Morzin Palace in the Czech Republic, where Haydn worked early in his career (see the Wikipedia bio). Public domain photo.
Part VI HAYDN AFTER THE DEATH OF MOZART
1. The Popular Style
By ERIC WAGNER
Special guest blogger
On page 334 Rosen gives an example from Mozart's Symphony #39, K. 543. The example labels the first measure as 1, but the example starts with the 26th measure of the first movement of the symphony. Mozart wrote the slow adagio introduction to this movement in cut time (2/4). It switches to ¾ when the allegro starts. I puzzled over this excerpt yesterday, but today I figured it out. The same passage reappears on pg. 349 with four introductory measures in full score with the correct measure number at the beginning of the excerpt.
On page 332 Rosen mentions "Czechoslovakian folk songs." I don't know if these exist. Czech folk songs exist, and Slovak folk songs exist. Rosen, like many of us, grew up in a world with a country called Czechoslovakia. This shaped his world view (as it did mine). I love Rosen's writing, but I do disagree with a few small things in it. As I've mentioned before that he uses male pronouns to refer the generic human being. I know English (and many other languages) used this tradition for centuries, but I prefer gender neutral language.
Next week we come to the chapter on Haydn's piano trios. On page 354 Rosen writes, "In any case, the Haydn trios are doomed." I look forward to studying this chapter and these trios. Perhaps we can save this music, this world.
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