The Piano Sonata in E major, Hob. XVI/49, L.59, was written in 1789/90 by Joseph Haydn. The sonata stands out among Haydn's pianoforte works both for the enthusiastic reaction it has evoked from critics and for the rather complicated story behind its genesis, driven by the composer's feelings for a younger, married woman he had befriended.
Structure This work has three movements. Each is in , a time signature sequence unique in Haydn's keyboard sonatas.Wigmore (2009:54)
The first and the third movement were written in 1789, with the second movement a later addition. The autograph score of the complete work bears the date June 1, 1790.
Composition history Backdrop
At the time he wrote the sonata, Haydn was 58 years old and nearing a pivotal point in his career. For 28 years he had served the Esterházy family as their director of music, spending an ever-increasing amount of his time isolated in the family's palace at Esterháza in rural Hungary. As of 1779 he had been allowed to publish his own works, which proved popular throughout Europe, generating new commissions from afar: Paris, Cadiz, Naples.For the spread of Haydn's fame at this time while he stayed at home, see Geiringer (1982:82-89). A magazine noted (1784) "the universality of Haydn's genius cannot be more strongly proved than by the vast demand for his works all over Europe."The European Magazine and London Review, quoted in Wigmore (2009:47) Yet he was little seen in the musical world, apart from two or so months of the year when he was able to visit Vienna, the imperial capital and great musical center. In Vienna he was able to interact with many other musicians, for instance, in playing chamber music with his friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He was also invited into cultivated homes, such as that of Maria Anna von Genzinger, who ended up playing a major role in the creation of the H. XVI/49 sonata. But the joys of visiting Vienna served to focus Haydn's sense of discontent with his exile in Esterháza.One of the primary documents supporting this is a long letter Haydn wrote to Mrs. Genzinger, quoted at length in Geiringer (1982:90-92).
Although Haydn didn't know it, all this was about to change drastically with the death of his patron Prince Nikolaus Esterházy on 29 September 1790. Haydn was released to move to Vienna, then journey to London, launching the most successful phase of his career.
Maria Anna von Genzinger Haydn met Mrs. Genzinger mostly likely in 1789,Heartz (2009:406). The earliest letter of their correspondence, in which Mrs. Genzinger asks Haydn to look over an arrangement she had made of an Andante from one his symphonies, is dated 10 June 1789. during one of his stays in Vienna. She was at the time 36 years old, and was an amateur musician and a mother of six. Wigmore describes her as "cultured, warm-hearted, and a talented pianist."Wigmore (2009:51) In 1773, when she was 18, she had married Peter von Genzinger (1737-1797), who was a successful doctor who served as the personal physician of Prince Esterházy. Mrs. Genzinger belonged to a higher social class than Haydn and was addressed by him with the title "Your Grace" (German "Euer Gnaden"). She presided over a cultivated and musical home, and Haydn's visits there were treasured by him—he wrote to her of "those wonderful parties -- where the whole circle is one heart, one soul -- all the beautiful evenings ...".Wigmore (2009:52) However, since Haydn was so often required to be at Esterháza, much of their interaction took place by correspondence. In these letters, Haydn sometimes poured out his feelings, to a degree unique among his acquaintances.
In the judgment of biographers, it is likely that Haydn was in love with Mrs. Genzinger—but he also valued her as a friend, and did not cross the line to untoward behavior.For this view see, e.g. Geiringer (1982:89-95) and Hughes (1974:61). Heartz (2009:409-410) quotes a Haydn letter, interpretable as ardent, or perhaps merely conventional: "the time will come when I shall have the inexpressible pleasure of sitting beside Your Grace at the Clavier, hearing you play Mozart's masterpieces and kissing your hands for so many beautiful things". Heartz adds that Haydn "did not again in his letters to Her Grace come so close to crossing a certain line dictated by propriety." The Piano Sonata Hob. XVI/49 was written by Haydn as a gift to her. Whatever Haydn's feelings may have been, it seems that the gift led to some awkwardness.
The anomalous dedication Given that the work emerged as a personal gift to Mrs. Genzinger, it may seem odd that it was dedicated to a different woman: the autograph specified the dedicatee thus: "per la stimatissima [most esteemed] Signora Anna de Jerlischeck." Anna Jerlischeck was young woman of some wealth who, following the death of Princess Maria Elisabeth (25 Feb. 1790), took on the role of housekeeper at Prince Nikolaus's court.See Schloen (2020), who uses the alternative spelling Gerlischek. Later in 1790 Jerlischeck married the violinist/businessman Johann Tost, who commissioned a number of Haydn's string quartets.For more on Anna Jerlischeck, see Heartz (2009:410, 416). It appears that Jerlischeck, who was a relative of Mrs. Genzinger,Heartz (2009:410) had originally commissioned the sonata from Haydn so that she could make a gift of it to Mrs. Genzinger. This is seen in a letter Haydn wrote to Mrs. Genzinger on 6 June 1790:
Although Haydn declined a fee from Mlle Jerlischeck, he did in the end accept a gold snuffbox for composing the sonata, after performing (24 June 1790) the work for Jerlischeck and Prince Esterházy.Schloen (2020)
Daniel Heartz found the correspondence surrounding the sonata to be rather odd, and suggested a novel explanation for the procedure that Haydn was following:
The compiler of the standard catalog of Haydn's works, Anthony van Hoboken, observed that the dedication to Mlle Jerlischeck gives evidence of being pasted over an earlier text, which Geiringer (1982:281 fn.) suggests was a dedication to Mrs. Genzinger.Hoboken's observation is noted in Geiringer (1982:281 fn.). The pasted material can be seen in the images posted at IMSLP, listed below.
It was on 20 June that Haydn announced to Mrs. Genzinger that the sonata would arrive at her home shortly. He tells her that only the Adagio movement is new, and that that this movement bears a special significance.
Mrs. Genzinger's reaction On July 11, having received the sonata and practiced it, Mrs. Genzinger wrote to Haydn from Vienna in reply:
Haydn promised an altered version,Letter of 15 August 1790, translated in Robbins Landon (1959:110) but it has never come to light.Schloen (2020)
A possible reason for Mrs. Genzinger's objection has been addressed by scholars. The hand-crossings are, in fact, not especially difficult for the pianist. It seems, rather, that Mrs. Genzinger was motivated by a wish for physical modesty in avoiding the arm gestures and bodily movements needed to play them. Jordan (2016) writes that Mrs. Genzinger requested the change
In the same letterFor the full text see Robbins Landon (1959: 108). Mrs. Genzinger complained that while Haydn had promised her a symphony,In a letter of 13 March 1790; Heartz (2009:410) she had only gotten a sonata.
Despite the possible duplicities and complaints, Haydn and Mrs. Genzinger remained good friends to the very end, namely her tragically premature death from lung disease in 1793.Narration of the later stages of the friendship, including the period of correspondence from London (1791-1792) and Haydn's return to Vienna (1792-1793) may be found in Geiringer (1982) and other Haydn biographies. For conjectures about how Haydn felt when Mrs. Genzinger died, see Maria Anna von Genzinger.
Mrs. Genzinger's instrument
The possible embarrassments mentioned above may have been augmented by a further factor: according to fortepianist Tom Beghin, it is likely that Mrs. Genzinger did not own an appropriate instrument for playing the work: she had a harpsichord, which cannot render the many dynamic subtleties Haydn wrote into the sonata. Beghin writes:
Beghin goes on to suggest that the new Schanz was a square; that is, a small rectangular instrument with fairly delicate sound and light touch. Once Mrs. Genzinger finally had her piano, it may indeed have been an ideal instrument for the performance of this work: Wigmore (p. 254) notes the sonata's "crystalline, Mozartian keyboard style", contrasting it with the heavier sonority of the Broadwood pianos suited to Haydn's later, more flamboyant London sonatas (Hob. XVI/50 and Hob. XVI/52).
Publication The sonata was first published in August 1791 by Artaria; it is not clear whether the publication was authorized by Haydn or pirated.Haydn claimed theft in a letter he wrote to Mrs. Genzinger from London 2 March 1792; Heartz doubts his truthfulness. For discussion see Heartz (2009:415-416). The title page (in French) reads:
The edition bears no dedication. The specification of possible performance on the harpsichord of piano music (clearly contrary to Haydn's own wishes, as seen above) was common in music publishing at this time, and was applied to Beethoven's piano music for many years to come.Thus, the Cappi edition of the three Opus 31 sonatas, from 1803, still suggests that the works might be played on a harpsichord. Source: Ludwig van Beethoven: Sonatas for Piano, Urtext Edition, Volume 1, edited by Carl Krebs. New York: Schirmer (1953), p. ix. The opus number 66 is not used today; most references employ the Hoboken catalog identification number XVI/49 instead.
Critical commentary The work has attracted strong admiration from musicians and scholars. Fortepianist Malcolm Bilson recorded the sonata along with its more-famous companion Hob. XVI/52 under the title "Two Great E-Flat Sonatas" (Nonesuch, 1983). Warm assessments, with discussion, are found in the work of Geiringer (1982), Harrison (2002), Wigmore (2009) and Heartz (2009). The latter writes (p. 412) "the more one gets to know the work the lovelier it becomes." Maurice Hinson, in the preface to his edition of the Haydn sonatas, writes (1992:17) "the full glory of the Viennese Classical style is apparent in this work."
Of the first movement Wigmore writes (2009:254):
The creation of most of the musical ideas from the opening theme in a sonata movement, remarked on by Wigmore, is sometimes called a monothematic exposition, and is a musical practice for which Haydn was admired.For discussion of Haydn's frequent use of the monothematic exposition in the late 1780s, and the admiration it provoked, see Rosen (1988:4-6). The use of an extended coda was new in Haydn's piano sonatas, a series which initially grew out of a series of simple pedagogical works. Geiringer writes (1982:281) "In this composition Haydn completely forgot the educational purpose of his piano music and followed only his inspiration."