The Keyboard Sonatas of Joseph Haydn. Instruments and Performance Practice, Genres and Styles

Interest in the authentic performance of early music has grown dramatically in recent years, and scholarly investigation has particularly benefited the study of keyboard music of the classical period. In this landmark publication, the most comprehensive study written on Haydn's keyboard sonatas, a leading Haydn scholar presents novel ideas, corrects misconceptions, and offers new hypotheses on long-debated issues of early music research.

Laszlo Somfai begins with a thorough study of Haydn's keyboard instruments and their development. After recommending instruments appropriate for modern use, he discusses performance practice and style, explains the peculiarities of Haydn's manuscripts in the context of eighteenth-century notation, and provides specific suggestions for playing ornaments, improvising, slurring, and dynamics. He also investigates Haydn's sonata genres within their historical context and discusses the problems of establishing a chronology of their composition. Finally, Somfai analyzes the organization and style of each musical form. The book includes an index listing the sonatas by date of first publication, and an extensive bibliography.

CONTENIDO:

Preface
Abbreviations

PART I - Instruments, Performance practice, and Style
1.- Keyboards Instruments in Haydn's Time
2.- For Wath Kind of Instruments Did Haydn Compose?
3.- The Choice of Instruments for Present-Day Performers
4.- An Introduction to Reading the Conventions of the Notation (Grace Notes, Ornaments)
5.- Notation and Part Writing
6.- Touch and Articulation
7.- Haydn's Notation of Dynamics and Accents
8.- Thoughts on Tempos in Haydn's Style

PART II - Genres and types
9.- Early Divertimento and Partita Sonatas
10.- The Mature Solo Piano Sonatas: A Survey with Historical Hypotheses

PART III - Structures and Styles
11.- Originality and Personal Language: The Options of Analytic Methods
-- (Section 1: The First Movement)
12.- Survey and Classification
13.- Grammar, Syntax, and Analytic Terminology
14.- Exposition Strategies
15.- The Primary Theme
16.- Continuation: Secondary Group, Closing Group, and Fantasia-Like Insertions
17.- Strategies of the Development Section
18.- Recapitulation
-- (Section 2: Other Forms)
19.- Sonata Form and Scherzo Form in the Finale
20.- Sonata Forms in Slow Tempos
21.- Minuets
22.- Rondos and Fast Variations Forms
23.- Slow Variations and Double Variations
24.- Fantasia and Capriccio

Catalog of the Sonatas: Data and Guide
Select Bibliography
Index
Ornament Locator
Thematic Locator