Richibi’s Weblog

     “Joseph Haydn“ (1791) 

           Thomas Hardy

               ________

Haydn, profoundly underrated, was the

other pillar of Classical music during that 

period, Beethoven, with half a foot only 

in that era, uses its elements to yank us, 

yelling and screaming, into the next, the 

Romantic Era, 1800 to 1870 more or less, 

more about which later

if Haydn sounds a lot like Mozart, it’s that

this piece was also written in 1789, both 

were catering to the aristocracy, courts, 

salons, music was therefore frivolous, 

meant to be entertaining, not inspirational,

trills, a lot of decoration, technical agility,

prestidigitation over profundity

Beethoven will change all that, stay tuned 

meanwhile, listen to, enjoy, Haydn’s Piano  

Sonata in A-flat major, no 31, Hob XVI-46,  

today’s prescribed apple

R ! chard