Piano Sonata in D major (H.XVI/42)

Princess Marie Hermenegild Esterházy was accomplished in keyboard technique but not - at the age of fifteen - very deep in understanding or very long in the attention span. Or so it seems from the three Sonatas (H.XVI/40-42) Haydn dedicated to her in celebration of her marriage to Prince Nicolaus Esterházy in 1783. They are all in two movements, the first (in G) and the third (in D) each beginning with a theme and variations, only the second in (B flat) including a movement in sonata form, none of them extending to a slow movement.They all end, however, with a flatteringly brilliant piece in a quick tempo.

The most interesting aspect of the variations which open the Sonata in D major is the theme itself: not the sustained melody that might have been expected in these circumstances, it is a series of short phrases separated, for the most part, by rests and by extravagantly distinctive dynamic colouring. In the two major-key variations, while the melodic line is elaborated over the same harmonies, most of the distinctions are preserved. The second variation in D minor, which discards much of the detail, is more purposeful. So is the concluding Vivace assai, which is an impulsive two-part invention on the theme presented in the opening bars.

A contemporary review of Princess Marie’s three sonatas, which were published by Bossler as Haydn’s Op.37 in 1784, warns the reader that they “are more difficult in performance than one might at first believe. They require the greatest precision and much delicacy of style.” The same judgement could be equally well applied to Mozart’s Sonata in B flat major, K.570.