Josepg Haydn: Hoboken XVII (World Premiere Recording of the Complete Set)

Description

Joseph Haydn’s keyboard output is traditionally identified with his extensive corpus of sonatas, an authentic musical diary and a privileged space for stylistic and formal experimentation. However, beyond these well-known works, the Hoboken XVII catalogue comprises an eclectic collection of keyboard compositions, including variations, capriccios, and fantasias, some of which are of uncertain authorship. Compared to other sections of the Hoboken catalogue, Hob. XVII presents a significantly more complex textual and philological landscape, owing to the dispersal of sources, the multiplicity of editions, and the presence of works of dubious authenticity—misattributed, editorially altered, or corrupted over time.

The present reconstruction represents an unprecedented endeavour in the discography of Haydn: no performer has previously undertaken such an extensive archival investigation to retrieve all the works—both genuine and spurious—that could contribute to an almost complete restoration of Hob. XVII, including its appendices. The latter, in particular, have posed the greatest challenge, as they encompass works transmitted in fragmentary form, manuscripts of uncertain provenance, and divergent versions disseminated by the publishing houses of the time. The outcome is a comprehensive panorama of this section of the Hoboken catalogue, in which musical philology is interwoven with historical and critical interpretation, offering a rich and multifaceted perspective on one of the lesser-explored facets of Haydn’s keyboard repertoire.
EF
Joseph Haydn’s works listed under Hob. XVII are chiefly keyboard pieces, for the most part in the form of Theme and Variations, Variation Sonatas, and Capriccios-Fantasias. They are divided into three sections. The first section contains twelve compositions: Nos. 1–6 are regarded as authentic and follow the chronological order of composition (1765 to 1793), while Nos. 7–12 bear asterisks, as their authenticity is uncertain. The second section comprises spurious works, organised by key and identified by letters (C1–C2, D1–D2, F1–F2–F3, G1–G2, A1–A2–A3). The third section, Anhang, forms an appendix of twelve pieces whose themes are drawn from Haydn’s symphonic and chamber music and include unnumbered arrangements.

For this recording, the pianist has undertaken a thorough study in an effort to restore Hoboken XVII to its original design, as envisaged last century by the musicologist and collector Anthony van Hoboken, who devoted more than thirty years to assembling Haydn’s œuvre. Included here are also works of doubtful attribution—long out of print—that were located in various European libraries.

In Haydn’s time, publishing houses often struggled to meet demand for new compositions by renowned composers, leading to the circulation of pieces that were either falsely attributed or significantly altered. A work’s integrity could easily be compromised at multiple copying stages; misattributions arose because copyists did not necessarily know the composer’s identity, while separate staff prepared text and cover designs for mixed-author compilations. Errors of notation and spelling were not uncommon, and later copies sometimes contained incorrect names, places, or dates, relative to the originals. Consequently, Haydn’s works are often classified by levels of authenticity—unquestionably authentic, probably authentic, plausible, doubtful, and spurious—depending on the extent of editorial intervention, commercial pressures, or simple mistakes.
Haydn’s publisher count exceeded seventy, with the most active being Artaria and Traeg in Vienna, Hummel in Berlin, Breitkopf & Härtel in Leipzig, Sieber in Paris, and Forster in London. Large and small houses alike—from Prague to Brussels, Amsterdam to Florence, even as far as New York—sought to include Haydn’s compositions in their catalogues. This broad dissemination contributed to multiple variants diverging from the originals, in addition to the outright forgeries or imitations produced for profit.

There are five catalogues of Haydn’s works either authorised or compiled by the composer himself, each incomplete in that it represents only part of his output: EK (Entwurf-Katalog), LV (London Verzeichnis), HV (Haydn Verzeichnis), HBV (Haydn Bibliothek Verzeichnis), and HNV (Haydn Nachlass Verzeichnis). The earliest, the EK, was prepared by Haydn at the request of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy, who wrote to him in 1765 to complain about the disarray of his commissioned pieces. The prince not only insisted that Haydn compile a catalogue of his works but also required him to submit the first copy of every new score, to prevent it being lost or duplicated without authorisation. Haydn complied with this demand for a few years; the task of cataloguing thereafter fell to his friends and associates.

Some of Haydn’s compositions exist in manuscript form, others were produced as printed engravings. Autograph manuscripts are generally deemed more reliable, especially those prepared by copyists at the Esterházy court or by Haydn’s trusted Viennese copyists. Only a small number of Haydn’s autograph keyboard works survive: of the fifty-plus keyboard sonatas and compositions in Hob. XVI that are attributed to him, a mere twelve remain as autographs, the others surviving in copied manuscripts or engravings. Scholars often rely on written evidence, such as letters by the composer, to confirm the authenticity of these works.
Haydn served the Esterházy court until 1790. At the age of 58, he was finally free to publish independently; beforehand, he could only do so with the prince’s permission. Upon gaining his independence, Haydn published his music rather irregularly, responding to publishers’ requests in line with consumer tastes, so as to maximise his earnings.

Over the years, musicologists and historians have formed conflicting opinions regarding certain works in the Hoboken catalogue. Some pieces deemed authentic by Hoboken are now considered forgeries, while others once thought spurious are now classified as genuine. A number of the latter—featured on this disc—have been affirmed as authentic after extensive documentary comparisons and analyses: these include the Adagio Hob. XVII:9, the arrangement Hob. XVII:10 for Flötenuhr (from Hob. XIX:27), the Sonata in D Major Hob. XVII:D1, the Allegro Molto D2, and the Aria F1. The final two are fragments: Allegro Molto D2 may be the opening of a sonata, and Aria F1 possibly the Minuet of a lost early sonata.

Nos. 7, 8, 11, and 12 are classified as uncertain in terms of authenticity and are now out of print, except for No. 7. These works were recovered through international research by Elisabetta Gesuato. No. 8—a manuscript housed at the Staatsbibliothek in Berlin—sets the left-hand part in alto clef instead of the usual bass clef; it is an arrangement of the first movement, Allegretto con variazioni, from the Baryton Trio No. 2 in A major for strings. No. 11 was found serendipitously after having been presumed lost, for it was absent from all library records. While seeking out No. 12 in the Biblioteca Nazionale Universitaria in Turin, researchers discovered that an erroneous catalogue entry had swapped No. 11 with No. 12. By sheer chance, they thus uncovered the missing No. 11—an Artaria edition from Vienna dated 1930, which features a set of variations on the Andante in C Major from the second movement of Symphony Hob. I:94. This Andante also appears in a faithful keyboard transcription among Haydn’s own arrangements, intended to promote the themes of his symphonic and chamber music. No. 12 eventually turned up at the Musikverein Library in Vienna, represented by Artaria (1930).

The portion of the catalogue designated by letters (C1–C2, D1–D2, F1–F2–F3, G1–G2, A1–A2–A3) and grouped by key contains compositions that Hoboken regarded as spurious. In the process of reconstructing this section, the following were discovered: the Marlborough Variations Hob. XVII:C1, preserved in a manuscript dated circa 1790 at the Badische Landesbibliothek in Karlsruhe; the Capriccios G2, composed in 1793 and held by the Bibliothèque Nationale de France in Paris (Baillon editions); and the Variations A3, found in a manuscript written by the monk Sebastiano Piacenti in a collection once owned by the Countess Laura Donini Montesperelli (Perugia, 1765–1854) and now housed in the Library of the Abbey of San Pietro in Perugia.
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