Haydn's Many Surprises

The Chamber music society’s opening night

By John Sherer

Joseph Haydn is generally credited (along with his younger contemporary, Mozart) as the exemplar of the Viennese Classical style. In a commonly repeated version of music history, this style is portrayed more as a basis for what came later than as an innovation in its own right—perhaps because of the extreme gravitational pull of Beethoven’s revolutionary dynamism a generation later. Too often, Haydn is positioned as the “old” against which the “new” is contrasted, the “orthodox” against which Beethoven and the Romantics heroically rebelled, the unmoving giant whose shoulders were merely there for others to stand on. The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center seeks to tell a different story. We open the 2024–25 season with an evening devoted entirely to Haydn, celebrating his great inventiveness, energy, and vitality.

The one-night-only performance, on Tuesday, October 15, features violinist Pinchas Zukerman as special guest, in addition to a robust cast of CMS musicians. These include the Viano Quartet, the sole ensemble in the current Bowers Program (CMS’s prestigious residency for early-career musicians), in their CMS mainstage debut.

One might understandably ask—in a season that centers on the complete cycle of Beethoven String Quartets, performed by the acclaimed Calidore String Quartet in six concerts throughout the year—why begin with an all-Haydn program? A bit of history is worth mentioning. In addition to his many other achievements, Haydn defined the string quartet as we know it. While he was not the first to compose for the combination of two violins, viola, and cello, during his long career he solidified the string quartet as one of the essential genres of chamber music. What started as an ad hoc composition for four players—when a certain Baron Fürnberg asked the young composer for a piece that could be played by this lineup at a gathering of musically inclined friends at his home—gradually became reified as a genre unto itself, as Haydn went on to compose an astonishing sixty-eight string quartets over the course of his life. Following his example, Mozart and Beethoven wrote groundbreaking quartets of their own, and later composers pushed the boundaries of the genre in their own ways. The string quartet thus joined the symphony and the concerto as a vehicle for serious composers of Western classical music to demonstrate the heights of their artistry.

CMS Co-Artistic Director David Finckel describes Haydn’s rightful place in music history: “All the technical groundwork that was laid from the Renaissance through the Baroque created a solid skeleton of the art form. Haydn took that skeleton and added a new kind of flesh; it was fresh with ideas and a freedom that surprises us to this day. He opened the door for composers from Beethoven to Shostakovich and beyond to build upon his work. Especially in a season celebrating string quartets, one just cannot do without a tip of the hat to ‘Papa’ Haydn.”

On this concert, the acknowledgement of Haydn as the “Father of the String Quartet” comes in the form of the Viano Quartet performing the “Sunrise” Quartet, (Op. 76, No. 4), which takes its nickname from a rising theme in the first violin above long chords in the lower strings, an exceptionally beautiful moment that alone should dispel any notions of Haydn the stodgy classicist.

It is just one example of Haydn’s endless originality. As Finckel explains, “We know that Haydn was working for the Esterházy family from 1766 to 1790, in the Austrian town of Eisenstadt and at the Esterháza palace in rural Hungary. He was cut off from the musical hotbed of Vienna and claimed that he was therefore ‘forced to become original.’ And he certainly did—basically inventing the string quartet, the piano trio, and the symphony. Haydn’s music isn’t old fashioned; it breathes life, freshness, and youthful ingenuity at every turn.”

Of course, there is more to the Opening Night program than the string quartet. Listeners will enjoy a wide range of Haydn’s works in different genres, exploring the breadth of his art. One of his mature piano trios from his years in London demonstrates his effervescent humor. Haydn’s “Surprise” Symphony, so named because it contains one of his most famous musical jokes, a sudden fortissimo chord in the quiet slow movement, will be played in a rare chamber format, without a conductor. Adding to the evening’s star power, violinist Pinchas Zukerman takes the stage as soloist in Haydn’s C-major Violin Concerto.

Zukerman’s return to Alice Tully Hall is notable for his historic connection to the Chamber Music Society: he played the very first note on the very first CMS concert, in September 1969. Finckel calls him “a legend in his own time,” saying, “Zukerman continues to astound with his mastery of the instrument and unmatched expressivity. His style of playing is something that we aspire to.”

When I spoke with Finckel about this program, his enthusiasm for Haydn’s music—even beyond the Opening Night repertoire—was infectious: “Every piece of Haydn that I know challenges misconceptions about him. I am about to play, at our festival in California, a Haydn piano trio with violinist Kristin Lee and pianist Gilbert Kalish. None of us knew it before. But what miracles there are in it! A slow movement that seems to have dropped from heaven; a rambunctious first movement filled with surprises; and a finale that is in turns graceful, fiery, and soulful. I have just discovered, yet again, another work of Haydn that tells me what a genius he was, how fresh his music always is, and what a continuing resource his music is for all seeking spiritual nourishment.”

For those who long to be so nourished, the Chamber Music Society’s Opening Night awaits.

John Sherer is Editorial Manager at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.