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Musicology Essay Robbie Adams

Joseph Haydns Trumpet Concerto is arguably the most well-known trumpet work
of all time. Haydn composed this work in 1796 for his long term friend Anton
Weidinger. Anton Weidinger at this time had been developing a new 5-key keyed
trumpet, the development of keys allowed the trumpet to play chromatics which
until now had been impossible. Haydn wrote his concerto to not only show off the
new ability of the key trumpet but too also show Weidingers proficiency in his
newly designed instrument. All the concepts of music have been thoroughly
explored in the Third Movement of this concerto. The solo trumpet part will be
the focus of this response as well as the concepts present in the third movement
will be explained and quoted with score examples.
Structure
This movements structure can be briefly described as Sonata Half-Rondo Form. It
is made up of the characteristic Sonata form of Exposition, Development and
Recapitulation but also has a short coda at the end of the movement. The
exposition section is comprised of the usual theme A and theme B
Theme A:

Theme B:

The exposition begins with the orchestra playing Theme A, after the theme is
finished they perform a mini-bridge to act as a segway for the soloist to enter.
The trumpet enters at bar 41 playing theme A, and continues until theme B is
introduced at bar 78. The exposition switches between themes A and B and ends
with an almost rondo structure: A-B-A-B-A
The development starts with the trumpet playing theme A down a fifth:

The development continues with both Themes A and B being heavily modified
before the recapitulation begins at bar 180 with the trumpet playing the original
theme A. Theme B returns at bar 200 but with slight modifications:
Firstly it is played up a perfect fifth and secondly it continues with an impressive
octave passage at the end. Theme A again starts at bar 283 but is suddenly
stopped:

Next the coda begins and the solo trumpet player has a cadenza. This cadenza
lasts 25 bars and develops both themes before leading the orchestra back in for
the last few bars. The letter x on the score symbolises the finishing perfect
cadence and the end of the movement.

All the structural features of the movement are characteristic of the Classical
period and Haydn has used this structure to keep his work interesting and
successful.
Dynamics and Expressive techniques
Haydn uses dynamics to shape his phrases and to signify main ideas and
themes. He uses quite a lot of dynamic contrast in the third movement and
Haydn uses some crescendos and decrescendos which have just emerged in the
classical period. In the baroque period, instruments could only play what was
known as terraced dynamics. This means that the instruments could only

change their dynamics abruptly. For instance an organ playing piano (softly)
could only change dynamics by leaping up to mezzo piano (medium piano),
mezzo forte (medium loud) or straight to forte. But with the addition of the piano
and other more complex instruments gradual dynamics were used extensively.
Haydn also adds in some expressive techniques to show off the new keyed
trumpet.

These turns at this part of the trumpets register are impossible on the natural
trumpet but the addition of keys makes this embellishment possible.
The trills at bar 250 are exactly the same:

Also the grace notes at bar 106 follow the same pattern:

Haydn also uses fermatas at the end of some of the important phrases, for
example this fermata at the end of the development:

What is also noticeable about Haydn's work is the general lack of Italian terms
which is more symbolic of the baroque era.
Haydn uses dynamics and expressive techniques to embellish his concerto and
to keep interest throughout the movement.

Pitch
Theme A is very tuneful and easy to remember which is characteristic of the
classical period. Similarly Theme B is very different to theme A which is also a
classical mark.
Haydn has given Theme A a very clear shape :

As can be seen in the diagram in the 12 bars of theme A, the first 8 bars of the
melody rise up slowly and then in the last 4 bars the pitch plummets back to the
starting note.
Haydn also uses stereotypical cadences: at the very end of the piece he uses a
clear V-I perfect cadence
An unusual addition to the concerto is the octave jumps at bar 210. These
intervals are harmonically unnecessary as the chord does not change; you might
as well play the same note twice. The real reason that these leaps were added is
to purely show off the skills of the soloist or in this case Anton Weidinger:

Rhythm
Haydn stylistically sticks to straight rhythms which lie on the beat. The
predominant note types are quavers and crotchets. He uses a time signature of
2/4 and a fast
tempo of Allegro

Haydn however does use some dotted rhythms, especially a dotted crotchet
followed by a quaver. This can be seen in theme A:

Texture

Tone Colour
In terms of instrumentation the 3rd movements orchestra is as follows: 1 Flute, 1
Oboe, 1 Bassoon, 2 horns in Eb, 2 trombones in Eb, 1 timpani in Eb, First violins,
second violins, violas, cellos and of course solo Eb Trumpet. As this piece was
written in the classical period this work has no performance directions, the well
known performance directions started in the Romantic Period. Haydn may have
included some special directions but in the available scores none could be found.

http://javanese.imslp.info/files/imglnks/usimg/3/3e/IMSLP03256-Haydn__Trumpet_Concerto__Full_Score_-_one_page_per_image_.pdf
http://petrucci.mus.auth.gr/imglnks/usimg/8/88/IMSLP258244PMLP08143-IMSLP226875-WIMA.2b04-H_STrp.pdf
http://library.thinkquest.org/27927/Classical_characteristics.htm
http://nathanblinn.files.wordpress.com/2009/04/senior-paper-haydnand-hummel-compositions.pdf
http://www.coastonline.org/mml/opus/opusSearch_detail.php?id=85

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