Music 48 Research Paper

Concerto no. 4 in G major, 1st mvmt. F. Joseph Haydn

Aditya Nirvaan Ranganathan

Haydn lived from 1732-1809, during the Classical period, in Austria. This piece
was composed by 1969, relatively early in his career i. During his tenure at the
Esterhazy court, Haydn had little contact with other composers, and relied
primarily on his own ideas. Fortunately, this allowed him to flesh out his
conceptualization of Sonata form. The 1st movement of Concerto no. 4 is a fine
example of ABA Sonata form.
The opening theme stays in the tonic key (G major), followed by a thematically
consistent Ritornello from the orchestra. One characteristic feature of Haydn
concertos is that the soloist is given a second theme in the dominant, and this
concerto is no exceptionii. The soloist reenters on a second theme, clearly
derived form the first, in the Dominant (D major). The exposition ends on the
dominant, as expected by sonata form structure. The development section
returns to the Tonic key (G major), and subsequently traverses various closely
related key areas, such as D major, a minor, and e minor. The orchestra
modulates to g minor, the parallel minor, four bars before the recapitulation, and
remains there until the soloists reentrance for the recapitulation. The lack of a
cadence leading back into the recapitulation is a unique feature of this
movementiii. Although this makes the retransition more jagged and unpredictable,
the Ritornello between soloist and orchestra is still appreciable. Perhaps this is
evidence of Haydns self-proclaimed compositional extended youthful period.

More generally, thematic unity is fundamental to the concerto. The primary theme
of this movement is the half-note followed by two pairs of 16 th note leaps in the
same direction motive. This motive is used at the starts of structurally significant
passages throughout the movement, a common and effective tool in Sonata
form.
I have been using the Henle Urtextiv edition of the score, which contains minimal
added markings on the score. Notationally, it remains faithful to 18 th century
performance practice norms. For instance, an ornamentation note at the end of a
trill leading to a cadence is implied, but not notated. In G major, a cadential trill
between A and B would be ornamented with a G as the penultimate note of the
trill before finally arriving on the tonic G.
Towards the end of the recapitulation, the soloist is given a cadenza. The Henle
edition contains a cadenza by Franz Beyer, a German musicologist best known
for his revising and restoration of Mozarts unfinished Requiem v. Beyer is praised
for his ability to remain faithful to the composers distinct style, without letting his
personal interpretation of the work influence him. This has led me to trust this
cadenza, instead of improvising or learning an alternate cadenza.
Haydns immense contribution to orchestral music in the 18 th century earned him
the nickname Papa Haydn, but this concerto was written during Haydns
younger years. Concerto no. 4 is a reflection of Sonata form, eventually one of
Haydns preeminent contributions, as well as a youthful willingness to stray out of
the norm he had been developing.

i James Webster and Georg Feder. "Haydn, Joseph." Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online.Oxford
University Press. Web.

ii From untitled article excerpt by Andreas Friesenhagen in 2011. Friesenhagen is a research associate at the
Joseph Haydn-Institut in Cologne.

iii Randel, Don Michael. The Harvard Dictionary of Music. Cambridge, MA: Belknap of Harvard UP, 2003. Print.
iv Violin Concerto G major Hob. VIIa:4* Urtext edition. Editor: Gunter Thomas, Heinz Lohmann. Piano
reduction: Stefan Zorzor.

v Franz Beyer. Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 22 June 2015. Web.