ExclusiveHaydn: String Quartets, Op. 64, No. 5 In D Major, The Lark - I. Allegro Moderato

【Classical music and nature 古典音樂小站】Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 64, No. 5 In D Major, The Lark - I. Allegro Moderato. This beautiful piece was played by Musopen String Quartet. It has common licence (Public Domain Mark 1.0 Universal) and is provided through musopen.org.

The nickname 'the Lark' comes from the famous No. 5 in D major's unforgettable winged melody, played high on the violin's E string as a soaring descant to the lively, staccato march for the lower three instruments with which the piece opens. This Allegro moderato is as tightly structured as any of the movements in Op. 64, yet it creates an impression of marvellous spaciousness, largely thanks to the strategic recurrences of the 'lark' theme. At the beginning of the development, it reappears in a smooth, legato texture. Much later, after a recapitulation that develops as much as it resolves, the glorious melody makes a final surprise appearance, initiating a closing section that can be construed as either a coda or a second recapitulation. As usual, Haydn defies easy categorisation.
The Adagio Cantabile in A major is a glowing meditation, somewhere between an aria and a hymn. The central section in a minor key draws poignant new meanings from the theme, while the return to major provides an opportunity for expressive embellishments from the first violin. As is often the case with Haydn, the minuet combines peasant earthiness with sophisticated motivic development. Its pervasive rising scale is taken up in the D minor trio, initially in counterpoint to a traditional chromatic descending 'ground bass'.

This irreverent use of a Baroque technique is echoed in the airy fugato at the centre of the finale: a delicate moto perpetuo that tests any quartet's ability to play with speed and precision. This irresistible music was surely the prototype for Mendelssohn’s famous 'fairy scherzos'.

The video was captured by Christian Schlegel and edited by Wenjing Ma.




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