Haydn and folk music
Encyclopedia
This article discusses the influence of folk music
on the work of the composer Joseph Haydn
(1732–1809).
a master wheelwright). They dwelt in an obscure rural village, and had no musical training. This is not to say they were unmusical, however. Mathias was evidently a folk musician; according to Haydn's own testimony, his father 'played the harp without reading a note of music', having taught himself the instrument while a journeyman. According to the oldest biographies of Haydn (written with the help of interviews with the composer), the Haydn family frequently sang together as well as with their neighbors. The early Haydn biographer Georg August Griesinger
, based on interviews with the composer, wrote
Before he reached the age of six, Haydn was sent away from his family to receive formal musical training. But since even at this tender age, the child was already showing musical talent (he recalled, "As a boy of five I sang all [my father's] simple easy pieces correctly'), it seems fair to say that Haydn began his musical career as a folk musician.
Many scholars have argued that this early connection to folk music remained with him for the rest of his life: that throughout his career, Haydn took advantage of folk tunes, deploying them in strategic locations in his music. Haydn's early biographer Giuseppe Carpani
claimed that the adult Haydn even did field work, collecting folk songs from the people as did Bartók
and Vaughan Williams
over a century later.
ns, Gypsies, and Croatia
ns. The attribution of a tune to a particular ethnicity is not at all straightforward, because (as David Schroeder notes) "folk tunes are frequently transmitted across national boundaries". Schroeder give the following cautionary tale: "The source for a tune in the opening movement of an early cassation
for string quintet (Hob. II:2) is identified by [Franjo] Kuhač
as a Croatian drinking song, 'Nikaj na svetu', and by [Ernst Fritz] Schmid as a German folksong, 'Es trieb ein Schaefer den Berg hinan'. With this precaution in mind, here are some of the folk sources that have been adduced for Haydn's music.
The gypsy musicians were employed by Haydn's patrons, the wealthy Eszterházy family, for two purposes. They traveled from inn to inn with military recruiters, playing the verbunkos
or recruitment dance. They also were retained to play light entertainment music in the palace courtyard. On such occasions, Haydn was virtually certain to have heard their music; and some scholars have suggested that Haydn may have occasionally incorporated Gypsy musicians into his ensemble.
Haydn paid tribute to the gypsy musicians in (at least) three of his compositions.
, who gathered a great number of Croatian tunes in field work. Kuhač's views, published in Croatian in his Josip Haydn i hrvatske narodne popievke (Zagreb, 1880) were made better known in English speaking countries by the musicologist Henry Hadow
, in his book A Croatian Composer (1897) and in various editions of the prestigious Grove Dictionary
). Kuhač and Hadow published a number of cases of Croatian folk tunes gathered in field work judged to have been incorporated into Haydn's compositions.
It is no barrier to this theory that Haydn never visited Croatia
. The Austro-Hungarian border region in which the composer spent his first years included a large number of people living in Croatian ethnic enclave
s.
Here are themes from Haydn's work held to have originated in Croatian folk music.
The reverse-transmission theory would offer a rather different explanation for why Haydn's versions of the tunes resemble the folk versions more at the beginning than elsewhere - it would be the beginning that would most likely be well remembered by folk singers, and the later passages that, diverging most from folk style, would be most likely to be altered.
Concerning the possibility of reverse transmission, it is conceivable that we have some testimony from Haydn himself. In his oratorio
The Seasons
, the composer depicted a rural plowman whistling a tune from his own "Surprise" Symphony
. We cannot know at this stage whether this was meant as a little joke, or whether Haydn had actually noticed that his catchiest tunes were somehow percolating from the concert hall to the countryside.
; that is to say, a member of the Croatian ethnic minority residing in eastern Austria. The proposal led to extensive controversy and is no longer considered valid by mainstream musicologists. For discussion, see Joseph Haydn's ethnicity
.
The second movement of the Symphony No. 85, "La Reine"
is described by H. C. Robbins Landon
as "a set of variations on the old French folk-song 'La gentille et jeune Lisette'". This was an appropriate choice since the 85th Symphony is one of the "Paris" symphonies, written on commission for a Parisian audience.
Like Kozeluh, Beethoven and Weber after him, Haydn made a great number of arrangements of Scottish and Welsh folksongs for British publishers (including Napier, George Thomson, and William Whyte); this activity began in 1791 and continued from time to time to the very end of Haydn's compositional career, ca. 1804. The arrangements are set for high voice and piano trio
.
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
on the work of the composer Joseph Haydn
Joseph Haydn
Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
(1732–1809).
Background
Haydn was of humble family, perhaps unusually so for a famous composer. His parents were working people (his mother Anna Maria was a former cook, his father MathiasMathias Haydn
Matthias Haydn was the father of two famous composers, Joseph and Michael Haydn...
a master wheelwright). They dwelt in an obscure rural village, and had no musical training. This is not to say they were unmusical, however. Mathias was evidently a folk musician; according to Haydn's own testimony, his father 'played the harp without reading a note of music', having taught himself the instrument while a journeyman. According to the oldest biographies of Haydn (written with the help of interviews with the composer), the Haydn family frequently sang together as well as with their neighbors. The early Haydn biographer Georg August Griesinger
Georg August Griesinger
Georg August von Griesinger was a tutor and diplomat resident in Vienna during the late 18th and 19th centuries. He is remembered for his friendships with the composers Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven, and for the biography he wrote of Haydn....
, based on interviews with the composer, wrote
- Nature ... had endowed [Mathias] with a good tenor voice, and his wife, Anne-Marie [Anna Maria], used to sing to the harp. The melodies of these songs were so deeply impressed in Joseph Haydn's memory that he could still recall them in advanced old age.
Before he reached the age of six, Haydn was sent away from his family to receive formal musical training. But since even at this tender age, the child was already showing musical talent (he recalled, "As a boy of five I sang all [my father's] simple easy pieces correctly'), it seems fair to say that Haydn began his musical career as a folk musician.
Many scholars have argued that this early connection to folk music remained with him for the rest of his life: that throughout his career, Haydn took advantage of folk tunes, deploying them in strategic locations in his music. Haydn's early biographer Giuseppe Carpani
Giuseppe Carpani
Giuseppe Carpani was an Italian poet and writer born at Vill'albese, in Brianza .His father wanted him to study law, which he did in Milan and Padua, but after practicing briefly in Milan, he instead followed artistic pursuits...
claimed that the adult Haydn even did field work, collecting folk songs from the people as did Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
and Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams
Ralph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
over a century later.
Sources of tunes
Haydn is claimed to have borrowed folk tunes from several ethnic groups, including AustriaAustria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
ns, Gypsies, and Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
ns. The attribution of a tune to a particular ethnicity is not at all straightforward, because (as David Schroeder notes) "folk tunes are frequently transmitted across national boundaries". Schroeder give the following cautionary tale: "The source for a tune in the opening movement of an early cassation
Cassation (Music)
Cassation is a minor form consisting of a suite of 18th century short musical works, usually played outside , and almost always beginning with a march. These suites could have up to seven movements.Haydn, Mozart and Dittersdorf all wrote in this form....
for string quintet (Hob. II:2) is identified by [Franjo] Kuhač
Franjo Kuhac
Franjo Ksaver Kuhač was a piano teacher, choral conductor, and comparative musicologist who studied Croatian folk music. Kuhač did a great deal of field work in this area, collecting and publishing 1,600 folk songs...
as a Croatian drinking song, 'Nikaj na svetu', and by [Ernst Fritz] Schmid as a German folksong, 'Es trieb ein Schaefer den Berg hinan'. With this precaution in mind, here are some of the folk sources that have been adduced for Haydn's music.
Austrian folk music
The "Capriccio in G major on the folksong 'Acht Sauschneider müssen sein'", Hoarb. XVII:1 (1765), is an example of an Austrian folk tune seen in Haydn's music. This work is a theme and variations on a children's song; for lyrics and discussion see this link. In addition, much of Haydn's dance music is claimed to be based on Austrian folk models.Gypsy music
A more important influence on Haydn was the work of the gypsy musicians. These musicians were, in the strictest sense, not folk musicians, but professionals who had a strong folk background. They occasionally wrote down their compositions or had them written down for them.The gypsy musicians were employed by Haydn's patrons, the wealthy Eszterházy family, for two purposes. They traveled from inn to inn with military recruiters, playing the verbunkos
Verbunkos
Verbunkos is an 18th-century Hungarian dance and music genre. Erroneously, this genre was sometimes attributed to Gypsies, because usually they were the musicians, although the Magyars themselves were sometimes performers,as well....
or recruitment dance. They also were retained to play light entertainment music in the palace courtyard. On such occasions, Haydn was virtually certain to have heard their music; and some scholars have suggested that Haydn may have occasionally incorporated Gypsy musicians into his ensemble.
Haydn paid tribute to the gypsy musicians in (at least) three of his compositions.
- His most famous piano trio, Hob XV:25 in G majorPiano Trio No. 39 (Haydn)Joseph Haydn's Piano Trio No. 39 in G major Hob. XV/25 was written in 1795. It is perhaps Haydn's most well-known piano trio and sometimes nicknamed the "Gypsy" or "Gypsy Rondo" trio because of its Rondo finale in 'Hungarian' style...
, concludes with a movement that Haydn called (in the published English version) "Rondo in the Gypsies' Stile". - The minuetMinuetA minuet, also spelled menuet, is a social dance of French origin for two people, usually in 3/4 time. The word was adapted from Italian minuetto and French menuet, and may have been from French menu meaning slender, small, referring to the very small steps, or from the early 17th-century popular...
of his String Quartet Opus 20 no. 4 was marked by Haydn as "Alla zingarese", which is Italian for "in the Gypsies' style". This minuet has the interesting property of being written in 3/4 time, but sounding to the ear like 2/4. - The finale of Keyboard Concerto in DKeyboard Concerto No. 11 (Haydn)Joseph Haydn's Keyboard Concerto No. 11 in D major, Hob. XVIII/11 was written between 1780 and 1783. It was originally composed for harpsichord or fortepiano and scored for an orchestra in a relatively undeveloped galant style evident in his early works, and has a lively Hungarian Rondo finale...
is marked Rondo all'ungherese. This is generally taken to refer to gypsy music and not Hungarian folk music—in fact, authentic Hungarian folk music was not widely known until much later, when fieldwork was carried out by Béla BartókBéla BartókBéla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
and others.
Croatian folk music
The researcher who first propounded the view that Haydn's music abounds in Croatian folk tunes was the Croatian ethnologist Franjo KuhačFranjo Kuhac
Franjo Ksaver Kuhač was a piano teacher, choral conductor, and comparative musicologist who studied Croatian folk music. Kuhač did a great deal of field work in this area, collecting and publishing 1,600 folk songs...
, who gathered a great number of Croatian tunes in field work. Kuhač's views, published in Croatian in his Josip Haydn i hrvatske narodne popievke (Zagreb, 1880) were made better known in English speaking countries by the musicologist Henry Hadow
William Henry Hadow
Sir William Henry Hadow CBE was a leading educational reformer in Great Britain and a musicologist.Hadow was born at Ebrington, Gloucester, England. He studied at Malvern College, followed by Worcester College, Oxford where he taught and became Dean...
, in his book A Croatian Composer (1897) and in various editions of the prestigious Grove Dictionary
Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians
The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians is an encyclopedic dictionary of music and musicians. Along with the German-language Musik in Geschichte und Gegenwart, it is the largest single reference work on Western music. The dictionary has gone through several editions since the 19th century...
). Kuhač and Hadow published a number of cases of Croatian folk tunes gathered in field work judged to have been incorporated into Haydn's compositions.
It is no barrier to this theory that Haydn never visited Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
. The Austro-Hungarian border region in which the composer spent his first years included a large number of people living in Croatian ethnic enclave
Ethnic enclave
An ethnic enclave is an ethnic community which retains some cultural distinction from a larger, surrounding area, it may be a neighborhood, an area or an administrative division based on ethnic groups. Sometimes an entire city may have such a feel. Usually the enclave revolves around businesses...
s.
Here are themes from Haydn's work held to have originated in Croatian folk music.
- The opening theme of the finale of Haydn's Symphony No. 104Symphony No. 104 (Haydn)The Symphony No. 104 in D major is Joseph Haydn's final symphony. It is the last of the twelve so-called London Symphonies, and is known as the London Symphony....
(the "London" Symphony) is said to be based on the Croatian traditional song Oj, Jelena, Jelena, jabuka zelenaOj, Jelena, Jelena, jabuka zelena"Oj, Jelena, Jelena, jabuka zelena" is a well known Croatian folk song. In English the title means "Oh, Helen, Helen, green apple of mine".It has been claimed that the main theme of the finale of Joseph Haydn's "London" symphony "Oj, Jelena, Jelena, jabuka zelena" is a well known Croatian folk...
("Oh, Helen, Helen, green apple of mine"). The Words and music of this song are available on-line (source: Burgenland-Bunch Songbook). - The finale of the "Drumroll" SymphonySymphony No. 103 (Haydn)The Symphony No. 103 in E-flat major, Hoboken 1/103, is the eleventh of the twelve so-called London Symphonies written by Joseph Haydn.This symphony is nicknamed "The Drumroll", after the long roll on the timpani with which it begins....
no. 103 begins with a theme claimed to be based on the Croatian folk song Divojčica potok gazi ("A little girl treads on a brook"). - The tune of what is now the German national anthemDas Lied der DeutschenThe "'" , has been used wholly or partially as the national anthem of Germany since 1922. The music was written by Joseph Haydn in 1797 as an anthem for the birthday of the Austrian Emperor Francis II of the Holy Roman Empire...
was written by Haydn—paradoxically, to serve as a patriotic song for Austria. The tune is held to have its roots in an old folk song known in Medjimurje and northern regions of Croatia under the name "Stal se jesem". For details, see "Gott erhalte Franz den KaiserGott erhalte Franz den KaiserGott erhalte Franz den Kaiser was an anthem to Francis II, Emperor of the Holy Roman Empire and later of Austria. Lorenz Leopold Haschka wrote the lyrics, and Joseph Haydn composed the melody...
." - A song widely known in CroatiaCroatiaCroatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
, Nikaj na svetu lepšega ni, nego gorica kad nam rodi...(Nothing more beautiful in the world than a fruitful hill), appears in an early work by Haydn, the Cassation in G major (1765).
Differences between folk versions and Haydn's versions
Sometimes, a folk tune (as notated by field workers) and the version in Haydn's work are identical. Often, however, there is divergence, with Haydn's version being less symmetrical and musically more interesting and expressive. As Hadow pointed out, the versions typically are closely similar at the beginning, divergent at the end. Under one view, this would reflect Haydn's creativity as a composer; starting with the kernel of the tune occurring at the beginning, Haydn elaborated it in ways grounded in his own Classical musical language. Another possibility is given below.The reverse-transmission theory
Whenever it is claimed that Haydn employed a folk tune in his works, caution must be exercised, because we cannot be guaranteed that the direction of transmission was necessarily to, rather than from, Haydn. The alternative hypothesis is that the folk tunes collected by fieldworkers represent folklorically altered versions of tunes originally by Haydn and disseminated in altered form among the people. The musicologist Michel Brenet (quoted in Scott 1950) states the hypothesis as follows.- Why should not the terms of the proposition be reversed? During the time Haydn lived at EisenstadtEisenstadt- Politics :The current mayor of Eisenstadt is Andrea Fraunschiel ÖVP.The district council is composed as follows :* ÖVP: 17 seats* SPÖ: 8 seats* Austrian Green Party: 2 seats* FPÖ: 2 seats- Castles and palaces :...
or Esterháza, when his music resounded day and night in the castle and gardens of his Prince, why should not his own airs, or scraps at least of his own melodies, have stolen through the open windows and remained in the memories, first of the people whose duty it was to interpret them, and then of the scattered population of the surrounding country?
The reverse-transmission theory would offer a rather different explanation for why Haydn's versions of the tunes resemble the folk versions more at the beginning than elsewhere - it would be the beginning that would most likely be well remembered by folk singers, and the later passages that, diverging most from folk style, would be most likely to be altered.
Concerning the possibility of reverse transmission, it is conceivable that we have some testimony from Haydn himself. In his oratorio
Oratorio
An oratorio is a large musical composition including an orchestra, a choir, and soloists. Like an opera, an oratorio includes the use of a choir, soloists, an ensemble, various distinguishable characters, and arias...
The Seasons
The Seasons (Haydn)
The Seasons is an oratorio by Joseph Haydn .-Composition, premiere, and reception:Haydn was led to write The Seasons by the great success of his previous oratorio The Creation , which had become very popular and was in the course of being performed all over Europe...
, the composer depicted a rural plowman whistling a tune from his own "Surprise" Symphony
Symphony No. 94 (Haydn)
The Symphony No. 94 in G major is the second of the twelve so-called London symphonies written by Joseph Haydn. It is usually called by its nickname, the Surprise Symphony, although in German it is more often referred to as the Symphony "mit dem Paukenschlag" .-Date of composition:Haydn wrote...
. We cannot know at this stage whether this was meant as a little joke, or whether Haydn had actually noticed that his catchiest tunes were somehow percolating from the concert hall to the countryside.
Haydn and Croatian ethnicity
Franjo Kuhac, who attributed many tunes in Haydn's music to Croatian folk music, went further than this and advanced the theory that Haydn knew so many Croatian folk tunes because he was himself CroatianCroats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
; that is to say, a member of the Croatian ethnic minority residing in eastern Austria. The proposal led to extensive controversy and is no longer considered valid by mainstream musicologists. For discussion, see Joseph Haydn's ethnicity
Joseph Haydn's ethnicity
The ethnicity of Joseph Haydn was a controversial matter in Haydn scholarship during a period lasting from the late 19th to the mid 20th century. The principal contending ethnicities were Croatian and German. Mainstream musical scholarship in the English language today generally adopts the second...
.
Learned borrowings from other nationalities
Like other composers who came from less humble backgrounds, Haydn sometimes would set folksongs from other countries. These fall into a different category from the cases given above, since Haydn obtained these songs through learned channels rather than through folkloric transmission.The second movement of the Symphony No. 85, "La Reine"
Symphony No. 85 (Haydn)
The Symphony No. 85 in B flat major, Hoboken 1/85, is the fourth of the six "Paris" symphonies written by Joseph Haydn. It is popularly known as La Reine .- Background :...
is described by H. C. Robbins Landon
H. C. Robbins Landon
Howard Chandler Robbins Landon was an American musicologist.He was born in Boston, Massachusetts and studied music at Swarthmore College and Boston University. He subsequently moved to Europe where he worked as a music critic. From 1947 he undertook research in Vienna on Joseph Haydn, a composer...
as "a set of variations on the old French folk-song 'La gentille et jeune Lisette'". This was an appropriate choice since the 85th Symphony is one of the "Paris" symphonies, written on commission for a Parisian audience.
Like Kozeluh, Beethoven and Weber after him, Haydn made a great number of arrangements of Scottish and Welsh folksongs for British publishers (including Napier, George Thomson, and William Whyte); this activity began in 1791 and continued from time to time to the very end of Haydn's compositional career, ca. 1804. The arrangements are set for high voice and piano trio
Piano trio
A piano trio is a group of piano and two other instruments, usually a violin and a cello, or a piece of music written for such a group. It is one of the most common forms found in classical chamber music...
.