Henry Desmond

Compare and contrast the Instrumentation and tonality between Beethovens Septet in E flat and Joseph Haydns String Quartet in E flat, Op. 33, no. 2 The Joke Movement IV. These two pieces were only written 18 years apart however they both show similarities and differences in the way that they are written. The obvious difference between these two pieces is that one is written for a septet and one is written for a quartet. This gives both of the pieces a completely different feel. The Beethoven has some very thick textures and has a variety of timbre throughout, whereas the Haydn has a much smaller scope for changing the textures and the timbres. Hayden uses the instruments effectively within this piece as to not make it boring for the listening. He has a mainly homophonic texture however he passes the tune through the 4 instruments e.g. at bars 111-119 the tune is passed from the Viola and Violin 2, then to the cello, and finally back to Violin 1. In contrast Beethoven only ever keeps the tune in either the Violin or the clarinet, this means that the other instruments are in the septet for the main purpose of accompaniment. Beethoven uses the families of instruments effectively with small sections of antiphonal writing e.g. bars 40-52 (the transition section), this is harder for Haydn to do as he has such a few number of instruments that they all have to be playing at once otherwise the piece begins to sound bare. Both of these composers use very traditional functional harmony. However both composers use different ways to establish the key and make it noticeable to the listener. E.g. Beethoven uses a slow introduction to establish the tonic of Eb Major. Beethoven also gets slightly trapped by the key pattern which is traditional with sonata form, with the 1st subject being in the tonic, the 2nd being in the dominant and then the development being used to explore other keys but still staying relatively close to the tonic and dominant. Hayden also uses the functional harmony, however he uses more perfect cadences and pedals both tonic and dominant. Each rondo section of the piece is strongly in Eb Major (the tonic), But Hayden only ever modulates to related keys e.g. A flat Minor in Bars 37-47, F minor in Bars 48-53 and B flat Major at Bars 64-68. Even though Hayden uses very relative keys he always keeps away from C minor the relative minor of E flat major. This is a sombre key and would move away from the happy joke like feel to the piece. Beethoven however does use the majority of the relative keys especially in the development. From these points you can see that even though there is only 18 years difference from these two piece being composed there are still some similarities and some differences in the way that it is written.