Additional Haydn/Beethoven Connections
Martin F. Heyworth
Example 1: Joseph Haydn, Symphony No. 46 in B major, first movement, bars 42-53. Staves (top-down): 2 Oboi; 2 Corni in H (B natural); Violino l; Violino ll; Viola; Violoncello, Basso e Fagotto. Tags of 3 eighth notes that include descending minor seconds are present in the violin II part of bars 45-9. From Joseph Haydn. Critical Edition of the Complete Symphonies, edited by Landon, H. C. R. Philharmonia. Universal Edition. © Copyright 1966 by Ludwig Doblinger (Bernhard Herzmansky) K.G., Wien, München. Used by permission.
As is well known, Haydn’s Symphony No. 46 in B major (1772) and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 5 in C minor (1807-8)[1] both revisit their third movements during their finales. What may not have been documented previously is that there is a thematic similarity between Haydn 46 and another C minor work by Beethoven approximately contemporary with the Fifth Symphony, namely, the Overture Coriolan (Opus 62), dating from early 1807.[2] In the first movement of the Haydn Symphony No. 46, there is a repeated tag of three quavers (eighth notes), introduced in bars 6-10, which contributes to the sense of unease that permeates this movement. Examples include the minor-inflected second violin part later in the exposition (bars 45-9; Ex. 1), echoed in the other string parts up to and including bar 50, and most of bars 89-104 in the development section, leading up to the start of the recapitulation at bar 105. A similar sense of disquiet is engendered in much of the Coriolan overture by a pervasive undercurrent of eighth notes, which includes tags of three eighth notes akin to those in the first movement of Haydn 46 (Ex. 2).
[1] Lockwood, Lewis. Beethoven. The Music and the Life, 2003. W. W. Norton, New York, London, 218.
[2] Lockwood, 262.
In a paper published in 1961, LaRue articulated objective criteria for ‘structural similarity’ between different themes. These criteria comprise melodic contour, rhythmic function, and tonal and harmonic background.[3] Applying these criteria to Examples 1 and 2 yields the following conclusions:
The 3-note tags in the second violin part of Ex. 1 include a descending minor second. In Ex. 2, the 3-note tag in the viola part of bar 44 includes the same descending interval; in bars 42 and 43 of this example, the analogous interval in the viola part is a descending major second.
In bars 45-8 of Ex. 1, and bars 42-4 of Ex. 2, the rhythm of the tag is identical: an eighth-note rest followed by 3 eighth notes, in an overarching rhythm of 4/4.
Diminished 7th harmony is present in bars 45 and 47 of Ex. 1 and in bars 42-4 of Ex. 2.
Collectively, these results appear to make a plausible case for structural similarity, based on ‘LaRue criteria’. With that said, although there is a continued undercurrent of eighth notes in the Coriolan Overture, much of this undercurrent does not explicitly include an eighth-note rest followed by 3 eighth notes.
[3] LaRue, Jan. “Significant and Coincidental Resemblance Between Classical Themes.” Journal of the American Musicological Society, 1961. 14/2: 227.
Example 2: Beethoven CORIOLAN, Overture for Orchestra, Op. 62, Edited by Max Unger; bars 36-50 (not numbered), showing string parts only. Tags of 3 eighth notes that include descending major or minor seconds are present in the viola part of bars 42-4. Eulenburg Miniature Scores ETP 626. Used by permission of Ernst Eulenburg & Co. GmbH, London.
If similarities between Haydn 46 and the two C minor works by Beethoven are not coincidental (whether they are conscious or unconscious), they raise the question of how Beethoven would have become acquainted with the Haydn B major symphony. A possible answer to this question is present in Appendix I of Landon (1955).[4] Here, under ‘Additional MS. sources’ for the Symphony No. 46, Landon cites “score and parts from the Erzherzog Rudolf Coll., GdM Xlll, 8497, c. 1800-20” (i.e., present in the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde (GdM) in Vienna, at the time of Landon’s pertinent research).[5] One can speculate that Beethoven had access to the manuscript sources of Haydn 46 in the library of his aristocratic patron and composition pupil, Archduke Rudolf, and/or that Beethoven might have suggested works to include in that library (conceivably, specific Haydn symphonies with which he was already acquainted, or perhaps ‘any’ symphonies by his former mentor, Haydn). Appendix I of Landon (1955) lists the Archducal library as a repository of [copyists’] manuscripts of 58 Haydn symphonies (according to the present author’s count), whether scores, parts, or both. At the time of Landon’s work (mid-20th century), the holdings from the Archduke’s library were variously distributed between the GdM, the Austrian monasteries of Melk, Göttweig, and Zwettl, and the Mozarteum in Salzburg.[6]
[4] Landon, H. C. Robbins. The Symphonies of Joseph Haydn, 1955. Universal Edition and Rockliff, London.
[5] Landon (1955), 687.
[6] Landon (1955), Appendix I.
Do the Haydn symphonies in the Archducal library include any other works that might have been specific models for Beethoven? Haydn’s F major symphony, No. 40 (1763), is one such possible candidate, which, one can speculate, might have informed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 8, also in F major (1812).[7] In Appendix I, Landon cites, under ‘Additional MS. sources’ for Haydn’s Symphony No. 40, “GdM Xlll, 8482, score and pts. from Erzherzog Rudolf Collection (c. 1800 or later)” and “additional Erzherzog Rudolf parts, Melk lV, 84”.[8] On the face of it, this early Haydn symphony, which predates Beethoven’s birth by 7 years, might seem an unlikely candidate to have influenced Beethoven directly. With that said, there are specific points of similarity between the two F major works - namely, relatively fast second movements in B flat major (Andante più tosto Allegretto in the Haydn, and Allegretto scherzando in the Beethoven symphony), and prominent horn writing in the trio sections of both works’ third movements (which, in the Beethoven, is marked Tempo di Menuetto, and can be contrasted with fast Scherzo movements in his other symphonies). These similarities between Haydn 40 and Beethoven 8 are features compatible with specific Haydn-Beethoven influences (whether conscious or subliminal).
[7] Grove, George. Beethoven and his Nine Symphonies, 3rd edition, 1962. Dover, New York (reprint of original publication from 1898), 271.
[8] Landon (1955), 677.
Finally, what is one to make of the comment by Landon that the autograph [holograph] of Haydn’s Symphony No. 98 in B flat major (1792) [reached the former] Preussische Staatsbibliothek (Berlin) “from the Coll[ection]. of Ludwig van Beethoven”?[9] Did Haydn give this manuscript to Beethoven, by analogy with his donation of the holograph of the Symphony No. 49 in F minor (1768) to his pupil Paul Struck in around 1799[10] and that of the Symphony No. 103 in E flat major (1795) to Luigi Cherubini in 1806?[11]
[9] Landon (1955), 764.
[10] Landon, H. C. Robbins. Haydn: Chronicle and Works. Haydn: the Years of ‘The Creation’ 1796-1800, 1977. Thames and Hudson, London, 488.
[11] Landon, H. C. Robbins. Haydn: Chronicle and Works. Haydn: the Late Years 1801-1809, 1977. Thames and Hudson, London, 343.
Acknowledgments
The author is grateful to Professor Bruce MacIntyre for drawing attention to the LaRue paper, and to the University of California Press customer service staff for providing a copy of that article.
References
Grove, George. Beethoven and his Nine Symphonies, 3rd edition, 1962. Dover, New York (reprint of original publication from 1898).
Landon, H. C. Robbins. The Symphonies of Joseph Haydn, 1955. Universal Edition and Rockliff, London.
Landon, H. C. Robbins. Haydn: Chronicle and Works. Haydn: the Years of ‘The Creation’ 1796-1800, 1977. Thames and Hudson, London.
Landon, H. C. Robbins. Haydn: Chronicle and Works. Haydn: The Late Years 1801-1809, 1977. Thames and Hudson, London.
LaRue, Jan. “Significant and coincidental resemblance between Classical themes.” Journal of the American Musicological Society, 1961. 14/2: 224-34.
Lockwood, Lewis. Beethoven. The Music and the Life, 2003. W. W. Norton, New York, London.
Editions
Beethoven CORIOLAN, Overture for Orchestra, Op. 62. Edited by Max Unger. Eulenburg Miniature Scores ETP 626. Ernst Eulenburg & Co. GmbH, London.
Joseph Haydn. Critical Edition of the Complete Symphonies: Sinfonia No. 46, H-Dur/B major. Edited by H. C. Robbins Landon. Philharmonia No. 746. Philharmonia. Universal Edition. ©Copyright 1966 by Ludwig Doblinger (Bernhard Herzmansky) K.G., Wien, München.
About the Author
Martin F. Heyworth is a retired academic physician, whose professional career emphasized research in intestinal immunology, and health care administration. Biomedical publications by the author include papers and book chapters on intestinal parasites in the genus Giardia. A medical graduate of Cambridge University (1971), Dr. Heyworth was an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania (Philadelphia), and the Chief of Staff of the Philadelphia Veterans Affairs Medical Center. Dr. Heyworth has had a life-long engagement with music, focussing especially on composition, and an interest in the works of Joseph Haydn that started around 1959. A string quartet and two orchestral sinfonie written by Dr. Heyworth have been published by Universal Edition (Vienna). Entomology, particularly the classification of Coleoptera (beetles), is another of the author’s interests.
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