Form

Minuet and Trio (titled "Alternative")

Minuet Theme (E-flat major)

Trio (Alternative) Theme (E-flat major)

Notes

Look at the trio theme.8 notes. Falling down. From E to E. It is nothing more than the E-flat major scale. Ah, but there is just a bit more: its note values and placements within the tempo and pulse of a triple-meter dance inject the scale with life. In the hands of Haydn, it evolves into an exquisite song. (Don't try this at home: all stunts are performed by professionals). What's the recipe? Well, among other things, there is the scale. It must be ominpresent, that is rule number one. But think outside the box: you can of course use it in either ascending or descending order. Oh: and don't to forget to fiddle around with harmony, texture. That can go anywhere you want. One other thing: this is a trio within a scherzo (minuet). The chief hallmark is rhythmic play. Apply liberal dashes of syncopation.

The great classical composers were masters at handling motives. The most pregant have often been short: 2, 3, maybe 4 notes. The pitch pattern of a major scale seems on one hand, dull, prosaic, more the array of available choices than the choice it self. But others have shown (Bach, Beethoven) that it is, due to its comprehensiveness, the musical equivalent of pandora's box. Within, lie an infinity of options, mostly of the harmonic variety. In this trio, Haydn handles the 8 note motive of the E-flat major scale like the serious pro that he is. You can compare this with Beethoven's try at using a scale (in a trio in fact) in his string quartet Op. 74, "The Harp". Unbelieveable!

So key among the attributes that make this trio a musical delight is the simple concept of variation. The great classical composers were also masters at variation: keeping something the same, recognizable, while changing other facets to create diversity, contrast, and delight. What stays the same? Pitch pattern (though inversion is allowed). What differs? Everything else. This trio is more than just a trio. It is a theme and variations (how many?). It is a scale within a theme-and-variations within a trio within a minuet, within the last string quartet within Op. 76 (among Haydn's other works). Way inside the box, we find someone thinking outside the box. Fascinating. Within this trio alone, you might ponder the symetries, the phrases, the up, the down, and recongnize patterns ad infinitum.

Because contrast is essential to perceiving anything, it bears taking one more paragraph to point out the final ingredient of this trio. The trio is, by definition, within a minuet. This one is a delight. It is crucial for establishing the launching pad of the trio. Like other minuets in Op. 76 (though not all in my opinion), this one is of a new, faster, lighter and in the manner of what would eventually be called a scherzo. The most consistent aspects of all scherzi most often include a triple meter and a ternary sectional form. That's two 3's. The name "trio", itself another reference to the number 3, derives from a common practice in the Baroque era of scoring the middle section of a ternay dance for only 3 instruments. A sort of mini trio-sonata embedded within a larger structure featuring a larger ensemble. That is enough detail to establish the "ground rules".

But Haydn's minuet and trio (the alternate term "scherzo" refers to the whole movement, the minuet and trio combined) is not merely a ternal sectional form, that is, an indescriminant sandwich of three slices. It is a well-matched sandwich, a gormet combination. There are connections between the minuet and trio. The minuet seems also to be concerned with fundamental patterns drawn directly from the E-flat major scale: arpeggiated chords, emphasis on essential intervals, and even a two-measure allusion to the trio theme. Haydn has the minuet and trio sewn together in a marvelous, almost seemless unity. Unusual among his minuets is the fact that here, the minuet and trio share the same key.