String Quartet in B flat major Op 76 No 4 (“Sunrise”)

String Quartet in B flat major Op 76 No 4 /Hob.III.78 “Sunrise” (1797)

Allegro con spirito

Adagio

Menuetto: allegro

Finale: allegro ma non troppo - più allegro - più presto

Even at this late stage in his career Haydn enjoyed a challenge. In the first movement of the Quartet in B flat it is a matter of reconciling a radiantly expansive main theme (which earned the work its “Sunrise” nickname) with two acutely contrasting sorts of material. Conforming to no standard formal pattern, the improvisatory Adagio is one of the most adventurous of Haydn’s slow movements. The peasant frankness in the middle of the Menuetto anticipates even Bartók, who comes to mind again in the Finale as two accelerations sweep the leisurely Kontretanz main theme off its feet.

Although the quartets Haydn dedicated to Count Erdödy in 1797 were not his last, they were the last full set of six he was able to complete. Writing them at the same time as he was working on The Creation and taking no more than a few months over them even so, he was clearly still at the height of his powers. Certainly, he was confident enough of his mastery over the medium to to set himself challenging problems in each one.

The problem with the first movement of the Quartet in B flat is one of reconciling three acutely contrasting sorts of material – a main theme so radiantly expansive that it has earned the work its “Sunrise” nickname, an exhilararing surge of semiquaver activity and, near the end of the exposition, a closing theme rhythmically fragmented by one part of the ensemble apparently failing to synchronise with the other. Haydn solves the problem not so much by thematic integration, although that has something to do with it, as by holding the contrasting elements in balance.

The Adagio is one of the most adventurous of all Haydn’s slow movements. Conforming to no standard formal pattern, it is essentially an improvisation on the five-note theme thoughtfully introduced in E flat major by first violin in the opening bars. Although, with its central episode in E flat minor, it approximates to a ternary form, the shape of the movement – like the decorative inspirations shared between first violin and cello – seems to be a matter more of spontaneous impulse than design.

While there is nothing very challenging about the Ländler-style Menuetto, the rustic Trio section anticipates even Bartók in its peasant-music frankness. There is something of Bartók also in the Finale. Based on a fairly leisurely Kontretanz tune, it seems for much of its duration to be taking shape as an unsensational ternary construction with a central episode in B flat minor. But that is before a sudden acceleration, with the four instruments passing fugitive scraps of melody between each other as in a Bartók finale, and yet another acceleration that threatens to rush the Kontretanz off its feet.

Although the quartets Haydn dedicated to Count Erdödy in 1797 were not his last – the two Op 77 quartets and the unfinished Op 103 were yet to come – they were the last full set of six he was able to complete. Writing them at the same time as he was working on The Creation and taking no more than a few months over them even so, he was clearly still at the height of his powers. He seems to have been aware of that himself. Certainly, he was confident enough of his mastery over the medium to to set himself challenging problems in each one.

The problem with the first movement of the Quartet in B flat is one of reconciling three acutely contrasting sorts of material – a main theme so radiantly expansive that it has earned the work its “Sunrise” nickname, an exhilararing surge of semiquaver activity and, near the end of the exposition, a closing theme rhythmically fragmented by one part of the ensemble apparently failing to synchronise with the other. Haydn solves the problem not so much by thematic integration, although that does have something to do with it, as by holding the contrasting elements in balance. Beginning the process in the exposition, giving the the opening theme more space by presenting it in inversion as a second subject, he definitively continues it in the development, where each item is given more or less equal treatment. If the opening theme seems to receive special attention on its recall in the recapitulation, the compensatory factor is that it does not reappear in its inverted form as second subject. A coda summarises the neatly balanced situation in little more than a dozen bars.

The Adagio is one of the most adventurous of all Haydn’s slow movements. Conforming to no standard formal pattern, it is essentially an improvisation on the five-note theme thoughtfully introducedby first violin in the opening bars. In that there is a central episode in the minor, beginning with the five-note theme in its new harmonies on first violin again, the construction does approximate to a ternary form. But, like the decorative inspirations shared between first violin and cello (and second violin later on), the shape of the movement seems to be a matter more of spontaneous impulse than design.

While there is nothing very challenging about the Ländler-style Menuetto, the rustic Trio section with its heavy drone on viola and cello and its intrusions of modal melody anticipates even Bartók in its peasant-music frankness. There is something of Bartók also in the Finale. Based on a fairly leisurely Kontretanz tune, it seems for much of its duration to be taking shape as an unsensational ternary construction with a central episode in B flat minor. But that is before a sudden acceleration (più allegro), with the four instruments passing fugitive scraps of melody between each other as in a Bartók finale, and yet another (più presto) acceleration that threatens to rush the Kontretanz off its feet.