Piano Works of Franz Joseph Haydn

Abstract

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) in one of the most influential musical composers in the eighteenth century Classical period. His is also considered the historically transitional figure between late Baroque and Classical, or the forerunner of the Classical period. His is a prolific composer who wrote tremendous amount of music in wide variety of genres such as Symphonies (more than a hundred), String Quartets (almost 70), String Trios (almost 30), Piano Sonatas (52), Piano Variations and Character Pieces, Instrumental Concertos, Instrumental Chamber Music in various combinations, Oratorios and Operas. His musical contributions in establishment of genre and form have earned him the titles “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet”. He also adopted the principles and styles of symphonies in his piano writing, particular in his development of the form of piano sonatas. The typical structural format he applied in his piano sonatas includes, sonata contains multiple movements (usually three to four), first movement is in Sonata Allegro form that contains multiple contrasting themes, second movement is a slow three-part A-B-A form, third movement (if there is one) is a fast Minuet in the meter of three, and the last movement is a fast movement either in Sonata Allegro or Rondo structure. The ideas he established in piano writing became fashionable in the late eighteenth century that was admired and followed by many master composers of later generation such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Franz Schubert (1797-1828), Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847), Johannes Brahms (1833-1897), Gustav Mahler (1860-1911), Paul Hindemith (1895-1963) and Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971). His concept of applying strict structure in music writings has tremendously inspired many neoclassic composers in the twentieth century. In the category of piano works, he not only composed a great deal amount of works for piano, his piano works are considered the most important standard repertoires in the piano literature, and they are extremely appropriate to be utilized as teaching materials as well as concert performing program. In this article we will discuss the composer his life, style of his piano works, as well as the detail theoretical analysis by studying the best-known representative from his late piano works “Variation in f minor Hob. XVII: 6”.