(by Benjamin Korstvedt)<\/p>\n
Haydn\u2019s famous declaration that his Op. 33 Quartets were written in \u201can entirely new, special manner\u201d appears in a set of letters the composer sent in early December 1781 to several distinguished patrons of music offering them the opportunity to purchase pre-publication manuscript copies of these works.\u00a0 Three of these letters are extant; apparently several more have been lost.[1]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a> These letters, which were obviously designed to help sell the quartets, were copied by a scribe, presumably working from Haydn\u2019s own text.\u00a0 They are signed by Haydn.\u00a0 The letters are not identical, but each of them contains the phrase \u201can entirely new, special manner.\u201d\u00a0 Because of the significance that has been ascribed to this turn of phrase, because the formal eighteenth-century German is slightly obscure, and because the most common English rendering is not quite strict, it seems worthwhile to present the relevant text in the original German (reproducing oddities of spelling and capitalization) together with precise English translations.[2]<\/sup><\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 “Derohalben bin ich so frey, deroselben h\u00f6flichst einen Kleinen auftrag zu thun, weilen mir bekannt, dass in Z\u00fcrich, Winterthur viele Heern Liebhaber und Gro\u03b2e Kenner und G\u00f6nner der Tonkunst sind, so habe es ohnm\u00f6glich verhalten k\u00f6nnen, dass ein Werck \u00e0 6 Quartetten f\u00fcr 2 violin, Alto-viola, violoncello concertante, auf praenumeration \u00e0 sechs Ducaten correct geschriebener heruasgebe von einer Neue, gantz besonderer Art, denn Zeit 10 Jahren habe Keine geschrieben.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTherefore I am taking the liberty of asking you most courteously to place a small order.\u00a0 Since its known to me that in Z\u00fcrich [and] Winterthur there are many gentlemen amateurs and great connoisseurs and patrons of music, I certainly cannot conceal [from you] that I am issuing by subscription for the price of six ducats an opus consisting of six quartets, accurately copied, for two violins, alto viola, violoncello concertante, of an entirely new special kind, since I have written none for ten years\u201d<\/i> (emphasis in the original).<\/p>\n Letter dated Dec. 3, 1781 to Johann Caspar Lavater (Z\u00fcrich), in Joseph Haydn: Gesammelte Briefe und Aufzeichnunge<\/i>n, ed. D\u00e9nes Bartha (Kassel: B\u00e4renreiter, 1965), pp. 106-7<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 “Als hohen G\u00f6nner und Kenner der Ton Kunst, nehme die Freiheit, meine gantz neue \u00e0 quadro f\u00fcr 2 Violin, Alto, Violoncello concertante,\u00a0 Euer hochf\u00fcrstlichen Durchlaucht auf praenumeration \u00e0 6 Ducaten correct geschriebener unterth\u00e4nigst anzuerbieten: sie sind auf eine gantz neue besondere Art, denn seit 10 Jahren habe ich Keine geschrieben.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAs a distinguished patron and connoisseur of music, I take the liberty of most respectfully offering to you, Your Noble Princely Eminence, by subscription for the price of six ducats my entirely new quartets for two Violins, Viola,Violoncello concertant:\u00a0 they are [composed] in an entirely new special manner, since I have written none for ten years.<\/p>\n Letter dated Dec. 3, 1781 to Prince Kraft Ernst von Oettingen-Wallerstein, in Joseph Haydn: Gesammelte Briefe und Aufzeichnunge<\/i>n, p. 107-8<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3.\u00a0 “Euer Hochw\u00fcrden und Gnaden, als hohen G\u00f6nner und Kenner der Ton Kunst, nehme die Freyheit, meine gantz neue verfertigte \u00e0 quadro a 2. violin, viola, et violoncello concertante,\u00a0 auf praenumeration a 6. Ducaten correct geschriebener untertanig anzuerbieten: sie sind auf eine gantz neu Besondere Art, denn zeit 10 Jahren habe ich Keine geschrieben.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cYour reverence and grace, as a distinguished patron and connoisseur of music, I take the liberty of respectfully offering to you, by subscription for the price of six ducats my entirely newly produced quartets for two Violins, Viola, Violoncello concertant:\u00a0 they are [composed] in an entirely new special manner, since I have written none for ten years.\u201d<\/p>\n Letter dated Dec. 3, 1781 to Robert Schlecht, Abbot of Salmannsweiler in Baden, quoted in Georg Feder, Haydns Streichquartette: Ein musikalischer Werkf\u00fchrer<\/i> (Munich: Beck, 1998), <\/b>\u00a0pp. 55-6.\u00a0 The letter was first published by Georg Feder <\/i>as \u201cEin vergessener Haydn–<\/i>Brief,\u201d<\/i> Haydn<\/i>-Studien<\/i> 1 (1966), pp. 114-16.<\/p>\n next section<\/a><\/p>\n [1]<\/a> H.C. Robbins Landon and David Wyn Jones, Haydn: His Life and Music<\/i>, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988), p. 192<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [2]<\/a> Somewhat free translations of all three letters may be found in H.C. Robbins Landon, Haydn: Chronicle and Works,<\/i> vol. 2, Haydn at Esterh\u00e0za 1766-1790<\/i>, (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1978), pp. 554-55<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The text of Haydn\u2019s famous statement (by Benjamin Korstvedt) Haydn\u2019s famous declaration that his Op. 33 Quartets were written in \u201can entirely new, special manner\u201d appears in a set of letters the composer sent in early December 1781 to several distinguished patrons of music offering them the opportunity to purchase \u2026 Continue reading<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"parent":63,"menu_order":5,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-264","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musicresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musicresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musicresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musicresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musicresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=264"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musicresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/264\/revisions"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musicresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/63"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.clarku.edu\/musicresearch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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