126
The Op. 54, No. 2 quartet was
among those that Johann Tost, a
violinist much admired by Haydn
and a wily merchant, took to Paris
to promote and sell. Its brilliantly
soloistic writing for first violin was
aimed at a musical audience that
preferred the quatuor concertant, a
string quartet genre fashionable in
the French capital from around 1775
to the French Revolution of 1789. It
must also have suited Tost’s talent
for playing in very high registers.An exuberant opening
The key of C major that Haydn
chose for the quartet is traditionally
an indication of happy, optimistic
music. The piece begins with
bright and brilliant opening
bars and a fast and vivaciously
improvised melody in celebratory
mood. Each instrument leads inturn in the development section,
while the recapitulation is marked
by the cello’s exuberant arpeggio
and interjections from the first
violin. When the movement should
head to its conclusion, Haydn—like
other great Classical composers,
such as Mozart, Beethoven, and
Schubert—ignores compositional
conventions by ending with a
huge climax. With both violins at
their loudest, the viola and cello
join in before the movement ends
almost reflectively but for its final
two upright chords.Surprising contrasts
The ensuing adagio (slow) in
C minor is highly introspective
in mood. A sad gypsy melody is
pitched in the lowest registers of all
four instruments. The miracle of
this movement is the imperceptiblecreation of what appears to be a
quintet, when the lower three play
on with occasional double stops,
freeing up the first violin to present
a lament that sounds as if it is
totally improvised. The freedom
of Haydn’s notation gives every
violinist an opportunity to present
an individual and uninhibited
interpretation of this passage,
which Brahms emulates in the
slow movement of his Clarinet
Quintet Op. 115.
The sadness of the ending—
on a quiet chord—is deliberately
unresolved. Instead of the normal
break (and even the tuning of
instruments between movements
that often occurred), the piece
moves straight on into the minuet,
which starts hesitatingly and then
gradually emulates the optimism
of the first movement. In theFirst violin
Often leads and
plays the highest
notes and the most
difficult parts. Viola
Plays notes in the
mellow middle range
corresponding with
the alto voice.Cello
Plays the bass line,
the foundation for
the high-melody
instruments.Anatomy of a string quartet
Second violin
Often plays in
harmony with the first
violin, but sometimes
with the viola.DEVELOPMENT OF THE STRING QUARTET
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