Baryton trios (Haydn)
Joseph Haydn wrote 123 trios for the unusual combination of baryton, viola and cello.
The wire strings may also be plucked by the performer's left thumb, creating a contrasting tonal quality.
[3] In the same year, Haydn received an official reprimand from the prince for neglecting his duties; for details of this episode see Gregor Werner.
The resulting volumes were dated 1766, 1767, 1768, 1771, and 1778;[8] the last was bound up after the prince had abandoned the instrument in favor of a new hobby also involving Haydn, namely the mounting of opera productions in his palace.
[9] The trios, being written for amateur performance, are generally shorter and less ambitious than Haydn's more famous series of symphonies and string quartets.
As Oliver Strunk wrote, the trios "are not chamber-music in the accepted sense of the word, but accompanied solos.
Prince Nicholas was no democrat where music was concerned and cared little about sharing honors with the professional musicians who assisted him."
"[16] None of the three instruments has a soprano range, and the resulting dark timbre of the ensemble is unusual in chamber music.
In part, these simply reflect the expanding ability of Prince Esterházy to play an instrument that initially was new to him.
[18] By the third volume of trios, the Prince was evidently able to pluck and bow simultaneously, a task demanded in Nos.
The baryton trios, though smaller in scope, echo the stylistic evolution of this period, increasing in subtlety and interest over time.
Likewise, material from the trios appears in later Haydn works: The Prince's instrument was built in 1750 by Johann Joseph Stadlmann of Vienna,[28] a famed violin maker who later did business regularly with the Esterházy musical establishment.
"[32] John Hsu estimated that the Prince was probably not a virtuoso on his instrument, judging from the difficulty of Haydn's writing.
[35] A relatively negative assessment of the baryton trios is offered by David Wyn Jones, who writes that they "could be written on automatic pilot (though one prone to creative computer error).
Thus, James Webster: "the baryton trios ... are finely wrought compositions, as rewarding in their way as the raw expressionism of the Sturm und Drang";[38] Karl Geiringer: "A number of fine specimens are to be found in this collection, showing that Haydn gave of his best even when he did not expect his compositions to be heard outside the court of his prince";[39] Lucy Robinson: "Despite the limitations of the combination, Haydn's genius is evident in the kaleidoscopic range of melodic and textural ideas and the witty interplay between instruments.
