Haydn’s Innovation
Posted: 15 Feb 2016, 21:06
Measures 11 of this example from the autograph of Haydn’s Piano Sonata no. 52 (62) contains unique notation:
The chord in the next to last measure on the first line is to be rolled in a special way, starting with two notes in the LH against one in the RH and then continuing in a 2 against 3 rhythm with the last notes played simultaneously. This conteracts the empty octaves that would have been produced by rolling the notes in each chord at the same time. The use of half-notes without stems is ingenious, as if a solid chord were put slightly out of alignment. Haydn would have had a lot of fun with computer notation!
Interestingly, the Universal edition edited by Christa Landon, which is considered to be authentic, has solid chords in this measure. But the revised version of this edition, now published by Wiener Urtext, has the text as seen in the autograph, but with much greater distance between the notes. This destroys some of the ingenuity of Haydn’s notation. By placing the notes so close together, he gives the impresson of a solid chord rolled so quickly that the note values are approximately correct as written. It is strange that the editors of this revised edition suggest as a realization a straight 8-note arpeggio in single notes stating with the LH and finishing in the RH.
But there is more. What looks like a combined “fermata-slur” in the RH extends over both measures, making this is a unique example of nested fermatas! The large fermata suggests a ritenuto for the two measure, within which there are shorter holds on the individual notes and chords. But viewed also as a slur, it seems to direct tying over to connect the first note to the second, which is what the Wiener Urtext suggests in its realization. But the Wiener Urtext considers this to be a slur only, ignoring the dot and absence of a normal fermata over the first melody note.
As far as I know, this notation has never appeared in print as Haydn wrote it. I have engraved it below. The simplicity of Haydn’s notation is admirable when compared with a conventional realization shown below the engraved version.
The chord in the next to last measure on the first line is to be rolled in a special way, starting with two notes in the LH against one in the RH and then continuing in a 2 against 3 rhythm with the last notes played simultaneously. This conteracts the empty octaves that would have been produced by rolling the notes in each chord at the same time. The use of half-notes without stems is ingenious, as if a solid chord were put slightly out of alignment. Haydn would have had a lot of fun with computer notation!
Interestingly, the Universal edition edited by Christa Landon, which is considered to be authentic, has solid chords in this measure. But the revised version of this edition, now published by Wiener Urtext, has the text as seen in the autograph, but with much greater distance between the notes. This destroys some of the ingenuity of Haydn’s notation. By placing the notes so close together, he gives the impresson of a solid chord rolled so quickly that the note values are approximately correct as written. It is strange that the editors of this revised edition suggest as a realization a straight 8-note arpeggio in single notes stating with the LH and finishing in the RH.
But there is more. What looks like a combined “fermata-slur” in the RH extends over both measures, making this is a unique example of nested fermatas! The large fermata suggests a ritenuto for the two measure, within which there are shorter holds on the individual notes and chords. But viewed also as a slur, it seems to direct tying over to connect the first note to the second, which is what the Wiener Urtext suggests in its realization. But the Wiener Urtext considers this to be a slur only, ignoring the dot and absence of a normal fermata over the first melody note.
As far as I know, this notation has never appeared in print as Haydn wrote it. I have engraved it below. The simplicity of Haydn’s notation is admirable when compared with a conventional realization shown below the engraved version.