Date of Award

1990

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA)

Department

Music

First Advisor

David H. Smyth

Abstract

The purpose of this monograph is to explore the diverse types of harmonic relationships among movements in the mature keyboard sonatas of Joseph Haydn. The mature sonatas are defined as those written ca. 1765 and later, of which there are thirty-five. This study draws examples from seventeen of these sonatas in which intermovement harmonic relationships make significant contributions to the overall unity of the sonata. In discussing questions of unity in Haydns music, most scholars have concentrated on thematic or motivic similarities, which are perhaps the most obvious unifying features. This study, on the other hand, discusses examples that involve emphasis on a particular key area, use of the same or similar distinctive harmonies, or employment of similar noteworthy harmonic progressions in more than one movement of a sonata. In the body of the study, one chapter is devoted to each of these three categories. Certain chronological patterns emerge concerning the tonal unity in the sonatas. For instance, the submediant plays its most important unifying role in the sonatas of Haydn's Sturm und Drang period. In addition, there are striking local harmonic relationships in several of the works from this period. Haydn mixes progressive and conservative elements in the two sets of sonatas from the mid-1770s, and though no clear patterns for tonal unity emerge, several of these sonatas show strong intermovement harmonic relationships. The sonatas published in 1780 or later tend to have a more unique stylistic profile, and this is reflected in a greater variety of unifying relationships. The main pattern that links them is in their use of more remote harmonies for unification. The relationships discussed in this study are mostly tonal, yet the analyses do not exclude mention of other unifying factors, such as thematic, motivic, and gestural relationships. As several of the analyses demonstrate, intermovement tonal relationships complement other types of unifying relationships in Haydn's sonatas.

Pages

108

DOI

10.31390/gradschool_disstheses.4984

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