Recapitulation as process: The augmented-second tetrachord in the first movement of Haydn’s Op. 33, no. 5

Abstract

The first movement of Haydn’s Op. 33, no. 5 string quartet famously opens with a closing gesture — a move from dominant to tonic chord accompanying a rising tetrachord. This opening puts the entire notion of closure into question and threatens to eviscerate the cadence of its efficacy. Moreover, Haydn ratchets up the tension created by the tetrachord motive’s omnipresence by altering its intervallic structure during the development in order to include an augmented second. What generically would be considered an almost banal cadential gesture becomes an agent of disruption that promises to derail the sense of completion required by tonal musical discourse.By undermining the efficacy of harmonic closure, Haydn seemingly jeopardized the closural function of the recapitulation, which, according to Charles Rosen, relies upon the resolution of large-scale dissonance. However, Haydn demonstrates that the recapitulation is often more than the resolution of large-scale dissonance. In this piece the recapitulation serves as the “resolution” of a motivic process that might have unraveled the coherence of the movement altogether.This paper provides an analysis of the movement with special focus on the process of recapitulation. In this understanding, the recapitulation is not simply a procedural moment of inevitable necessity but rather a stage within what might be referred to as a recapitulatory process that involves the entire piece. This investigation intersects with both Schenkerian insights and the concept of “rotation” within Hepokoski and Darcy’s sonata theory while having important implications with respect to our understanding of the role of the recapitulation.