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Phrase Extension In Haydn’S String Quartet Minuets: A Preliminary Corpus Study, William O'Hara

Sunderman Conservatory of Music Faculty Publications

This study examines a small but well-defined corpus: Franz Joseph Haydn’s string quartet minuets and trios (n=76 paired dances, or 152 individual minuets), composed between 1764 and 1803. Seeking to identify the metrical differences between a minuet intended for dancing and one intended for the salon or the concert stage, this study parses Haydn’s 8- and 10-measure minuet and trio sections (using the models of “tight-knit” theme types proposed by Caplin 1998), identifies patterns in Haydn’s phrase extensions, and discusses challenges and opportunities for further corpus-informed studies of phrase rhythm and hypermeter.