All language subtitles for Now Hear This PBS Series 2 1of3 Haydn King of Strings EN

♪♪

♪♪

-Next,
on "Great Performances" --

I'm Scott Yoo.

Come with me across
Austria and Hungary,

to London
and Charleston, South Carolina,

with Geoff Nuttall,
one of today's experts

on the first classical
composer, Joseph Haydn.

-Haydn is the man,
and I'm so lucky

to try to share the genius
of Haydn

with everyone around the world.

-Together, we'll uncover
how a country boy

from a tiny Hungarian village

became one of
the most influential

composers in history.

♪♪

-He was the first guy
to do this.

-It's hard to imagine
how mind-blowing

that would have been.

Haydn did everything
first and better.

-[ Laughs ]
His music is a real

melting pot of different
cultures.

We'll see how Haydn
used folk music

and his life experiences

to create a new
musical genre.

I've never heard the bagpipes
sound so good.

-I'm just imagining Haydn
sitting there, writing.

"I know, bagpipes!"
[ Laughter ]

-It's time. I think we should
play some Joseph Haydn.

-Coming up, the king of strings.

A new episode from the music
series "Now Hear This."

[ Playing final flourish ]

[ Playing classical music ]

♪♪

-The string quartet.

It's just a violin, a viola,

another violin,
and a cello.

Or in this case, since I don't
play the cello, another viola.

♪♪

But when the composer
does it right,

these four similar instruments
can work magic.

♪♪

It's more than music.
It's a perfect collaboration.

All instruments are independent,
yet all are one.

♪♪

But this magic
does not come easy.

Creating a universe of interplay

with just these four
similar instruments

is such a challenge
that it has become

the proving ground
for composers.

♪♪

And it all began
with Joseph Haydn.

In the mid-1700s, first
he created the string quartet.

Then, he wrote 68 of them.

♪♪

I was out to discover how Haydn
became the king of strings.

♪♪

♪♪

And the person to go to
was Geoff Nuttall,

violinist
and Director of Chamber Music

at the Spoleto Festival
in Charleston, South Carolina.

Wow, that's beautiful too.
-Yeah, amazing.

-No one loves Haydn
more than Geoff.

-I'm often struck
by the history here.

I'll be walking to rehearsal
and I look at a house,

and there's a plaque
that says "1772" on it.

And I think,
"Haydn was at Esterházy

and he was finishing up
the Opus 20 quartets,

changing the course
of music history.

So it's one of the few places
in North America

that has a direct link,

historically speaking,
to what was going on in Europe.

The string quartet is my life,

and if you're in a string
quartet, Haydn is the man.

And I'm so lucky
to play and record

and try to share
the genius of Haydn

with everyone around the world.

-It's a life well-lived.
-Well, I think so,

and I'm convinced Haydn,
I mean, if you met him,

hung out with him,
he would be so imaginative,

so quirky, so witty,
so meaningful as a human,

and it really comes out
in his music

unlike any composer that I know.

And I was thinking
it would be incredible

if we could go
and play some Haydn

in a house
that was built in the 1760s,

and was actually used
in the Revolutionary War

as the British headquarters.

It would be really cool
to play some Haydn there.

-Let's go.
-Let's go.

-Geoff's main job is first
violinist

of the St. Lawrence
String Quartet,

some of the leading experts
in the quartet works of Haydn.

They would help me understand
how he developed the form.

I'm struggling to think
of another human system

where you have four people
working so intimately

with each other
and all four are equals.

I mean, I guess maybe
there are people

who are coding for "Minecraft"

or something and maybe they are.
[ Laughter ]

But if you really think about
something like a string quartet,

which is essentially one
organism with four cerebrums

and 16 strings.

-It needs to be
a single organism.

It needs to be this blending
of the four minds,

and yet the minds still
have to have a little bit

of their own personality.

Or maybe a lot
of their own personality.

-But I think it's interesting

because the idea of the quartet
was this democracy,

this sort of four voices
speaking amongst themselves.

Sometimes friendly,
sometimes contentious,

sometimes argumentative.

But the bottom line,
and why we love to play

and hopefully why
audiences love to listen,

is the fact that it's this
connected emotional journey.

-Sure.
-Haydn wrote 68 quartets.

At least 55 of them
are total masterpieces.

And of course
we can't play them all.

So we were talking amongst
ourselves like,

"Which quartet,
if you had to pick one?"

Which is really hard.

You know, if you had 55 children
and you had to pick one.

But, you know, "Which quartet
would sum up the genius of Haydn

as well or better
than any of the others?"

And we came up
with one of the late

Opus 76 quartets,
the "Emperor."

So we have
the four-movement structure

that he created early on,
and it stayed with the quartets

into Beethoven and Mozart
and everyone that followed.

First movement, storytelling.
It's a simple story.

Then, the song.

Beautiful song,
"Kaiserlied" in this case.

Dance, third movement,
the minuet.

And then the final movement
is a party.

Incredible energy,
in this case starting dark

and ending jubilant.

So it's really, I mean,
this first movement

is one of his great stories.

-Love to hear it.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Here in Charleston
with the St. Lawrence Quartet,

and in Austria and Hungary,

Haydn's old stomping grounds,

I'd go with Geoff to learn
the story

of the "Emperor Quartet,"
and through it,

the story of Haydn's creation
of this genre of music.

♪♪

But first, I was off
to get a little background.

When Haydn was 60 years old,
he went to London.

It was the first time
in his life

he traveled more than 50 miles
from where he was born,

outside Vienna.

♪♪

For the first time,
he heard some English music

that would later inspire
his "Emperor Quartet."

I talked to cellist
Alasdair Tait

and baritone Theo Platt.

[ Quartet ends ]

Alasdair, we're in London.
-We're in London,

possibly very close
to the area

Haydn would've arrived,
in, I think, 1791.

-What kind of music to you think
he heard when he was here?

-I think a lot of folk music.

I mean, good old English
folk melodies.

For example,
"God Save the King,"

as it was then,
which he would've heard

for the first time
when he came here.

Even then, no one really knows
the origins of that, so...

-It's indigenous music.
-It's music of the people.

And it was a simple melody.

It was something that they could
all just get into their heads

without too many problems.

And allowed them to then
put these words that showed

real support

and real connection
with their country

and the figurehead,
the monarch.

-That's right.

-And I think it's
particularly exciting,

and it would've been for Haydn
to have seen, well, look,

something so simple,
even mundane possibly,

can be transformed into this
imperial, rousing, grand anthem.

♪ God save our gracious Queen

♪ Long live our noble Queen

♪ God save the Queen

♪ Send her victorious

♪ Happy and glorious

♪ Long to reign over us

♪ God save the Queen!

[ Song ends ]

-Beautiful.

Nearby, on the banks
of the Thames,

we met a few of
the Royal Scottish Pipers

to hear another
kind of folk music.

[ Traditional Scottish
music playing ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Applause ]

Bravo.
You guys are amazing.

-Hey, brilliant, great.
-Hi, how are you doing?

-Great. Thank you for that.
-Incredible.

I've never heard the bagpipes
sound so good.

It sounds like one instrument,

you guys are so in tune
with each other.

-Thank you very much.
-Fabulous.

So how do you play
one of these things?

-Well, it's
quite straightforward.

First of all, they're controlled
by four reeds.

Three, and one in each
of these drones,

that's what these are called,
drones.

-Okay.
-And they've got to be

harmonized with the chanter,
which is what we play on.

And there's a small
cane reed in there.

I'll show you.

-Oh.
-Oh, it looks like a...

-Okay.
So that's where it...

-Oh, wow.
-So the air --

it gives that really pushing
the air between these two.

-That's it.
That's basically what it is.

-Very, very cool.
-You know, hearing the drones,

do you remember
in the "Emperor Quartet,"

in the first movement,
that drone section?

The cello comes in,
it's got that...

[ Droning noise ]
-Could've come from here.

-I wonder if this is exactly
what he heard.

Heard that, took the folk
influence back to Austria,

suddenly there it is

in the middle of one
of the iconic quartets.

What do you think?
-And I wonder --

That's what this is called.
This is called a drone.

-A drone, absolutely.

♪♪

Actually, you know, I've been
trying for years

to make a sound like that,
and I've never succeeded.

We actually need a bagpipe
in the quartet, I think.

-Well, this is the real thing.

This is straight
from the source.

-It's straight
from the horse's mouth.

Brilliant, thank you.

-Would you all be
willing to try

that drone theme of
the Haydn "Emperor Quartet"?

-Sure.
-Yeah.

-Okay! All right.

[ Low drone intro ]

[ Bagpipes playing ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Tempo slows ]

♪♪

[ Playing flourish ]

-I'm just imagining Haydn
sitting there writing,

"I know, bagpipes!"
[ Laughter ]

-When in doubt,
choose the bagpipes.

[ Laughter ]

[ Indistinct conversation ]

-In rural Austria,
Geoff took me,

violist Charlotte Bonneton,
and cellist Marcell Vamos

to a critical place in the
formation of the string quartet.

-It's incredibly exciting
to be here for me,

at most probably the place

where Haydn created the idea
of the string quartet.

We're in Weinzierl, is --

-Yeah,
Weinzierl.
-Yeah, much better.

In rural Austria.

And Haydn as a teenager came
here for a couple of summers.

And most probably,

it was by pure chance
the quartet emerged.

He played the violin.

He had some buddies,
another violinist,

a violist, and a cellist,

and he was asked to provide
some music for parties,

background music.

And he used these combination
of instruments

that he had
to provide the music.

And it wasn't as if there
weren't pieces written

for these four voices --

soprano, alto, tenor, bass --
came from the choir.

There are examples beginning
with late Baroque music,

Alessandro Scarlatti, Allegri.

And it all sort of connected
to the Baroque traditions

of the trio sonata.

Two soprano lines and a bass --
-We played those in Italy.

Handel, Corelli.

-The predominant form
of chamber music in the day.

And so that's where
Haydn was coming from.

But the addition of the viola,
of course,

being the crucial ingredient.

-Always the viola.
[ Laughter ]

-And the idea
that what became --

I mean, again,
totally biased opinion --

the greatest musical form ever,

perhaps was stumbled upon
by Haydn as a teenager here

because he needed
to supply background music

for these parties.

But I think it's safe to say
he quickly realized that,

"Hey, this is something
I can take

and express myself better
than any other form."

And I just love the fact
that we're at ground zero

of the string quartet
as we know it.

-Wow.

♪♪

♪♪

Alessandro Scarlatti,
the same guy

who inspired Handel,
was here again.

He may not have developed
the string quartet as a form,

but it seems he was
the first to write for

just these four instruments.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Classical piece ends ]

-Well, there you go.
What do you think?

-Sounds like baroque music
to me.

-Very baroque.
-Baroque dance music, totally.

-You can feel -- yeah.

I just love that moment,
that we were possibly

playing the first example
of a string quartet,

even though it's a long way
from what Haydn would take it

and turn it into.
-Hmm.

-Okay, it's time.

I think we should play
some Joseph Haydn.

This is one of his most
groundbreaking

and revolutionary examples,

the first movement
of Opus 20 number 2.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Though the six quartets
of Opus 20 are fairly early

in Haydn's quartet
writing career,

these were his breakthrough,

establishing
the brilliant collaboration

that he would perfect
in later quartets.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

It's amazing to think that
if Haydn hadn't come here

and been forced to work
with these four instruments,

to create a complete work with
just these four instruments,

this entire genre of music
might not exist.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Classical piece ends ]

-Oh, my God, he's so good.
-Yeah.

-Isn't that incredible, though?
I mean, it's hard to imagine

how mind-blowing
that would've been.

The cello starts alone
with the tune!

And what's the viola doing?
-Playing the cello part.

-Playing the cello part.
And within, like, three lines

he switched the roles
and I'm playing the bass,

and you're playing solo,
and you're playing the...

it's crazy!

I mean, it doesn't seem
that way to us now.

We've been tainted
through centuries

of listening to other musics,

but it would've been
so mind-blowing.

-But he was the first guy
to do this.

-I mean, without --

This set of Opus 20
totally changed the game.

It was so groundbreaking.

It inspired everyone from
Mozart and Beethoven

through the next century.

But it was all about
this democracy in action.

It's just, it's remarkable
on so many levels.

And it set in stone the idea
that the string quartet

could be this form
of expression unlike any other.

So props to you, Papa Joe.

Amazing.

-So we're going to be playing

the second movement
of this quartet.

It's the reason it's called
the "Emperor Quartet,"

and that's because this tune,
the "Kaiserlied,"

is a melody that Haydn composed
after he went to London

where he heard
"God Save the King."

And Haydn thought to himself,

"Austria doesn't have
one of these.

My emperor needs an anthem."

So he went back to Austria
and took it upon himself

to write
the Austrian National Anthem.

And it's why it has the nickname
the "Emperor."

Unfortunately,
it's become associated

with other periods of history.

It was co-opted by the Nazis.

But for the last 200 years,

and hopefully the next 200
or more,

it'll have this association
as Haydn's greatest melody.

-It was supposedly also
his favorite melody.

After Haydn composed it
for the "Kaiserlied" --

literally
the "Emperor's Song" --

he used it
in the second movement

of the "Emperor Quartet."

Geoff took us to the place
where he wrote it.

-Here we are.
-The house!

-Incredible.

Haydn's last house
that he purchased --

Well, his wife actually
purchased it in the 1790s.

But if you can imagine,
this would've been rural,

suburban Vienna,
and now it's all built up.

-Now it's changed.
-The house itself is as it was.

Upstairs was Haydn's
last resting place

and his music room.

This is an amazing moment
for me.

You guys want to check it out?

-Yes.
-Let's do it.

This is Haydn's last keyboard,
fortepiano...

-[ Laughs ]-
...that he played on every day.

And I've been dreaming of
this moment for so long.

It's just an amazing thing
to be here,

because you can almost feel him.

Supposedly every day
he would come and play.

He would play his "Kaiserlied,"

which became of course
the Austrian National Anthem,

but the vision of him
sitting here,

the old guy humming away,
singing along probably,

even such that the last day
of his life,

supposedly,
carried him up here.

He sat down at the keyboard,

played his "Kaiserlied"
a couple times,

and then got sick
and he died later that day.

So it gives me --

The hairs stand up
on the back of my neck.

And this -- another dream.
Can we play?

-Let's do it.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ "Kaiserlied" ends ]

-Wow. That was one of the cooler
moments of my musical life.

-Yes.
-[ Laughs ]

-I just...
[ Sniffles ]

You understand why he was
so attached to that melody?

And so proud.
I mean, it's --

it's this incredible amalgam
of almost religious devotion

to his country and his emperor,

but with this human
heart that...

The intervals of the...
[ Singing ]

the reach up for that,
it gets me every time.

Unfortunately, like a lot
of other things they touched,

the Nazis just
destroyed its legacy.

Because now it's associated
with Germany

and the Second World War.

Haydn, I think,
would be horrified

and devastated by what
unfortunate associations

have come to his
magnificent "Kaiserlied."

But it's one of the great
stories in the history of music,

and to be doing it here
is just...

-Very cool.
-Incredible.

-I'll never forget this
amazing moment.

♪♪

-Haydn may have spent his
last years in Vienna,

but he was born in a farmhouse
in the tiny village of Rohrau,

in what is now Austria,
near the border with Slovakia.

His parents
were folk musicians,

and from these
humble beginnings,

both their sons,

Michael and Joseph,
became great composers.

[ Folk music playing ]

♪♪

We were here to listen
to a kolo band play

some of the folk music
of the area.

♪♪

♪♪

-Ja.
-Bravo.

-Whoo!

[ Applause ]

♪♪

-[ Singing in foreign language ]

-Wait a minute, that's
the "Kaiserlied" melody!

[ Singing continues ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Continues
in foreign language ]

♪♪

[ Song ends ]

-He stole it.
[ Laughs ]

Michael, what was that?

That was folk music?
-Yes.

It was a Croatian folk music
from this territory.

-So this region was Croatian
in Haydn's day, you think?

-You know, this was
Esterházy family,

and the Esterházy family
had Croatian workers,

and I think
Haydn heard this song.

-He must've heard that as a kid?

Or it was in the air,

in the water here in this region
of Austria, or Hungary?

But it's a Croatian folk tune

that morphed into
the "Kaiserlied"

and then became
the German National Anthem?

-I thought that Brahms was
the first guy to take folk music

and integrate it, but no.
-No.

-Much earlier.
-Basically, Haydn did

everything first, and better.
-[ Laughs ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Tempo slows ]

♪♪

-The next day,
I went across town

to meet the quartet again

in another of Charleston's
historic 18th century mansions,

this one now a girl's school.

♪♪

Leslie, what is the third
movement of a Haydn quartet?

-In every single case,
the third movement is a minuet.

In every one of Haydn's string
quartets, his symphonies.

And after him, everybody
followed this theme.

-So the minuet itself is
the dance, but it's the context

of where it is
in this piece in this journey.

Remembering that everyone
in Europe,

especially where he was
working from 1760 on,

say, was very comfortable
dancing the minuet.

So the steps, it was part of
who they were,

not only as musicians,
but as just human beings --

dancing the minuet.

I think it's hard for us
to get a grip

over what a parallel situation
would be in our --

-Well, when you listen
to pop music,

you've never heard it before,
but you know how it goes, right?

-Right.
There's something like that.

You just --
-It's probably similar.

-Remember our connection
to folk music.

The minuet was a country dance,
a folk dance.

And he basically
single-handedly took it

and made it part of the symphony
and the string quartet.

Made it into "drawing room
music," so to speak.

-Let's hear some.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

You can really hear Haydn's folk
influence in this music, too,

and the swinging
"one, two, three,

one, two, three,
one, two, three' rhythm

of the country dance.

♪♪

♪♪

He would've written both dance
and drawing room music

while working
for the Esterházy family,

and his employment here
shaped his great productivity.

We met with Dr. Florian Bayer,
an Esterházy historian.

-So this is the famous castle
of Esterházy here in Eisenstadt.

-Joseph Haydn used to live
many years here.

He started in 1761,
and he worked

for more than 40 years
for the Esterházy family.

He started as a deputy conductor
in the court,

but he found already

an orchestra here
with some musicians.

So the first main advantage
he had,

he arrived in a place
finding an orchestra,

and he just could
start to compose.

-Oh, my God.
I mean, what an advantage,

to have your own orchestra,

probably his own musicians
for chamber music,

for string quartets.

It's like an R&D Department.
-Yeah.

-His own R&D Department.
-With an endless budget.

-So are some of the instruments
in Haydn's orchestra still here?

-Yeah, we are lucky, there are
still some instruments

that have survived,

and just follow me,
I will show you.

-Oh, great.

This must be
a really nice place to work.

-It is.

-You come here every day?
-Yes.

-How does it get better
than that, right?

-So here I have two bows
for each of you.

-Oh, thank you.
-Thank you.

-And here are two extraordinary
instruments from our collection.

You still see the wax seal here.

That indicates the origin
of this piece.

-So this stamp would've meant --
it was like a brand?

So all the orchestra
instruments...

-Were branded so that
no one could take them away.

And Haydn was, as the director
of the court orchestra,

he was responsible
also for the instruments,

not only for the musicians.

So if anything
should have happened...

-It was his responsibility.
-It was his responsibility.

-But do you think
he actually would

maintain them and fix them?
-Yes.

He was the one to take them away
after the rehearsals

and put them...
-Really?

-...into a storage room...
-Wow.

-And getting it out again.

-That's really --
-I mean, he was amazing.

He did everything, right?
-Yeah.

-I mean, it's incredible.
But the fact that --

I mean, what blows me away
is that this instrument

was possibly played
in this room by Haydn in 1762

or something like that.
Very possibly, right?

-Yeah, that's possible.
-So his chin --

I can see a little bit
of Haydn chin there.

Isn't that amazing?
-[ Laughs ]

♪♪

-Wow.

♪♪

[ Plays bum note ]

-Ooh, it's a little
out of tune.

-Here's a little bit of Haydn.

♪♪

-So that's the first time
that this violin

has been played
for many, many years.

-What an honor, thank you.

♪♪

-As director,
Haydn had to provide music

for everything here, which would
have included dances.

And for that, he's known to have
hired local folk musicians.

♪♪

♪♪

This gypsy band, fronted by
the great Hungarian violinist

Gabor Homoky, is playing
in the same courtyard

where these dances
were sometimes held.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-Whoo!

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Piece ends ]

-Whoo!
-[ Vocalizes ]

-Bravo. Bravo.

-That's authentic
gypsy music?

-Yeah, it is.
-That is the real thing?

-Yeah, it is
authentic gypsy music

from that period
when Haydn lived.

-Really?
-Yes.

-So this is gypsy music
but from Haydn's time?

-Yeah, it's Hungarian
gypsy music, exactly, yes.

-No kidding.
-And Haydn heard this.

-Really?
-Yes.

Haydn heard this music?

-I think.
-Something similar.

-Something similar.

You know, the place where
we are now, this palace.

You see,
there's written Kismarton.

-Oh, yeah I see it.
Kismarton.

-It's Eisenstadt in Hungarian,
because this was Hungary before.

And you know this area,
here lived many Croatians,

Hungarians,
also German speaking people.

So also in this music
you can hear these things.

-So this music is a real melting
pot of different cultures.

-Yeah, it is.
It is, of course.

♪♪

-Halfway through Haydn's
employment with the Esterházys,

they built a spectacular
new palace in what is today

Western Hungary,
inspired by Versailles.

♪♪

Here, they held more elaborate
court dances.

And Haydn created music
for these, too.

♪♪

-Uh-huh.

-Well, here we are --
the Esterházy palace,

where Haydn would've moved
with the Esterházy family

in the late 1760s and taken
on his duties as court composer.

that he was a servant
to the Esterházy family.

Amazingly, he was expected
to every once in a while,

to "Come and serve our guests,

you know, pour wine
for our guests," Haydn,

and then go back to writing
some more symphonies.

So the idea of Haydn as this
incredible genius,

this amazing figure, but
a servant for most of his life.

-Wow.
It makes you wonder

if that's why he designed
the string quartet

as four equal people
without a hierarchy.

I mean, of course
the first violin, you know,

you, you're the first
among equals.

But still, the string quartet
is four voices

and everybody counts,
everybody matters.

-That's an interesting theory.

Democracy in action not only
in life but in music as well.

I always say, if you want
to really discover

the genius of Haydn
in the shortest period of time,

take at random four minuets

from any one of the quartets
after Opus 20,

and within the very
strict requirements he created,

he was effortless in his genius,
in his imagination.

The fact that he used that
and turned that dance form

into part of
the string quartet

and the genre of the
string quartet is pretty cool.

-Mm-hmm.
-Want to go play some

dance music
in the dance hall?

-Yeah, let's do that.
There's a dance hall up there?

-Well, on the second
floor, yeah.

-Cool, let's do it.

-So, this is the minuet
"alla zingarese."

Here's sort of a traditional,
danceable version

of this minuet.

♪♪

♪♪

-Charming, lovely,
graceful, danceable.

Here's, simply by adding accents
in the wrong spot,

you can almost picture the
dancers tumbling to the floor.

-Geoff, do you know why is it
written like this?

-What do you think, Gabor?

-Yeah, it's because Hungarian
music is always in 2.

And you know gypsy musicians

are actually playing
always here in Hungary.

So, he heard that one
from the gypsies somehow

and then that's why he wrote...
[ Counts rhythm ]

because Hungarian music
is always like this.

That's a joke of Haydn.

-And then the trio,
the contrasting middle section,

couldn't be more
perfectly in three.

The raised pinky finger
on your teacup.

The juxtaposition within
a three-minute movement

of these two elements is
the real joke in this movement.

So here we have it,
"alla zingarese,"

Opus 20, number 4.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-To keep his listeners,
and probably himself,

entertained,
Haydn liked to surprise them

with the unexpected.

And this too became part
of the string quartet format.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Quartet ends ]

♪♪

When Haydn returned from London,

he went back to work for
the Esterházys in Eisenstadt.

We went back, too, to play
in the space they named for him,

the famous Haydn Hall.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

There's probably no better
work to showcase

Haydn's sense of humor
than this quartet nicknamed

"The Joke."

And the joke for the audience
is knowing when it ends.

[ Quartet continues ]

♪♪

[ Quarter continues ]

♪♪

[ Quarter continues ]

♪♪

[ Quarter continues ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

-[ Chuckles ]

It's -- it's such a --

I mean, it's so tremendous
on so many levels,

and it's an effortless display
of humor in music.

And it's just this incredible
combination --

It's not just slap-your-knee,
guffaw laughter humor.

It's false expectation,
confusion.

It's hilarious on
so many levels,

but it's complicated in the best
possible sense of the word.

-It's a game.
Who will know when it's over?

-Yeah, totally true. And then
the end is the beginning.

And this inspired Mozart to do
some of his greatest work.

And the friendship that they had
is so special,

even though they were 19 years
apart, a much younger man.

But the fact that Mozart loved

and respected Haydn
and his music

so much is a real testament
to Haydn's genius.

And the set of quartets

that was Mozart's response
to Haydn's Opus 33

are the six Haydn quartets
that Mozart wrote

and dedicated to Papa Haydn.

And you can really hear him
being inspired,

emulating even, the quartets
of Haydn in these works.

You want to play
a little Mozart now?

-Sure.

-Why don't you take first
on this one?

-Okay, sure.
-Some great licks.

♪♪

♪♪

-Haydn's quartets inspired
Mozart to write them,

then Beethoven to show
he could take the format

in a new direction.

Then Schubert, who admired
what Beethoven had done.

And so on, all the way
to the great quartets of Bartok

in the 20th century.

But it all began with Haydn.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Bell tolling ]

As our last stop in Austria,

we went to a restaurant
on a hill above Eisenstadt

to talk about what we'd learned.

I'm surprised that Haydn was
so influenced by folk music.

-It's interesting.
I mean, I always thought

and give him credit as being,

especially with
the Opus 20 quartets,

that he took folk music
from the country

and made it part
of the drawing room,

made it part of music
moving forward.

But what blew me away was
hearing that Croatian folk tune,

which is eerily similar
to the "Kaiserlied,"

which of course is
the slow movement

of the "Emperor Quartet,"
so, I mean,

whether he stole it exactly,
or whether as a kid

it was just
embedded in his memory...

-But we know that
the Croatian folk song existed

before the Kaiser Quartet,
right?

-That's what we discovered.
-You know that?

I don't believe it.
-You don't believe it?

-No, I think this Croatian song
was after Haydn.

-Really?
-I think the Croatian people

here -- because here in that
area there lived Hungarians,

Croatians, Germans,
they all --

it was a mixed culture --

and they heard
what Haydn composed.

So I think they
borrowed the music.

You know, Ernest, we also played
today this czardas.

There's also that part where it
is a German folk song, almost.

-I find it very possible.

-So everybody's stealing
from everybody, basically.

-It's a great tune either way.
It doesn't really matter.

You know, it doesn't lessen the
brilliance of the "Kaiserlied,"

I think it's safe to say.

-Yeah, I think everybody
loves good music,

and that's why.
-Right.

♪♪

♪♪

-Bravo.
-Bravos. Thanks.

-Excellent.

-So you know
the "Auld Lang Syne" song?

-You mean what we sing
at New Year's?

-Yeah, it's very old
Scottish folk music.

-Okay.
-And you know Haydn arranged it

to classical music.

-Haydn arranged "Auld Lang Syne"
to make it a classical piece?

-Yeah.
-I did not know that.

-And now we will try to do it,
the original one,

and then in a different way.

-Really?
Who's going to sing?

-I will sing.
-Really?

-Yes, I try.
-Excellent!

-Thank you.
-Okay.

♪♪

♪♪

[ Playing "Auld Lang Syne"
melody ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

Haydn took this old
Scottish folk tune,

orchestrated it
for classical instruments,

and helped it become
an anthem of its own --

one that's been performed by
great musicians of later eras,

like Elvis, who themselves
borrowed folk music

in search of melodies that
could cross cultures and time.

♪♪

♪ Where old acquaintance
be forgot ♪

♪ And never brought to mind?

♪♪

♪ Where old acquaintance
be forgot ♪

♪ And auld lang syne

♪♪

♪ We're auld lang syne,
my dear ♪

♪ We're auld lang syne

♪ We'll take
a cup of kindness, yeah ♪

♪ For auld lang syne

[ Playing bluesy solo ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪ We'll take a cup
of kindness yet ♪

♪ For auld lang syne

♪♪

[ Song ends ]

♪♪

-Before I left
the Spoleto Festival,

Geoff and his group were playing
the "Emperor Quartet."

♪♪

♪♪

In this last movement,
you can hear everything

that Haydn introduced
to the format --

folk music
and the country dance,

unexpected turns
that surprise the listener,

and of course,
democracy in action,

every instrument
conversing as equals.

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

[ Tempo increases ]

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

♪♪

All these signature elements,

which sprang
from Haydn's personality

and personal experiences,
have been passed down through

all the string quartets
after him.

When you hear any quartet,
you're hearing Haydn.

And if that's not
influential enough,

when Haydn was creating
the string quartet,

he also invented the symphony,
then wrote 104 of them.

Haydn truly was
the king of strings.

♪♪

I'm Scott Yoo, and I hope
you can "Now Hear This."

♪♪

♪♪

[ Cheers and applause ]

-To find out more about this

and other
"Great Performances" programs,

visit pbs.org/greatperformances,

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