledge of Benton 271, and in April. May 1787 he composed the quintets in C major (K. 15) and G minor (K. 16), works which rank among his very finest chamber works, That the tonalites of the abandoned quin- tet and the twa completed works are identical to those em= ployed by Pleyel in his rst set of quintets (Benton 271-273) suggests that Mozart was familiar with all three works. Although it is generally assumed hat the earliest of 4quintets were composed in Vienna in 1785, itis possible that they were written while Pleyel was in Naples for the premitve of his opera Sfigenia in Aude Pleye’s fascina- ‘ion with the textural clarity and simplicity of Taian music hhas been noted in connection with his string quartets and, the quintets pursue a similar stylistic path, Extended solo passages are given to each member of the ensemble and. these are underpinned by the simplest and most transpar- cent of accompaniments, One of the most striking features of the quintets is that the violins and violas are frequently deployed in paits which cr antiphonal effects along with a denser texture in the mid- interesting possiblities for dle ofthe ensemble, The violoncello is generally employed ei ther in its traditional baseline role or as a solo instrument: it is rarely coupled with another instrument in its extended solos Pleyel’s works tend to be thematically dense rather than mo- tivically dense and inthis respect they bear a similar kind of re- lation to Haydn's works as Schubert: do to those of Beethoven. Although motivic links between thematic ideas do exist feom time to time, Pleyel revels in juxtaposing strong! melodic ideas and interpolating new themes Pleyel’ third published set of string quintets (Benton contrasting 277-278) followed the patter established in the earlier sete cy work. The work in question, ‘the Quintet in F minor (Benton 277), is one of the works that with the inclusion of a mins we know was composed by 1786. But whereas the dat companions is devived solely from the earliest printed edi- tions, this work can be dated from a reference to itn Cramer's Magazin der Musik: i of ite From Italy, April 1786: Some time ago we had the pleasure to see and make the acquaintance of Haydn's excellent pu- pill Mr Pleyel. He isa young, fiery, and very accomplished composer, full of modesty and very pleasant in manner. ‘We heard some of his new quartets and trios, which are very fine and original. Nor [should we] fail to mention his quintets for two violins, two violas, and bass. One of them in particular, in f minor, ie a masterpiece. What mel- ody and barmony there isin itt He has now left us again, gone to Paris via Marseille, and thinks from there to visit, London, Apart from the obvious importance of this statement in relation (o the dating of the Faninor quintet, it i also sig- nificant in that it refers to the performance of more than one quintet, though these works are not identified, the obviows candidates are Benton 271-272, both of which can be dated to 178s, and the Quintet in A, Henton 276, Since no edition of Benton 277 is known before 178, itis assumed that the work was performed from manuscript parts and itis even possible ‘that Pleyel composed the work while he was travelling through, lay. The other two works inthe thtd set of quintets were pre- sumably composed afer Peyels return to Strasbourg, The most interesting textual conundrum across the thir- Benton 277. Although at the time af writing, it has not been possible to examine every teen extant string quintels con significant source for this work, comparisons between the edi lions of Artaria and Imbault reveal significant enough differ- ences to justify desribing them as two distinct versions ofthe same work. Of the two editions, Atari’ isthe earlier having been announced in the Frankfurter Ristretto on 5 April, some Aesrivten months before the publication of Imbault’s edition in Parisin February 1789, Given Pleye’s recent business dealings with Imbault, it is tempting to believe that hs text may have been acquired directly from the composer. If that were the ease, it would certainly establish its authenticity. However, Artara’s edition ‘of the quintet is significantly different to Imbault's and is the more compelling, particularly in its reworking ofthe second movement, which argues strongly tha it represents the final version of the work. André’ two editions of the work fol- low Artarias text. Since the frst of these predates Imbault’s ‘edition, ths is perhaps unsurprising but it does raise further questions about the origin of Imbault's engraving copy. The revision of Benton 277 differs in wo important respects from that seen in Pleyel’s reworking of the Violin Concerto in D, Benton 103. The alterations made to the first movement of the quintet represent refinements of detail rather than of its overall musical structure. There is no ap- preciable change in the length of the movement or its inter- nal proportions, but the revision considerably strengthens the movement particularly at its lose, Unlike Benton 1034, ‘which has an entirely new finale, both versions of Benton 277, utilize the same unrevised movement, Pleyel’s approach to the revision ofthe second movement, however, is strikingly similar to that he employed in the Violin Concerto, The revi sion is based closely on the thematic material of the origi nal in its opening phrases but once beyond that point, the ‘movement unfolds in a strikingly different manner. There is no obvious reason why Pleyel chose to revise the F-minor ‘quintet, yet the later version subtly reflect its composer's ex- perience of working in the medium which suggests thatthe {wo versions may be separated from each other by a period of a year oF wo. ‘This edition is based Andrés sevond edition of the ‘work issued in x8u-1812, the tile page of which reads QUINTETTO / pour / deux Violons, dewx Altos / ET / Violoncell /compesé par {J PLEYEL. { Oewre 19./N°3047 2 bdition Prix iL, 15Xr. | fineipit] | A Offenbach siM, chee J. André’ 1 also includes Imbault’s version on the second ‘movement of the quintet (headed IIB] which is based on his print of :789: “Trois / QUINTETTI / Pour dew Violons Deve Alto et un Violoncel / COMPOSES PAR/M. J Pleyel/3. Live de QUINTETTI/ Prix 7° #/A PARIS / Chee Imbault au mont dor rue $ Honoré entre | Vhétel d’Aligre et la rue des Poulies No 62". In the absence of a more authoritative source, the pre sent edition secks to transmit as unambiguously as possible the composer's intentions as transmitted in the two sources, ‘The notation of articulation and dynamic markings has been standardised throughout, and, where missing, markingshave been reconstructed from parallel passages. These ae indicat- ed by the use of dotted slurs or brackets where appropriate Like most eighteenth-century sources, there is considerable confusion and inconsistency between parts in the use of staccato dots and strokes. In passages where there is a clear preference for one or other of marking, thishas been applied fon the other parts, There is notable difference in articula- tion preference between the editions of André and Imbault which can be seen in the two versions of the second move- ment presented in this edition, Obvious wrong notes have been silently corrected; otherwise, any editorial emendation with no authority {rom the source is placed within brackets Allan Badley tesSTRING QUINTET IN F MINOR Gieston 277) Ignaz Pleye! Allegro _—— * (7F le]P lef]