Part 6 (1/2)
”Monsieur l'abbe,” I replied, ”when I hear froe of opera-comique, I will play music appropriate to it, and not before!”
CHAPTER XI
JOSEPH HAYDN AND THE ”SEVEN WORDS”
Joseph Haydn, that great musician, the father of the sylected We are too prone to forget that concerts are, in a sense, museums in which the older schools ofbesides a source of sensuous pleasure and keen emotion, and this resource, precious as it is, is only a chance corner in the wide realet absolute pleasure from a simple series of well-constructed chords, beautiful only in their arrangement, is not really fond of music The same is true of the one who does not prefer the first prelude of the _Wohlteradations, just as the author wrote it for the harpsichord, to the same prelude embellished with an impassioned melody; or who does not prefer a popular orian chant without any accompaniment to a series of dissonant and pretentious chords
The directors of great concerts should love music themselves and should lead the public to appreciate it They should not allow the otten, for their only fault was that they were not born in our ti to satisfy the tastes of an unborn generation Above all, the directors should grant recognition to masters like Joseph Haydn ere in advance of their own ti to our own
The only exaeneration knows are two or three symphonies, rarely and perfunctorily perfor that we do not know hireater wealth of iination When we examine this em which ould have attributed to the invention of some modern or other We are dazzled by their rays, and where we expect black-and-whites we find pastels grown dihteen symphonies, many are simple trifles written from day to day for Prince Esterhazy's little chapel, when the master was musical director there But after Haydn was called to London by Saloe orchestra at his disposal, his genius took reat symphonies and in them the clarinets for the first time unfolded the resources from which the inally the clarinet played a humble role, as the name indicates
_Clarinetto_ is the diminutive of _clarino_, and the instrument was invented to replace the shrill tones that the truained in depth of tone
Old editions of Haydn's syement, in that the disposition of the orchestra is shown on the printed page
Above, is a group roup--the flutes, oboes and bassoons, while the stringed instrue When clarinets are used, they are a part of the first group This pretty arrangement has, unfortunately, not been followed in the modern editions of these symphonies In the works written in London the clarinet has utterly forgotten its origins It has left the soained admittance to the more refined society of the woods Haydn, in his first attee of the beautiful heavy tones, ”_chalue of a beautiful instru his stay in London Haydn sketched an _Orfeo_ which he never completed, as the theatre which ordered it failed before it was finished Only fragh, these have been engraved in an orchestra score These frague, or recitative, which should bind thee thements is a brilliant aria on Eurydice which is rather ridiculous, while another on Eurydice dying is charlish horns_; it is written as for clarinets in B flat and reaches heights which are ilish horn There is also a beautiful bass part This has been provided with Latin words and is sung in churches This aria was assigned to a Creon who does not appear in the other frag up and down the banks pursued by demons
Another depicts the death of Orpheus, killed by the Bacchantes This score is a curiosity and nothing ret that the as not coe of developing constantly He did not reach the height of his genius until an age when the finest faculties are, ordinarily, in a decline He astounded the musical world with his _Creation_, in which he displayed a fertility of inificence of orchestral richness that the oratorio had never known before Emboldened by his success he wrote the _Seasons_, a colossal work, the most varied and the most picturesque in the history of ancient or er entirely religious It gives an audacious picture of nature with realistic touches which are astonishi+ng even now There is an artistic i of the leaves, the songs of the birds in the woods and on the farm, and the shrill notes of the insects Above all that is the translation into music of the profound eive birth, as the freshness of the forests, the stifling heat before a storm, the storm itself, and the wonderful sunset that follows Then there is a huntsman's chorus which strikes an entirely different note
There are grape harvests, with the nant introduction which rees in Schumann But be reassured, the author does not leave us to the rigors of the cold He takes us into a far and where the peasants are drawn about the fire, listening to a funny tale and laughing iaiety which has never been surpassed
But this gigantic work does not end without giving us a gliht, Haydn reaches the realms where Handel and Beethoven preceded hi blaze of light
This is the sort of work of which the public reht to know
But all this is not what I started out to say I wanted to write about a delicate, touching, reserved and precious work by the same author--_The Seven Words of Christ on the Cross_ This work has appeared in three forms--for an orchestra and chorus, for an orchestra alone, and for a quartet When I was a young inally written for a quartet, then developed for an orchestra, and, finally, the voices were added
Chance took iven the true story of this beautiful piece of work To my astonishment I learned that it had been first performed in the city of Cadiz They even spoke of a competition in which Haydn won the prize, but there was never any such contest The as ordered froious circles, the Cathedral and the Cueva del Rosario, both lay claione over all the evidence in this dispute which is of little interest to us, for the only interest is the origin of the cohtest doubt that the _Seven Words_ ritten in the first place for an orchestra in 1785, and its destination, as we shall see, was settled by the author hiraphie de l'ile de Cadix_, Don Francisco de Miton, Marquis de Meritos, relates that he corresponded with Haydn and ordered this composition which was to be perfor to his account Haydn said that ”the composition was due more to what Senor Milton wrote than to his own invention, for it showed everythe instructions he seemed to read the , we enuous as has been thought, and that he kne to flatter his patrons
In 1801 Breitkopf and Haertel published the ith the addition of the vocal parts at Leipzig This edition had a preface by the author in which he said:
About fifteen years ago, a cure at Cadiz engaged es of instrumental music on the Seven Words of Christ on the Cross It was the custo Holy Week, and they took great pains to give as much solemnity as possible The walls, the s and the pillars of the church were hung in black, and only a single light in the centre shone in the sanctuary The doors were closed atceremonies the bishop entered the pulpit, pronounced one of the ”Seven Words” and delivered a feords inspired by it Then he descended, knelt before the altar, and remained there for some time This pause was relieved by the music The bishop ascended and descended six times more and each time, after his homily, music was played My music was to be adapted to these cereios_ to be performed consecutively, each one to last tenthe audience, was not an easy one to solve, and I soon recognized the i my music conform to the prescribed limits
The ritten and printed without words Later the opportunity of adding them was offered, so the oratorio which Breitkopf and Haertel publish to-day is a complete work and, so far as the vocal part is concerned, entirely new
The kind reception which it has received a amateurs makes me hope that the entire public elcome it with the same kindness
Haydn feared to weary his hearers Our modern bards have no such vain scruple
Michel Haydn, Joseph's brother and the author of soenerally credited with the addition of the vocal parts to the _Seven Words_ Joseph Haydn did not say that this was the case, but it would seem that if he did the work himself he would have said so in his preface