Sonata in E minor HXVI:34 (1784)

While Presto finales are fairly common in Haydn’s sonatas, there is only one with a Presto first movement. Remarkably, however, the combination of a minor key and a quick tempo of the opening Presto of the Sonata in E minor does not create the emotional pressure one might expect – a feature which, together with some of the keyboard figuration, suggests that the composer must recently have been reminded of the sonatas of Scarlatti (many of which had been in widespread circulation by then of course). Structurally, on the other hand, the Presto adheres to classically pure sonata form with a clearly defined second subject in the relative major, a short development devoted to the main theme, a regular recapitulation and a brief coda recalling the first few bars.

It is also rare to find in a Haydn sonata a finale linked to the preceding slow movement. In this case the Adagio, which begins in G major ends on the dominant of E minor – the cue for the immediate entry of the E minor Molto vivace, a rondo alternating “innocently” between minor and major. The meaning of “innocentemente” probably refers to the absence of emotional implications in the changing modes. H.C. Robbins Landon suggests that it is equivalent to ‘that which we would, in our modern idiom, call “deadpan”.’