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Mário Carreira: Matiegka's sonata op.23 for guitar and Haydn's pianoforte sonata in B minor, Hoboken XVI:32
Haydn's Sonata Hoboken XVI:32 for piano:
I-Introduction This work is an unpublished paper, presented at Évora University
(Portugal) in May 2003, under the title, Uma Sonata de Matiegka para
Viola Francesa, Vienna, 1811. The ideas gathered in this study focus on some aspects of the work
of the composer Wenzeslaus Thomas Matiegka (1773-1830). (1)
The study compares Matiegka's sonata op. 23 for guitar, whose
original title is Sonate/ pour la guitare/ composées (sic)/ par/ W.
Matiegka/ Oeuvre 23/ Magasin de l'imprimerie chimique, no. 1786/
Vienne, 1811, with another sonata of the Viennese classical period:
Joseph Haydn's pianoforte sonata in B minor, Hoboken XVI:32, one of a
collection of six sonatas commonly known as Sonatas anno 1776.
"This name is based on the circumstance that Haydn himself
referred to the works as Sechs Sonaten erschienen 1776 (Six Sonatas
that appeared in 1776); the date thus refers not to the year of
composition but the year in which they were made available" (Wender,
2000). These two works exhibit an intriguing analogy between two diverse
composers: the first unknown to the vast majority and considered
"minor"; the second requiring no introduction owing to his
stature, enduring popularity and indelible influence on music history.
The 1811 publication date of the Matiegka sonata falls two years after
the death of Haydn in 1809, and the date of 1776 for Haydn's b minor
sonata places it in the period of the Sturm and Drang aesthetic
movement. II-Schubert and Matiegka Until relatively recently, Matiegka was known mainly for his
Notturno op.21 for flute, viola and guitar, published in 1807, which
Schubert transcribed and elaborated in his quartet D.96 (dated 1814 in
the autograph manuscript). (2)
The quartet D. 96 (whose manuscript was found in 1918 in Zell-am-See,
Austria) had for a long time been considered as Schubert's original,
until the discovery of the 1807 edition of Matiegka's Notturno in 1931
by the guitarist Teodor Rischel.
Schubert has, in fact, reworked Matiegka's trio and added a
difficult cello part. It may be noted, as a curiosity, that the vocal
trio with guitar accompaniment, D. 80 and the quartet D. 96 are
probably the sole works originally written by Schubert for the guitar,
in the opinion of Otto Erich Deutsch and Brigitte Massin. (As to the
numerous Lieder printed in Vienna in the composer's life with
alternative guitar accompaniment, see Thomas Heck, I Lieder di
Schubert per Chitarra, Il Fronimo, n. 24/25, Milan, 1978). (3) III-The Bèrben Edition In 1995, the Italian publisher Bèrben presented to the public an
anthology of pieces for guitar by W. Matiegka. Among other works
contained in this small corpus, one has particularly drawn my attention:
the sonata op. 23, due to the fact that two of its movements exhibited
an extraordinary similarity to the previously mentioned sonata in b
minor Hoboken XIV:32 by Haydn. Francesco Biraghi, writing in Il Fronimo (1997, pages 52-53), pointed out the
high quality of this sonata, (but he didn't mention Haydn): "Di gran lunga il lavoro piú interessante del volume è
invece la sonata op. 23 nella consueta tonalità di si menore. Il
brano merita di essere diffuso al più presto tra i più valenti
chitarristi, in modo da potere apprezare gli spunti di alta
drammaticità, l'equilibrio formale e la buoníssima resa strumentale.
(...) in questa antologia almeno due lavori che meritano particolare
attenzione: le Variazioni op. 7 e la sonata op. 23" (sic). "By far, the most interesting work in this volume is the
sonata op. 23, in the comfortable tonality of B minor. This piece
deserves to be disclosed as soon as possible among the best players,
so that the elements of great dramatic intensity, formal balance and
excellent instrumental outcome may be appreciated. (...) in this
anthology, at least two works deserve particular attention: the
variations op. 7 and the sonata op. 23." The majority of readers may have considered this sonata to be an
original by Matiegka, but it is not entirely(!).The essential motivic
material for the first two movements comes, in fact, from the third
(Finale Presto) and second (Minuet) movements of Haydn's b minor
sonata Hoboken XIV:32. (4) A charge of plagiarism, however is, is
completely unjustified. Arrangements and adaptations of works by other
composers were common at the time and in preceding centuries, and
lesser known composers often took popular works and adapted them for
other instruments or performing occasions. A good example, among many
others, is that of the above-mentioned Schubert quartet D. 96: this
time in the reverse situation, in which a highly regarded composer
"appropriates" the work of another, less known, one. IV-Matiegka and Sturm und Drang From the formal point of view, Matiegka's style in the Sonata Op 23
shows, as do other of his works, a strong influence of the Sturm und
Drang movement. This manifests in the (apparently conservative for
1811) tendency towards minor tonalities, the use of silence as a
dramatic and expressive resource, the surprise effect of sudden
suspensions without preparation, a taste for the "quasi
recitattivo", and the absence of the characteristic Alberti bass,
leading to a bolder and more complex vertical writing. All these
features are, effectively, some of the elements of style of the Sturm
und Drang movement, of which Haydn was highly imbued and Matiegka
confessed to be a strong admirer. Among other works of Matiegka with
similar characteristics, some may be cited: the Variations on the
imperial hymn "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser", op. 7, the
same motive that Haydn used in the Kaiser Quartet Op.76 no. 3 in C;
Fantaisie pour la guitare seule, op. 4 and Grande Sonate pour la guitare N.
2 whose third movement is entitled "Variations sur l'air allemande (sic)
par Haydn", all
of them published in Vienna in the beginning of the XIX century (c.
1807-1817). In the catalogue of Matiegka's works (in which dates and locations
of works have yet to be fully confirmed), we also find arrangements
dating from between 1806 and 1810 of some Lieder by Mozart and
Beethoven (Abendempfindung, Adelaïde), Beethoven's famous Serenade
op. 8 in D Major, as well as a Pot-Pourri for cello and guitar, op. 30
on themes from Mozart's Don Giovanni and Rossini's Barber of Seville. V-Phrasing and dynamic indications As can be seen by comparing the two sonatas, the pianoforte Urtext
edition (Henle Verlag) does not have any performance indications, but
the published edition of Matiegka's Sonata Op.23 has many clear
dynamic markings and performance instructions. This detail could
possibly be regarded as evidence of what the author himself may have
seen and heard in Vienna in his time. Matiegka lived in Vienna from
1800 to 1830, so it is quite possible that he knew, perhaps in person,
the composer Joseph Haydn, who died in the same city in 1809. Acknowledgements I am grateful to Bèrben Edition, Ancona, Italy for permission to
reproduce here the facsimile edition of Matiegka's sonata; my warm
thanks are due to Dr.Brian Jeffery, Director of Tecla Editions; to Margaret Cooke, from Auckland city, New
Zealand, who kindly revised the English text with very valuable
suggestions; to my teachers, Manuel Morais and João Pedro D'Alvarenga,
from the University of Évora (Portugal). Of course, any inaccuracies
which remain are my responsibility. Mário Carreira (1) Cf. Francesco Gorio, (1985), W. T. Matiegka, Il Fronimo, n.
52-55. (2) Notturno pour Flute, Viole et Guitare/ composé et dédié à
M.le Comte Jean Esterhazy par W.Matiegka/ Professeur Op.XXI/ Vienne/
chez Artaria et Comp./ PN 1926/ 1807 (3) See also, Heck, Thomas F., (1980), F. Schubert, Sixteen Songs
with Guitar accompaniment, Tecla Editions (4) See Yates, Stanley, Sor's Guitar Sonatas: Form and
Style-pp.460-461, in Luis Gasser, Estudios sobre Fernando Sor, ICCMU,
Colección Música Hispana/Textos. Madrid, 2002. Bibliography Charnassé, H., (1985), La Guitare, Paris PUF |