Haydn - Symphony No.26 'Lamentatione'

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Texture

  • The number of instrumental lines often exceeds the number of parts because of doubling
  • In bars 1-8, the seven staves on the page might initially suggest a fairly full texture, but there are essentially only two parts, horns doubling notes or prolonging
  • in bars 40-42 there are sometimes three parts (where violins are in unison) and sometimes four (where they play in thirds).
  • mostly homophonic except when in unison
  • Occassionally homorhythmic (bars 132-133)
  • melody dominated homophony (bars 17-38)
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Structure

  • Sonata form
  • Bars 1-44 - Exposition
  • Bars 45-133 (development and recapitulation
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Tonality

  • Functional tonality - major - minor tonality
  • In the exposition, the change from D minor to F major at the end is conventional - expected in the time period
  • Goes through subdominant minor (G minor) in bars 55-57, then it revisits F major and even the original key of D minor ( bars 61-63)
  • More striking tonal change comes when the second subject returns in the recapitulation in the tonic MAJOR
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Harmony

  • Functional harmony with much emphasis on the special tonic and dominant functions of chords 1 and V7, establishing tonality in perfect cadences
  • In bars 1-8 we do hear chord 6 and llb 
  • there is occasionally use of diminished 7ths - they create harmonic tension in minor-key writing
  • bar 4 begins with C# Bb G. Together with E - root position diminished 7th chord on C#
  • Accented dissonance is an important course of harmonic tension in the first subject (bars 1-8 and 13-16)
  • Double suspension in bar 25 (9-8 in viola and 4-3 in violin 2)
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Melody

  • the principal melody line is most widely played by violin 1 but the plainsong melody used in the second subject is played on the violin 2
  • second subject melody is predominantly stepwise with a just few small leaps, widest 5th. The violin 1 countermelody provides effective contrast with continous disjunct movement largely based on broken chord
  • In bars 26-29 the repeated three-quaver pattern F-A-F (starting on an offbeat) is a doubling and elaboration of the tonic pedal in oboe 2
  • periodic phrasing in bars 1-16
  • main melody of the first subject  bars 1-8  has repeated notes in a syncopated rhythm then an upward leap
  • contrasting idea in bars 9-12 consists chiefly of four semitone descents F-E
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Rhythm and Metre

  • Most striking rhythmic feature is the syncopation at the opening and in related passages. The lower part is on the beat all the time, in crotchets while for each of the first three two-bar phrases, the upper part begins with a quaver then has crotchet each beginning on the second quaver of a beat
  • rests are used for articulation
  • simple quadruple time
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