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The Reinstatement of

Polyphony in Musical
Construction: Fugal
Finales in Haydns
Op. 20 String Quartets
j am e s G ri e r

y title quotes Paul Henry Langs statement


about Haydns use of fugue in the finales of three string quartets in
his op. 20.1 To be sure, counterpoint or polyphony remained in use
throughout the eighteenth century.2 Haydn did embark, however, on a
bold experiment in these finales to exploit complex and sophisticated
contrapuntal procedures for the generation of rhythmically continuous textures that consisted of melodically independent voices. Lang saw
the adoption of these techniques as a departure from Haydns previous
practice in the genre in which the first violin typically assumes the bulk
of the melodic material while the other three voices fill out the harmony in acompanimental roles.
Scholars generally agree on two issues: first, the suitability of
fugues as finales in multi-movement works, with their unrelenting forward rhythmic and harmonic motion driving to a tonally satisfying

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A shorter version of this paper was presented to the meeting of


the Haydn Society of North America at the Longy School of
Music in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 29, 2009.
1

Paul Henry Lang, Music in Western Civilization (New York: W. W. Norton, 1941), 630.
For chamber music, see the pieces conveniently listed in appendices I and II in Warren Kirkendale, Fugue and Fugato in Rococo and Classical Chamber Music, 2nd ed., trans. Margaret Bent and Warren Kirkendale (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 1979), 275324.
2

The Journal of Musicology, Vol. 27, Issue 1, pp. 5583, ISSN 0277-9269, electronic ISSN 1533-8347.
2010 by the Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Please direct all requests
for permission to photocopy or reproduce article content through the University of California Presss
Rights and Permissions website, http://www.ucpressjournals.com/reprintInfo.asp. DOI: 10.1525/
jm.2010.27.1.55.

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conclusion;3 and second, in comparison with earlier examples of the


string quartet, that contrapuntal writing generated more independent
parts in this increasingly ambitious but always intimate milieu.4 In op.
20, Haydn adopts the techniques of learned counterpoint for application within the harmonic, periodic, and sectional structures of late
eighteenth-century instrumental music. In the design of his fugal expositions, Haydn differentiates between principal and subordinate subjects and, in the fugal finale of op. 20/5, he establishes three levels of
theme, principal and subordinate subjects, and a countersubject. But
most important, these fugues provided a workshop for him in the formulation of invertible counterpoint, a technique he subsequently employed in much of his instrumental writing. Furthermore, the contrasting fugal procedures he implements in monothematic fugues became
the prototypes for his application of fugato.
By 1772, when Haydn wrote the quartets in op. 20, he had begun
to establish the genre as a serious, independent idiom in its own right
through his compositions in opp. 9 and 17.5 In his hands, the quartet
was emerging as private, intimate music written for the amusement of
the players themselves and for the entertainment of small, presumably
sophisticated audiences. Haydn was also fortunate in the availability of
technically competent musicians such as Luigi Tomasini, concertmaster
at Eszterhza, for the performance of these innovative works.6 He capitalized on these circumstances to introduce more challenging parts for all
four voices, better integrated into the texture, than he had written in his
earlier quartets.
By writing fugues, in which, of course, all voices participate in the
presentation of the main thematic material, Haydn could apportion the
3 Kirkendale, Fugue and Fugato, 5657; William Drabkin, A Readers Guide to Haydns
Early String Quartets, Readers Guides to Musical Genres 1 (Westport, CT: Greenwood
Press, 2000), 6768; and Floyd Grave and Margaret Grave, The String Quartets of Joseph
Haydn (New York: Oxford University Press, 2006), 117.
4 Drabkin, A Readers Guide, 51.
5 On the early history of Haydns quartet writing, see Ludwig Finscher, Studien zur
Geschichte des Streichquartetts, vol. 1, Die Entstehung des klassischen Streichquartetts: Von den
Vorformen zur Grundlegung durch Joseph Haydn (Kassel: Brenreiter, 1974), 129217; and
Grave and Grave, The String Quartets, 13776. On the dates here and below, see James
Webster, The Chronology of Haydns String Quartets, The Musical Quarterly 61, no. 1
(1975): 1746, esp. table II, p. 44.
6 On Tomasini, see Jnos Harich, Das Haydn-Orchester im Jahr 1780, The Haydn
Yearbook 8 (1971): 712; Erich Schenk, ed., Komponisten der frstlich esterhazyschen Hofkapelle:
Luigi Tomasini 17411807, ausgewhlte Instrumentalwerke, Denkmler der Tonkunst in sterreich 124 (Graz: Akademische Druck- und Verlagsanstalt, 1972), viixiii; H. C. Robbins
Landon, Haydn: Chronicle and Works, vol. 2, Haydn at Eszterhza 17661790 (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press, 1978), 318; Ulrich Tank, Studien zur Esterhzyschen Hofmusik von
etwa 1620 bis 1790, Klner Beitrge zur Musikforschung 101 (Regensburg: Gustav Bosse
Verlag, 1981), 25761; and Grave and Grave, The String Quartets, 1112.

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melodic material more or less equally among the parts, just as fifteenthand sixteenth-century composers of vocal music turned to imitation to
generate greater equality in melodic interest among the voices. And by
using multiple subjects he ensured that all or most of the voices would
be playing thematic material most of the time, in contrast with the situation in a monothematic fugue where one voice at a time presents the
subject and the others carry freely composed counterpoint to fill out
the harmony and the texture.
Moreover, in his instrumental music of this period, in comparison
with his earlier works, Haydn was writing longer movements that more
fully exploited the dramatic possibilities of the hierarchical harmonic
relationships, for example using more distant modulations from the
tonic. To maintain the forward motion of such movements, he sought
greater rhythmic continuity than the more sharply articulated phrases
of his earlier music could afford. One strategy he adopted for that
purpose, particularly in development sections, was polyphony. There,
overlapping contrapuntal lines carry the rhythm forward over the shifting harmonies and modulations typical of such passages. Thus rhythmic
continuity, achieved through independent contrapuntal part writing,
balances harmonic discontinuity. By composing an entire movement in
polyphonic texture Haydn gave himself the opportunity to unfold the
complete drama in this guise, in turn creating greater demands on his
contrapuntal technique.
The rationale for placing a fugue in the finale emerges not only
from historical precedent but also from Haydns changing conceptions
of the relative weight each movement bears within the quartet as a
whole. Throughout most of opp. 9 and 17, he focuses the principal
interest on a moderato opening movement and a slow movement (adagio
or lento) placed third. The minuet falls second, framed by the more serious movements, and the finale tends to be short, light in character, and
dance-like.7 In the op. 20 quartets, Haydn places more emphasis on the
outside movements. First movements are longer and more dramatic in
conception, and in the three fugal movements he presents unified and
intense finales.8 The dramatic possibilities of tonal contrast continued
to dominate his compositional thinking in this period, and so the outside movements, where the initial statement of the drama and its final
resolution occur, grew in importance.
Haydn clearly intends that those who consult the score or parts
will perceive the three fugal finales of op. 20 as learned examples of

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7 Reginald Barrett-Ayres, Joseph Haydn and the String Quartet (London: Barrie & Jenkins, 1974), 6768, 117; and Grave and Grave, The String Quartets, 23, 15861.
8 Finscher, Studien zur Geschichte des Streichquartetts, 21819, 23137; and Landon,
Haydn, 2:32728.

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the type, as he heads each one Fuga a (or con) due, tre or quattro soggetti.
Where the principal subject appears in inversion, he notes it with the
expression al rovescio (no. 2, pickup to m. 103; no. 5, m. 92; no. 6, mm.
80 and 83), and he indicates the stretto near the end of Number 5 with
the rubric in canone (m. 145). The multiple subjects in these movements have vexed some modern observers. Two theorists from the early
nineteenth century, Honor Langl and Luigi Cherubini, explain the
practice without addressing Haydn specifically. Langl, writing around
1805, states,
I always hear speaking about fugues on two, three, and four subjects.
This is a great error and a very improper manner of speaking. Only ignorant persons or charlatans would be able to afford themselves such
a form of expression. In a fugue, there is and can only be one subject;
all the other themes that one introduces are only countersubjects subordinate to the subject, composed in a manner to make [the subject]
stand out and to accompany it without smothering it.
( Jentends toujours parler de Fugues deux, trois, et quatre sujets,
cest une grande errerur, cest une manire trs impropre de
sexprimer, il ny a que des ignorants ou des charlatans qui puissent se
servir dune pareille expression; dans une Fugue, il ny a et ne peut y
avoir quun sujet, les autres chants quon y introduit ne sont que des
Contre-Sujets subordonns au sujet, composs de manire le faire
ressortir et laccompagner sans ltouffer.)9

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Cherubini, three decades later, expands slightly and emphasizes the


designation of these other subjects as countersubjects.
Although the term fugue on two, three, and four subjects is generally
adopted, this term is improper in my opinion, and I base my feeling on
this consideration, that a fugue can and should have only one principal
subject to be used in the exposition. Everything that accompanies the subject is only accessory, and neither can nor should carry any name other
than countersubject. Thus, according to this principle, the fugue that by
convention one names fugue on two subjects, ought to be named fugue
on one subject and one countersubject, that on three subjects ought to
be termed fugue on one subject and two countersubjects, and finally
that on four subjects ought to carry the name fugue on one subject
and three countersubjects, etc., etc.
(Quoique la dnomination de Fugue deux, trois, et quatre sujets, soit
gnralement adopte, cette dnomination est impropre mon sens,
9 H. F. M. Langl, Trait de la fugue (Paris: Chez lauteur, n.d.), 4. Some bibliographic references (e.g., Kirkendale, Fugue and Fugato, 337) give a date of 1805, but the
copy I consulted gave no date of publication. I am very grateful to Peter Berg, Director of
Special Collections at the library of Michigan State University, and his staff for granting
me access to their copy of this very rare treatise.

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et je fonde mon sentiment, cet gard, sur ce que une Fugue ne peut,
ni ne doit avoir quun seul sujet principal pour lui servir dexposition;
tout ce qui accompagne le sujet nest quaccessoire, et ne peut ni ne
doit porter dautre nom que celui de Contre-sujet. Ainsi, selon ce principe, la Fugue, que par habitude on nomme Fugue deux sujets, doit
tre nomme Fugue un sujet et un contre-sujet; celle trois sujets doit
tre appelle Fugue un sujet et deux contre-sujets, et enfin celle quatre
sujets doit porter le nom de Fugue un sujet et trois contre-sujets, etc.
etc.)10

Warren Kirkendale, citing both authors, stresses that each of


Haydns three fugal finales in op. 20 employs a single, principal subject,
to which all others are subordinate, or perhaps serve as countersubjects.11 In a footnote and his analytical diagrams, however, he classifies
all three movements as double fugues.12 My analysis shows that each
fugue is dominated by its principal subject, using Cherubinis term (sujet principal), and that the other subjects Haydn specifically acknowledges in his headings (fugue on two, three or four subjects) function
as subordinate subjects (just as Kirkendale avers), modifying Langls
term (Contre-Sujet subordonn) slightly. I reserve the term countersubject
for a theme that Haydn employs in the double fugue (op. 20/5) whose
treatment differs markedly from that of the principal and subordinate
subjects.
The exposition of the C major fugue, the finale of op. 20/2, illustrates how Haydn establishes the principal subject when he employs
multiple subjects (ex. 1). The first subject, of four, quickly emerges
as the principal one because it appears first in the highest voice (first
violin, mm. 15), is stated and answered twice, appearing in each voice
once (first answer in the second violin, mm. 48, second statement and
answer in the viola mm. 812 and cello mm. 1115), and receives a
fifth entry in statement form again in the first violin (mm. 1518) to
complete the exposition on the tonic. Haydn accords none of the other
three subjects this kind of treatment in the exposition.

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10 L. Cherubini, Cours de contrepoint et de fugue, 2nd ed. (Paris: Heugel, n.d.), 111
(Cherubinis emphasis). Again, Kirkendale, Fugue and Fugato, 336, gives a date of 1835
(which is plausible because the first English translation, of J. A. Hamilton, appeared in
1837 [London: R. Cocks]), but I was unable to confirm it.
11 Kirkendale, Fugue and Fugato, 142; see also Daniel Heartz, Haydn, Mozart and the
Viennese School, 17401780 (New York: W. W. Norton, 1995), 342; and Grave and Grave,
The String Quartets, 117.
12 Kirkendale, Fugue and Fugato, 142n45. The diagrams occur in the German edition of Kirkendales book, Fuge und Fugato in der Kammermusik des Rokoko und der Klassik
(Tutzing: Hans Schneider, 1966), 31213. Landon, Haydn, 2:33132; Drabkin, A Readers
Guide, 53; and Grave and Grave, The String Quartets, 117, also classify them as double
fugues, all citing Kirkendale.

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example 1.Joseph Haydn, String Quartet op. 20/2, finale, mm. 118
Fuga a 4 tro soggetti

68

Allegro
sempre sotto voce

6
8

6
8

6
8

10

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Subject 2 appears five times also, and so presumably would qualify


as the second subject of the double fugue some see in this movement. It
receives two subject/answer pairs, viola mm. 24 answered by first violin
mm. 68, and second violin mm. 911 answered by viola mm. 1315.

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example 1. (continued )

14

Because the viola has already played this theme, this second answer is,
strictly speaking, a redundant entry, something that happens often in
three-voice fugues to complete the second subject/answer pair. Finally,
the cello presents it in statement form to conclude the exposition on
the tonic at mm. 1618, accompanying the redundant entry of the
principal subject in the first violin. Subject 2, together with the other
two subjects, is definitely subordinate to the principal subject, however,
as their treatment in the remainder of the fugue shows (see table 1).13
Again, subject 1 clearly dominates. Several passages consist of overlapping entries of the subjects opening motive (mm. 2642, 4855 and
11428). It receives complete entries accompanied by fragmentary entries of other subjects (mm. 2229, accompanied by subject 2, and mm.
9199, accompanied by all three subordinate subjects and introduced
by a statement of its own opening motive). Haydn inverts it and joins to
the inversion statements of its original opening gesture (mm. 99104),
followed by fragmentary entries of the inversion and subject 2 (mm.
10510). Finally, the conclusion of the movement consists of statements
of the opening motive of subject 1 in both original and inverted forms,
accompanied by one fragmentary entry of subject 4 and framing three
statements of subject 2s opening gesture (mm. 14658). No other subject appears alone, no other subject is inverted, and all statements of
the other three subjects accompany entries of subject 1.
Subject 2 does accompany the principal subject, by itself (mm.
2229), or along with the inversion of subject 1 (mm. 10510), or in

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13 Cf. Kirkendales diagram, Fuge und Fugato, 313; also Drabkin, A Readers Guide, table
3.3, pp. 6667; and Grave and Grave, The String Quartets, figure 7.1, p. 118. In tables 13, I
indicate the tonal answers with the letter A, to distinguish them from statements of the subject, which I indicate with the letter S. I designate inversions with the abbreviation inv.

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Table 1

Entries of the four subjects in op. 20/2, finale


Subject 1

Subject 2

1 vln I (S)
4 vln II (A)
8 va (S)
11 vc (A)
15 vln I (S)

2 va
6 vln I
5 va (S)
9 vln II
8 vln I (A)
13 va
12 vln II (S)
16 vc
15 va (A)
[end of exposition]
24 va

22 vln II (S)
25 vc (A)

Subject 3

Subject 4

12 vln I
15 vln II

fragmentary entries of subject 1 mm. 2642


42 vln II (S)

43 va

42 vc (A)

42 vln I

fragmentary entries of subject 1 mm. 4855

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fragmentary entries in invertible counterpoint mm. 5660:


56 vc
56 vln II
56 va
57 vln I
57 va
57 vc
58 vln II
58 vc
58 vln I
59 vln I
59 va
59 vln II
64 vln I (S)
65 vln II
64 vc (A)
64 va
67 vc (A)
70 va (S)
71 vln I
72 vln I (S)
72 vln II
74 vc
77 va
81 vc
82 va
83 vln I
91 vc
92 vln I (S)
93 va
92 vln II (A)
92 vc
95 vln II (A)
97 vln I
96 va (S)
96 vln I
subject 1 (inv) m. 102 vln I (A) accomp. by fragmentary entries of
subject 1 mm. 99104
fragmentary entries of subject 2 and subject 1 (inv) mm. 10510
fragmentary entries of subject 1 and inv mm. 11428
146 vln I (inv)
147 vln II
148 vln I (inv)
149 vln II
151 vc
152 vln I
153 vc
154 vln I
156 tutti (inv)

151 va

S = subject; A = tonal answer; inv = inversion. Fragmentary entries are in italics.

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example 2.Joseph Haydn, String Quartet op. 20/2, finale, mm. 5660

56

60

63

the company of a single entry of subject 4 (mm. 7084 and 14658).


But it is conspicuous by its absence in what I take to be a key passage
in respect to Haydns use of contrapuntal techniques in his later instrumental music: mm. 5660, where subjects 1, 3 and 4 rotate through
the four voices in invertible counterpoint (ex. 2). Only subject 4 appears in all four voices. The first violin plays subject 1 twice (mm. 57
and 59) while in the same two measures, the viola presents subject 3
twice. As I discuss below, to create successful invertible counterpoint
one must shape each theme to function as the bass, and each of the
three subjects treated in this passage fulfills that role: subject 1, m. 56;
subject 4, m. 57; and subject 3 mm. 58 (cello) and 59 (viola). Overall,
subject 2 never assumes a role nearly equal to that of subject 1, nor is it
clearly more prominent than the other two subordinate subjects. Consequently, I cannot agree with Kirkendale and those who follow him in
classifying this finale as a double fugue. This is a fugue on a single principal subject with three subordinate ones.
Haydns treatment of subjects 3 and 4 in the exposition shows that
they, like subject 2, are also subordinate to the principal subject. Subject

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3 is represented by four entries in pairs of subject and answer (viola mm.


57 answered by first violin mm. 811, and second violin mm. 1215
answered by viola [another redundant entry] mm. 1518), but it never
appears in the cello. Finally, subject 4 is stated and answered only once,
first violin mm. 1214 answered by second violin mm. 1518. Obviously,
if Haydn were to present all four subjects in all four voices, the exposition
would need to expand by four more measures to accommodate a second
subject/answer pair of subject 4, and require more redundant entries
of at least two, if not all three of the other subjects. Haydns reluctance
to do so may have arisen from two reasons: length, and the necessity to
end the exposition on the tonic. In the exposition as it stands, he already
employs redundant entries, namely the fifth entries of subjects 1 and 2
(mm. 1518); they fill out the exposition while he states and answers subject 4, and completes the second subject/answer pair of subject 3, and
they ensure the exposition ends on the tonic.
To summarize, all four subjects are stated and answered, and all
appear in the top voice at least once. Subject 2 receives more attention
than subjects 3 and 4 in the exposition, but not subsequently in the rest
of the fugue. Instead of classifying this movement as a double fugue
with two countersubjects, therefore, I reconcile Haydns inscription at
the beginning of the movement, fugue on four subjects, with Langls
and Cherubinis observations about the use of a principal subject, and
consider this movement a genuine quadruple fugue with a single principal and three subordinate subjects. Similarly, the A major fugue that
concludes op. 20/6 emerges as a true triple fugue with two subordinate
subjects, as table 2 shows.
All three subjects of this movement receive statement and answer
in the exposition, all three appear in the top voice, and subjects 1 and
2 occur five times each, once more than subject 3, so that the latter may
complete its second pair of subject and answer (ex. 3). Again, the candidacy of subject 2 as the second subject of a double fugue diminishes
as the movement progresses because it occupies no more space than
subject 3. While subject 2 alone accompanies subject 1 at mm. 8087, it
is absent in the passage mm. 5661, when subject 1 in stretto, accompanied by subject 3, moves through the circle of fifths.
The finale of op. 20/5 illustrates another aspect of Haydns treatment of subjects and countersubject. Headed Fuga a 2 soggetti, its two
soggetti become a principal and a single subordinate subject. The movement also introduces a regular countersubject (see table 3 and ex. 4).
The principal subject of this movement occurs four times complete in
the exposition in subject/answer pairs: second violin mm. 17 answered
by first violin mm. 713, and cello mm. 1319 answered by viola mm.
1619. Subject 2, the subordinate subject, also receives four entries, but

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Table 2

Entries of the three subjects in op. 20/6, finale


Subject 1

Subject 2

1 vln I (S)
5 vln II (A)
9 va (S)
13 vc (A)
17 vln I (S)

27 vc (S)
30 vln I (S)

1 vln II
5 va
9 vln I
13 vln II
17 vc
[end of exposition]
fragmentary entries of subject 1 mm. 2527
28 va
31 vln II
fragmentary entries of subject 1 mm. 3544

44 vln I (S)
46 vln II (S)
47 va (A)
47 vc (S)

48 vln I

Subject 3
6 vln I
10 vln II
14 va
18 va

31 va

48 vln II
49 vln II

50 vln II (A)
51 va (A)
51 vln I (S)
52 vc (S)

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fragmentary entries of subject 1 in stretto (all S) and subject 3 mm. 5661


61 vln I (S) + II (A)
6465 va (S) + vc (A)
69 vln I (S)
75 vc (S)
76 vln I (S)
76 vc (S)
77 vln I (S)

subject 1 in stretto mm. 6169:


62 va
65 vln II
70 va
73 vln I

66 vln I
70 vln II
73 va
75 vln II
76 va

subject 1 (inv) in stretto mm. 8087:


80 vln I + va
83 vln II + vc
87 vln I (S)
87 vln II (A)
88 vc (S)
88 va (S)
92 tutti (S)

84 va

89 vln I

89 vln II
89 va

S = subject; A = tonal answer; inv = inversion. Fragmentary entries are in italics.

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example 3.Joseph Haydn, String Quartet op. 20/6, finale, mm. 121
Fuga con 3 soggetti

sotto voce
sempre

Allegro

66

the second subject/answer pair occurs in the same voice in an abbreviated form: first, viola mm. 36 is answered by second violin mm. 912,
and then the first violin mm. 1516 answers itself in mm. 1718. The
exposition ends with abbreviated entries of the two subjects, subject 1
in the second violin (m. 19) and subject 2 in the cello (m. 21).

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example 3. (continued )

10

13

16

67

In addition to these two subjects, however, Haydn provides a countersubject that receives very different treatment. It first appears in the
viola mm. 79, accompanying the answer to subject 1 in the first violin,
and then in the cello mm. 1618 again below the answer to subject 1,
this time in the viola. Two aspects of its treatment in the exposition

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example 3. (continued )

19

68

distinguish it from the two genuine subjects of the fugue: it is not stated
and answeredboth statements are at the same pitchand neither
entry appears in the top voice. Both Langl and Cherubini might have
reckoned this as a fugue on three subjects, then: one principal subject
and two countersubjects (or, as Langl would put it, subordinate countersubjects), because neither author differentiates between a subordinate subject and a countersubject. It could hardly be clearer, however,
that Haydn did not calculate in this manner, as his heading (fugue
on two subjects) and his treatment of the countersubject show. He
counted only those subjects that, in the exposition, he stated, answered
and placed in the top voice for at least one entry.
Moreover, the countersubject returns only a few times in the remainder of the movement. So, just as Haydn subordinates the secondary subject to the principal subject, the countersubject stands as subordinate to
both. Haydn uses it once at m. 112 in the viola, where it accompanies a
second group of entries by subject 1 in stretto (the first, mm. 10311,
does not include the countersubject; this second passage, mm. 11224,
employs it only once, in m. 112), and, most important, in another passage of invertible counterpoint, mm. 6692 (ex. 5). Like the section in
op. 20/2 (mm. 5660; see ex. 2 above), this one employs three themes
(the two subjects plus the countersubject) that function each in turn as
the bass: subject 1 (cello, mm. 83 and 89), subject 2 (cello mm. 6881),
and the countersubject (viola, m. 66 and again briefly at mm. 70 and 82
in the viola, above a rest between phrases in the cello).
This passage in invertible counterpoint plays an important role in
the thematic and harmonic complexion of the movement: Haydn moves
through the circle of fifths from Gb major (m. 66) to C major (m. 83),
which becomes the dominant of the movements (and of the entire

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Table 3

Entries of the two subjects and the countersubject in op.


20/5, finale
Subject 1

Subject 2

1 vln II (S)
7 vln I (A)
13 vc (S)
16 va (A)
19 vln II (S)

3 va
9 vln II
15 vln I
18 vln I
21 vc
[end of exposition]

Countersubject
7 va
16 vc

fragmentary entries of subject 2 mm. 2332


entries of subject 1 accompanied by fragmentary entries of subject 2 mm. 3666
66 vln II (A)
68 vc
66 va
69 vln I (A)
71 vc
69 va
72 vln II (A)
74 vc
75 vln I (A)
77 vc
78 vln II (A)
80 vc
81 vln I (A)
83 vln II
81 va
83 vc (S)
85 va
86 vln II (S)
86 vln I
89 vc (S)
subject 1 (vln I) and inv (vln II), both S, mm. 9294

69

subject 1 in stretto accompanied by subject 2 mm. 10311:


103 va (S)
103 vln I
105 vln I (S)
105 vln II
107 va (+ vln II)
subject 1 in stretto mm. 11224:
112 vln II (S)
112 va
113 vln I (A)
115 va
116 vc (S)
117 va (A)
119 vc
120 vln II (S)
121 vln I (S)
123 vc
subject 2 in stretto mm. 12532
subject 1 in stretto mm. 13440

179 vln I (S)

subject 1 in canon (vc and vln I), both S, mm. 14560


161 vln I
163 vc
167 vln I
169 vc
171 va

S = subject; A = tonal answer; inv = inversion.

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example 4.Joseph Haydn, String Quartet op. 20/5, finale, mm. 124
Finale

Fuga a 2 soggetti

sempre sotto voce


14

70

pieces) tonic, F minor, in preparation for the entry of the inversion of subject 1 in the tonic (second violin), accompanied by the prime version of
the subject (first violin) at m. 92. From here to the end of the movement,
at m. 184 (and therefore half the total length of the movement), the piece
remains in the tonic. It features several passages in stretto (subject 1, mm.

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example 4. (continued)

20

10311, 11224, and mm. 13440; subject 2, mm. 12532), two of which
are supported with lengthy pedals on the dominant (mm. 10311 and
13244). The immediately preceding passage in invertible counterpoint
therefore provides the last tonal variety in the movement before this long
passage that combines the function of recapitulation and coda.
Haydn exploits the two versions of subject 1 (subject and tonal answer) to shape the harmonic plan of this modulatory passage in invertible counterpoint, employing a strategy that hinges on his treatment
of fugal answers in these movements. He begins the principal subject
of each fugue on the fifth scale degree, and consequently, he must use
tonal answers in each case.14 Because the subordinate subjects must
contrapuntally and harmonically combine with the principal subject,
they avoid the fifth scale degree at or near their opening, and so they
receive real answers.
Subject 3 in the finale of op. 20/2, the quadruple fugue in C major, stands as an exception (see ex. 1 above). This subordinate subject
begins on the tonic (C, m. 5, viola) and ascends through the octave
before returning to the raised fourth degree (F#), which becomes the
leading tone to the dominant. A real answer of this theme would rise an
octave from the fifth degree (G), and descend to the raised tonic (C#),
leading tone to the supertonic. Therefore, to avoid moving two degrees
away from the tonic on the circle of fifths while still in the fugal exposition, Haydn alters the answer (m. 8, first violin) so that it rises through
a seventh (G-F), instead of an octave, and then returns to the seventh
degree (B), leading tone to the tonic.
The use of a tonal answer for the principal theme of op. 20/5 becomes significant in the harmonic design of the passage that introduces

71

14 Marked, in tables 13, S for statements of the subject, and A for statements of the
tonal answers, as noted above.

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example 5.Joseph Haydn, String Quartet op. 20/5, finale, mm. 6692

66

71

72

76

the inversion of the principal subject at m. 92. Haydn begins with six
statements of the tonal answer, mm. 66 (second violin, Gb major), 69
(first violin, Db major), 72 (second violin, Ab minor), 75 (first violin,
Eb minor), 78 (second violin, Bb minor), and 81 (first violin, F minor),
moving around the circle of fifths as shown. The tonal answer begins
on the tonic note, of course, and outlines the tonic triad with its first

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example 5. (continued)

82

88

al rovescio

73

three notes, whereas the subject form begins on the dominant and
implies a more varied harmony (V-i-VI) over its first three notes (e.g.,
mm. 1314). The tonal answer, therefore, rapidly establishes the key,
precisely as this passage around the circle of fifths requires.
When Haydn reaches the relative major of the home key (Ab), he
shifts from the major to the minor mode (only established by the third
note of the theme, here m. 73) to anticipate the return of the tonic at
the end of the passage. Once we arrive at the home key of F minor (m.
81), Haydn appears to disrupt the circle of fifths by placing the next
statement of subject 1 on G (cello, m. 83), a tone higher than the previous one, or two full steps on the circle of fifths. But this entry employs
the subject form of the theme, which begins on the fifth scale degree,
as noted above, and so Haydn has moved only one step on the circle of
fifths, to C, of which G becomes the dominant, while C, of course, is the
dominant of the home key. Haydn repeats the subject form of the theme
at the same pitch (second violin, m. 86), and then moves one step back
on the circle of fifths to the same form of the theme (cello, m. 89) now
on C, functioning as the dominant of the home key, F minor. This final

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74

statement leads directly to the reestablishment of F minor as the tonic


and the simultaneous presentation of the prime (first violin) and inverted (second violin) subject forms of the theme at m. 92.
Invertible counterpoint, therefore, becomes a central strategy of
Haydns contrapuntal technique in these fugues.15 The technique unfolds in each of the fugal expositions, for example, as their multiple
subjects enter in turn. Two of the fugues, op. 20/2 and 5, exhibit further passages of three-voice invertible counterpoint in the main body of
the movement (that in no. 5 quite extended and fulfilling an important
structural role). This procedure had its origins in the voice exchange
of early medieval polyphony; it forms a central feature of the imitative
style practiced in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, to which I have
already alluded; and composers continued to exploit it throughout the
seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In the context of the functional
harmony of the eighteenth century, however, the technique undergoes
further complications from the fact that each theme, beyond exhibiting
sufficient melodic interest, must form a reasonable bass line that provides support for the harmonic structure of the phrase, avoiding, for
example, non-cadential 46 chords.
The exposition of the fugal finale in op. 20/5 (see ex. 4 above)
demonstrates this feature, as first subject 2 (mm. 37), then the countersubject (mm. 710), both in the viola, and finally subject 1 (cello
mm. 1316) provide the lowest part. All three themes of the fugue in
op. 20/6 also function in this way (see ex. 3). Although subject 4 of
op. 20/5 does not appear in the lowest part in either of its two entries
in the exposition (see ex. 1), it does form the bass twice in the main
body of the movement, at m. 57 during the passage that uses invertible
counterpoint (see ex. 2) and later at m. 92, in the cello each time. Each
theme supplies the harmonic underpinnings the phrase requires, usually moving in contrary motion with the most prominent treble part.
Haydn therefore treats these subjects with considerable rigor, binding
them into fugues that abound in scholarly practices, including passages
of stretto and inversions of the principal subject in the main body of the
movement (subject 2 also occurs in stretto in op. 20/5, mm. 12532).
Simultaneously, these movements actively represent contemporary styles
in their rhythmic and tonal structures. For example, the F minor fugue
(op. 20/5) exhibits a tonal structure very close to that familiar from
sonata form. The end of the exposition (mm. 124) overlaps with the
start of a sequential episode (mm. 2332), based on the opening motive
of subject 2, that modulates to the relative major (A b), just as we would
15 On the theoretical background of invertible counterpoint, see Paul Mark Walker,
Theories of Fugue from the Age of Josquin to the Age of Bach, Eastman Studies in Music 13
(Rochester: University of Rochester Press, 2000), 20417.

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expect in the exposition of a movement in sonata form. Haydn remains
in the new key until m. 53 (with passing modulations at mm. 4350), virtually the same length as the fugal exposition on the tonic.
A tonally unstable passage (mm. 5366) introduces the section in
invertible counterpoint (mm. 6692) that moves around the circle of
fifths to the tonic, F minor, as discussed above. Haydn strongly articulates this return by an interruption in the rhythmic flow and the entry
of subject 1 in prime form and inversion. Several further articulations
follow (mm. 111, 160, 166 and 177), strongly accenting the final cadence, and in extreme contrast to the continuity of the first half of the
movement. This final section, half the length of the movement as I
note above, combines the functions of recapitulation (through m. 160,
as the two subjects appear in stretto and canon) and coda (mm. 160 to
the end, in which several statements of subject 2 precede a final entry
of the principal subject in statement form by the first violin).
In contrast, the C major fugue, op. 20/2, with its 6/8 meter and
principal subject that exhibits the style of the gigue, resembles some of
the dance-like finales from Haydns early instrumental music. Excursions to various minor keys (A minor at mm. 23 and 65, D minor at
m. 42, and E minor at m. 67) and the thoroughgoing application of
the counterpoint (e.g., at the passage of invertible counterpoint, mm.
5660) darken the tone of the movement somewhat. Nevertheless, the
rhythmic insistence of the principal theme and especially the rhythmic
drive of the fugues closing section (beginning m. 129, soon after the
return to the tonic C major and culminating in the tutti presentation
of the inversion of the principal subject in mm. 15661) preserve the
movements generally lighter character.
And so Haydn has fully integrated the contrapuntal complexion
of these fugues into his ongoing experimentation with texture in the
string quartet. Above all, invertible counterpoint in two or three voices
emerges as the most distinguishing feature of these works. This difficult
and demanding contrapuntal technique allowed Haydn significant freedom in combining voices, each of which carried important thematic
material, in a continuous overlapping texture that generated considerable forward rhythmic motion.

75

*****
Haydn adopts a much different approach to counterpoint in the
monothematic fugal finale of the Quartet op. 50/4 composed some
15 years later in 1787. The main theme dominates the first half of
the movement through the half cadence at m. 45, with frequent complete entries separated by passages in which Haydn motivically develops
the turning figure from the themes second measure. Throughout, he
employs free counterpoint, eschewing a regular countersubject, and is

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therefore unable to introduce any passages in invertible counterpoint.


The cadence at m. 45 mentioned above follows a dominant pedal (mm.
4244) and creates a strong rhythmic articulation. Immediately thereafter, Haydn presents the theme in stretto (mm. 4649), after which no
further entries occur. As in the first half of the movement, Haydn turns
to motivic development in the second half, but here uses the first three
notes of the theme, as opposed to the turning figure from its second
measure that he exploits in the first half of the movement. This fugue
thus represents a radical departure from the procedures-principally
invertible counterpoint and the use of multiple subjects-with which
Haydn had experimented in op. 20.
And it points instead to the technique of fugato, of which the finale
of the Quartet op. 64/5, composed in 1790, provides a good example.
At mm. 2829, Haydn introduces the tonic minor and a new theme
in the first violin above a reminiscence of the movements principal
theme, now in the second violin. This new theme enters repeatedly in
all voices (e.g., m. 33, second violin; m. 38, cello; m. 42, viola) through
m. 53, at which point Haydn extracts the syncopated gesture with which
the theme begins and treats it motivically until the return of the tonic
major and the principal theme at m. 76. During the fugal passage, the
running sixteenth notes characteristic of the principal theme dominate
the accompaniment without actually quoting it, and so the counterpoint remains free throughout, as in the fugue that ends op. 50/4. The
use of monothematic fugal writing accompanied by free counterpoint
in these two movements represents a separate thread of fugal procedure in Haydns instrumental music from that in op. 20.
Haydn did apply the lessons learned in the op. 20 fugal finales
in his later instrumental music to create passages in invertible counterpoint, including two in the finales of the quartets op. 55/1 (1788)
and op. 74/1 (1793). In both, Haydn accompanies the movements
principal theme with two previously unheard themes, which then rotate
through the voices in a rhythmically continuous passage in which the
voices constantly overlap without strong cadences and rhythmic articulations. The passage in op. 55/1, much more extended than the one in
op. 74/1, creates a contrasting section within a movement that evinces
elements of rondo structure (ex. 6).16
After an opening refrain (mm. 130) and a contrasting section
(mm. 3159), the principal theme enters in the first violin (pickup to
16 Kirkendale, Fugue and Fugato, 14546, characterizes it as a rondo-like movement (p. 145); Floyd Grave, Opposites Reconciled: Fugue and Rondo in the Finale of
Haydns String Quartet in A, Op. 55/1, Haydn Society Journal 25 (2006): 2431, provides
a more detailed analysis of the asymmetrical structure of this movement and the role the
fugal section plays in it; see also Grave and Grave, The String Quartets, 12526.

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example 6.Joseph Haydn, String Quartet op. 55/1, finale, mm. 6093

61

65

70

77

m. 61), precisely as it did in the opening of the movement (pickups to


mm. 1, 5, 21 and 26). But immediately, the cello presents a new theme
(m. 61) that outlines the underlying harmony in long notes, and then,
below the extension of the principal theme, the viola introduces a second new theme (m. 62) that opens by borrowing the repeated notes of

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example 6. (continued)

74

78

78

82

the second full measure of the principal theme (m. 2). The principal
theme appears as the lowest part (cello, pickup to m. 72), as does the
long-note theme, but never the repeated-note theme, presumably because it starts on the fifth of the tonic chord and would therefore generate a non-cadential 46 chord.

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example 6. (continued)

86

90

79

This passage performs two functions. By commencing in the tonic


(A major) with the principal theme, it implies a reprise of the refrain.
But the addition of the two new themes and their combination with
the principal theme in invertible counterpoint form a striking contrast
with the opening section of the movement, even though both sections
use the same principal theme. Moreover, the passage moves away from
the tonic, first to D major (m. 78), then B minor (m. 85) and F# minor
(m. 87), before returning to the tonic at m. 90. So, what appears to
open as a restatement of the refrain ends as a contrasting section, both
thematically and tonally.17 To reinforce the element of contrast Haydn
then plunges directly into a reprise of the refrain (pickup to m. 108) in
which he introduces some new material (mm. 11628) and the opening of the B section (pickup to m. 138 through m. 141, equivalent to
mm. 3134), followed by a concluding cadential figure.
17 Grave, Opposites Reconciled, 2729, comments on the compression Haydn
here effects.

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example 7.Joseph Haydn, String Quartet op. 74/1, finale, mm. 10728

111

115

80

107

The passage in the finale of op. 74/1 opens the movements development section and illustrates how Haydn integrated these contrapuntal techniques with the other types of texture found in this work (ex. 7).
The three-part invertible counterpoint begins with the principal theme

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example 7. (continued)

119

123

127

81

of the movement in the cello, but as the passage progresses, it migrates


to the second violin (pickup to m. 112 through 116), viola (pickup to
m. 118 through 121), cello (pickup to m. 124 through 125), and viola
again (pickup to m. 126 through 127). The second theme, which first

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occurs in the viola (pickup to m. 109 through 112), also rotates into
the bass (pickup to m. 112) before moving into the top voice in the second violin (pickup to m. 117) and first violin (pickup to m. 123).
Only the third theme, in the second violin (pickup to m. 110
through 112), remains in the top or an inner voice, never the bass,
although it would perform well in that capacity. The texture persists
until the first violin takes over the melodic material at m. 127 and
the other voices retreat to supporting roles. Meanwhile, the harmonic
scheme moves rapidly through G major (the dominant of the movements tonic, C major), A minor (m. 112), D minor (m. 117) and F major (m. 123). So, Haydn uses invertible counterpoint to commence the
development with a rhythmically continuous passage that visits several
keys and folds the principal theme of the movement into an evolving
polyphonic texture. This passage dramatically distinguishes the development from the surrounding exposition and recapitulation, with their
etched periods.
If Lang perhaps overstated the case when he identified polyphony
as the missing ingredient from instrumental music around 1770, Haydn
certainly reinvigorated its status with the three fugal finales in op. 20.
Simultaneously, he used these movements to master the arcane technique of invertible counterpoint that subsequently became a powerful
weapon in his arsenal to create tightly integrated, rhythmically continuous passages in later quartets.
University of Western Ontario

Abstract
The title, borrowed from Paul Henry Langs description of Haydns
op. 20 string quartets in Music in Western Civilization, characterizes
Haydns endeavor to create more independent partwriting in the string
quartet. First, Haydns fugal practice is noteworthy particularly for the
construction of the fugal exposition and his treatment of multiple subjects, the question of what constitutes a regular countersubject, and
the treatment of redundant entries. Second, the chief strategy in these
movements is the invention of invertible counterpoint in three voices.
Haydn writes a double fugue (with a regular countersubject), as well
as a triple and quadruple fugue, in which the principal issue is the ability of each subject (including the double fugues countersubject) to
serve as any voicetop, middle or bottomin a texture of invertible
counterpoint.

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The expertise he attained with these works then allows him to exploit the technique in later quartets, principally in the development sections of sonata-form movements. There, he uses invertible counterpoint
to establish the independence of each voice, and to create longer passages unarticulated by cadences, sections distinct from the more clearly
articulated periodic expositions and recapitulations. The three fugal
finales of op. 20, therefore, constitute Haydns advanced study not so
much in fugal procedure as in the practice of invertible counterpoint.
Keywords: finale; fugue; Joseph Haydn; invertible counterpoint; String
Quartets op. 20

83

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Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission.

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