String Quartet no 8 in E Major, op 2, no 2 – Joseph Haydn
“The Music Lesson“ (c.1769)
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Haydn’s String Quartet no 8 in E Major,
op 2, no 2 is not an iconic work, but
representative of what the period had
on offer, which wasn’t at all shabby,
however more entertaining than in
any way inspirational, seismic, that’ll
come later, Haydn was nevertheless
not only composing delightful pieces,
but setting the stage for an era, the
Classical Period, along, of course,
with Mozart
the form is not quite settled yet for
the string quartet, with again five
movements here mirroring each
other across again a central adagio,
twice the length, incidentally, of the
other sections, again, though not at
all unpleasantly, which ought to tell
you something
the call and response aspect of the
music, like a verse and refrain, are
manifest, and grounding, everywhere,
you know where you stand, or sit, be
it the allegros, the minuets, or the
adagios, the tunes return and
reassure like clockwork
dance forms, you’ll note, still remain
in the titles, a vestige of the earlier
period’s suites, this will alter, with
headings turning to tempo markings
exclusively, a move towards the
transcendental rather than the
frivolities of gavottes, or minuets
a transposition, meanwhile, of the
Opus 2, no 2 has beguiled me, the
first violin has been replaced here
with a guitar, same string quartet,
but with an exquisite alteration
the guitar can only pluck, not glide
across a note, something akin to the
harpsichord before the fortepiano,
it makes for a completely different,
though profoundly remembered,
original
and delivered a particular zing to
the strings of my heart
R ! chard
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