83. Dr Florestan and Papa Haydn

Some composers are remembered only for their works; their private lives remain elusive, even if we are very curious about them. Others, however, have also left a lasting impression as people – perhaps even expressing their own personalities in their compositions. Joseph Haydn is said to have been affable and to have had a great sense of humor; he was even nicknamed “Papa Haydn” (it certainly helped that he lived to a ripe old age in good health). He also earned the reputation as the father of the mature classical string quartet (he wrote over 80 of them!), a genre that would soon become the ideal of so-called absolute and intellectual music. The Quartets, Op. 76, are mature works from Haydn’s late period. At the heart of the fifth of the six works in this collection is the slow movement, Largo cantabile e mesto, featuring a tender solo by the first violin and subtle accompaniment from the other instruments. While Haydn did not usually associate his works directly with himself, for Robert Schumann – a full-blooded Romantic – his compositions served as a personal diary, much like his writing. He often encoded real-life figures within them. He himself appeared under two guises – the extroverted Florestan and the withdrawn Eusebius. Schumann wrote the Piano Quintet for his wife when he learned they were expecting their second child. He completed the piece at breakneck speed: the sketch was written in two days, and the entire work in two weeks. It was Clara who first performed the piano part in the Quintet and permanently included the piece in her concert repertoire.

– Dominika Micał (pisanezesluchu.pl)