Haydn’s Double Bass

Tracing the development of the violone

through Haydn’s symphonies concertante
no. 6, 7, 8, 31, 45, (48), 72

1
1 Introduction.
The intent of this paper is to study the development of the double bass through the lens of six

different symphonies concertante of Joseph Haydn. In his symphonies numbered 6, 7, 8, 31,

45, and 72, Haydn wrote extended solos for the double bass violone (referred to as violone from

this point forward). Each of these violone solos will be examined in this paper for range,

difficulty and ensemble. In the end, we will see a correlation of Haydn’s evolution of writing

style for the violone with some amount of development of the violone in terms of player

technique, strings, bow, tuning, and construction.

2 Overview of eighteenth century violone tuning

Seventeenth and eighteenth century composers were keenly aware of instrument tuning,

especially of the viols with their flexible tuning traditions. By contrast, nineteenth century

composers had comparatively little concern of instrumental tuning or idiomatic facility as they

expanded the melodic and harmonic language of music. This is evidenced by post-classical era

orchestral works written in key signatures with extreme numbers of sharps and/or flats.

As the violin family instruments became standardized and ruled the orchestra string sections

the lesser viols fell from favor, except for the violone with its comparatively large tone and the

need for a contrabass (i.e. sixteen-foot register) stringed instrument in the orchestra. This big

tone and tuning flexibility of the seventeenth century contra bass viol no doubt ensured its

transition to the eighteenth century violin based orchestras such as Haydn’s. The contrabass

instrument that dominates in the seventeenth and eighteenth century in the Austro-Hungarian

(i.e. Esterhazy) region is the “Viennese” four and five string fretted double bass violones.

Well-known touring violone virtuosi of Haydn’s time such as Josef Kampfer, and Johann

Matthias Sperger made this instrument popular. Haydn’s own violonista, George Schwenda, was

apparently good enough to inspire Haydn to write a violone concerto in 1763 for him (still lost).

There is substantial evidence of this violone concerto in a bill found in the Esterhazy estate
2
records, dated August 1763 from Haydn’s long time copyist Antonj Adolph. Adolph’s bill has

a line that reads that parts for “a new concerto for Schwenda on the double bass” were copied

out.1 In Joelle Morton’s “Bass World” journal article, she refers to Haydn’s own “Entwerf-

Katalog” of his works, where Haydn made an entry for this concerto listed as “Concerto per il

[contra] violone” showing the open bars of the first movement.2 Hopefully, one day this

concerto will be recovered. One can only hope that it did not perish in one of the three fires that

affected Haydn.

The Viennese four string violone is tuned A’-D-F#-A, and the five stringers have a low F’.

This tuning, known as “thirds-fourths” tuning, facilitated natural resonance in keys such as D

major, A major, and F# minor, as well as it facilitates efficient fingerings for the typical classical

triadic phrases such as the violone solo in Haydn’s symphony number seven. However, coming

from a viol tradition, the violonista could easily raise or lower one or more strings on his violone

by a step to accommodate the music. An example of this would be the violone solo in Haydn’s

symphonies number seven and eight, which are in C major. The five-string violonista could drop

the fourth string down to G’ in order to reach the few low G notes, or lower all strings by a step

to Eb’-G’-C-E-G to put his violone in a C-centered tuning. Indeed, even today’s modern double

bassist often employ “drop-D” tuning where the low E’ string is lowered by a step. This tuning

flexibility is all but unheard of in the other instruments of the violin family.

H.C. Robbins Landon in his book, Haydn: Chronicle and Works, believes the Haydn’s violone

was a four string instrument tuned to A’-D-F#-A. This belief is based upon bills for bass strings,

and the frequent use of open A string in the violone solo in Haydn’s symphony number seven, as

evidence of the low-A’ limit.3 This logic is incomplete because low G’ is indeed found in the

violone solos of both symphonies seven and eight. This low-G’ note could be played on either a
1
H.C. Robbins Landon, Haydn: Chronicle and Works, vol. 1 (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press,
1976-1980), 647.
2
Joelle Morton, "Haydn’s missing Double Bass Concerto," Bass World, International Society of Bassists, vol.
XXII, 3 (fall 1998): 30.
3
H.C. Robbins Landon, Haydn: Chronicle and Works, vol. 1 (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press,
1976-1980), 557-558.
3
on a four string violone with the fourth string dropped to low-G’, or (more likely) on a five string

violone with a low-F’.

On the topic of violone low range, the Musicologist Anthony Hodgson (b.1939), in his book

The Music of Joseph Haydn, The Symphonies, wrongly believes that Haydn’s violone had a low

C’ based on his symphonic bass parts that frequently reached low D’ and C’.4 But there is no

such evidence in string purchase bills (as documented in Landon’s Haydn Chronicles) that

indicate that Haydn’s violone’s had a low C’ string. More importantly, drop tuning the low-F’

string on a Viennese violone to a low-C’ is impossible. Hodgson may well be confused by the

fact that the violone and cello players played from the same score (often marked “bassi”), and

the cello often has a written low C note (not a contra C). Hodgson makes references to

recordings of Haydn’s symphony number 48 where at the end of the trio there is a low-C’ in the

score, and the basses in the recording leap up an octave “to disconcerning effect”5. He goes on to

admonish orchestras into having at least one five string bass with a low-C’ (i.e. contra-C), but it

is clear that Haydn’sViennese bass has only a low-F’, which could only be detuned by a step to

low-E’, but not low-C’. Of course, today’s modern fourths-tuned five string basses, tuned C’-E’-

A’-D-G can certainly provide Hodgson’s low-C’ note, as well as modern four stringers with a

low-C’ extension. However, purists would say that playing these contra-C’ notes in Haydn’s

symphonies would not be authentic. As interesting as this low-C’ discussion is, further research

is not within the scope of this paper.

3 Haydn’s Violonistas
Haydn’s history at Esterhazy is well documented, and Johann Georg Schwenda was Haydn’s

violonist from 1761-17676. Program notes and pay receipts show that Schwenda was a multi-

instrumentalist, also playing second bassoon. In 1768, Schwenda was replaced by another

4
Anthony Hodgson, The Music of Joseph Haydn, The Symphonies (London: The Tantivy Press, 1976), 44-45.
5
Ibid.
6
H.C. Robbins Landon, Haydn: Chronicle and Works, vol. 2 (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press,
1976-1980), 70-91.
4
violonista, Karl Shiringer, who also doubled on bassoon. Such instrumental versatility is not

matched in today’s modern era of single instrument specialists. Since most of Haydn’s early

orchestral works required only one bassoon, one can assume that Schwenda was predominantly a

violone player. The following is a list of Haydn’s violonistas by dates of service7, and based on

composition dates Schwenda played all of the violone solos except for symphony number 45

(“Farewell”), which was played by Shiringer.

• 1758-1768, Anton Kuhnel, princely church choir – part-time player.

• 1761-1767, Johann George Schwenda, capelle orchestra, primary violonista.
• 1768-1790, Karl Shiringer, capelle orchestra – highly respected violonista and composer.
• 1775-1806, Johann Dietzl, princely church choir – Haydn thought highly of his abilities.

4 Fire!
There were three great fires that affected the composer Haydn, as well as musicologists today

(by way of historical losses). Two fires at Eisenstadt in 1766 and 1768 where, in addition to

surrounding structures in the town of Eisenstadt, Haydn’s own home sustained near total losses.8

The third, and most tragic fire was in the grand Chinese ballroom of the Esterhaza palace on

November 24, 1779. The ballroom, all setup with Haydn’s orchestra for a wedding the next day,

went up in flames when some ornate Chinese woodstoves (intended as decoration in the

ballroom) were inadvertently lit the night before by and could not contain their fires.9 Many of

Haydn’s orchestra instruments left in the hall (probably including at least the violone(s),

harpsichord and tympani) went up in flames. The Prince also kept much of Haydn’s music

collection in the palace, and that too went up in flames as the fire expanded beyond the ballroom.

Unfortunately, as a result of these fires, there are no existing autograph scores, or original

performance parts (i.e. from Haydn’s copyist Antonj Adolph), for Haydn’s first fifty

symphonies.10

7
Ibid.
8
H.C. Robins Landon, Haydn: A Documentary Study (London: Thames and Hudson, 1981), 77.
9
Ibid, 83.
10
H.C. Robbins Landon, Joseph Haydn: Kritische Ausgabe Samtlicher Symphonien vol. 1 (Vienna: Universal
Edition, 1965-1968), XX.
5
5 Haydn’s Symphonies Concertante
Haydn wrote six symphonies concertante which feature extended violone solos. They are

symphonies numbered 6, 7, 8, 31, 45, and 72. Numbers 6, 7 and 8 were among the first pieces

that Haydn wrote for the Esterhazy family, who were renown connoisseurs of music, art and

literature. Certainly Haydn wanted to open his career on a good footing, so these three

symphonies show off Haydn’s orchestra players nicely.

Since the original working scores and parts for Haydn’s first fifty symphonies perished in the

fires, Landon had to use secondary sources for his critical editions, such as score copies from the

Esterhazy archives and early-published scores. As such, there are some discrepancies as to

which instrument (violone or cello) should play the solo “bass” parts in these symphonies. In

these cases, other scholarly sources will be referenced in this paper for additional insight. The

ranges of the violone solos of these six symphonies seem to be the predominant force behind

editors and publishers to not believe that Haydn’s violone solos are properly identified as violone

solos. For example, the violone solos in symphonies number 6 and 7 are given to the cello by at

least one editor/publisher (detailed below). The date, key and range of the violone parts of the

symphonies studied in this paper are as follows:

• Symphony #6 “Le Matin” (1761)

• Symphony #7 “Le Midi” (1761)

• Symphony #8 “Le Soir” (1761)

• Symphony #31 “The Horn Signal” (1765)

• Symphony #45 “Farewell” (1772)

• Symphony #72 (1763-1765)

6
5.1 Symphony number 6, “Le Matin”, (ca. 1761)
Landon cites seven sources, labeled “A” through “G”, for his critical edition of this symphony,

but only one of these seven sources (source labeled: “E - printed score by Le Duc, Paris, c.

1802”) is an actual score, whereas the other sources (A, B, C, D, F and G) are parts. These

seven sources came from two separate libraries in Germany (A&B), the Conservatorio

Benedetto Marcello in Italy (C), the Paris Conservatory (E), a Benedictine Monastery (D) from

the lower Austrian region, and the Monastery of St. Peter in Salzburg (F). 11 In this image

snippet below from Landon’s critical edition endnotes, based on sheer majority rule, he is

convinced that the violone should carry the entire solo in the trio12:

Unfortunately, it appears that Landon made the same mistake in his critical edition (see trio

score excerpt below) and “wrongly” published version (E) that shows the cello taking the second

half of the trio! This seems like a reasonable mistake, only because he probably otherwise

approved of the Le Duc score, and simply reprinted it for his critical edition forgetting to correct

the mistake.13

11
H.C. Robbins Landon, Joseph Haydn: Kritische Ausgabe Samtlicher Symphonien vol. 1 (Vienna: Universal
Edition, 1965-1968), XLIX.
12
Ibid.
13
See encircled footnote on score excerpt on the next page.
7
Figure 1. Symphony number 6, third movement, minuet and trio14

The character of this baroque style trio in d-minor beautifully showcases the violone, bassoon

and viola. Note that in this [Le Duc?] score excerpt from Landon’s critical edition, the cello

usurps the violone solo in the second half of the trio (highlighted by the red circles).

Landon, in his Haydn Chronicle, describes the violone solo in symphony number six as

“grotesque” and “pattern setting” for the subsequent two symphonies.15 By “grotesque” does he

14
H.C. Robbins Landon, Joseph Haydn: Kritische Ausgabe Samtlicher Symphonien vol. 1 (Vienna: Universal
Edition, 1965-1968), 143-144
15
H.C. Robbins Landon, Haydn: Chronicle and Works, vol. 1 (Bloomington, Indiana: Indiana University Press,
1976-1980), 556.
8
mean beautifully fantastic by its extent, or musically ugly and crude? From a bass players

perspective, a solo of this magnitude in a symphonic setting is extremely desirable, regardless of

someone’s opinion of its musicality. This solo, with it’s A-based alberti-bass like opening figure

(circled in red) would definitely be easier on the violone with its open a-string. The modern

fourths tuned bassist would have to work real hard to get that figure in tune.

5.2 Symphony number 7, “Le Midi”, (ca. 1761)

Landon cites only three sources16, labeled “A” through “C”, for his critical edition of this

symphony. Of these three sources, A is an autograph score from the Esterhazy archives (non-

performance score) found in the Budapest National Library. The other two sources (B and C)

are parts taken from the aforementioned Budapest score, and an unspecified number of “fairly

reliable”17 parts found in Vienna (c 1765) respectively. Landon’s critical edition endnotes

(excerpt shown below) indicate the confusion regarding the violone solo between sources A/C

and source B in this symphony.18

Landon properly published his critical edition giving the solo in the trio to the violone, as per

sources A and C. He offers no explanation as to the copyist’s apparent error with the violone

solo parts B.

Another example of a publisher giving the violone solo to the cello is found in an edition edited

in 1935 by the noted German music historian Dr. Ernst Praetorius (1880-1946). The page in the

score entitled: “Editor’s Note”, signed by Praetorius, states: “The autograph of the score is in the

archives of Prince Esterhazy. It is headed: Le Midi …”. That is all he mentions of the source, so

it is assumed that he used the same source score (A), and quite possibly parts (B), as Landon

16
H.C. Robbins Landon, Joseph Haydn: Kritische Ausgabe Samtlicher Symphonien vol. 1 (Vienna: Universal
Edition, 1965-1968), XLIX.
17
Ibid, L.
18
Ibid, LII.
9
found in Budapest. However, Praetorius also decided to give the violone solo in the trio to the

cello instead. At performance tempo, the triplet figures are certainly challenging on a modern

four string double bass tuned E1-A1-D-G, which is undoubtedly what Praetorius was editing for

in 1935. In addition, Haydn wrote a triple stop in measure 44 and an A-a octave leap in measure

53. Both of these maneuvers (circled in red below) are difficult on the modern fourths tuned

bass, but comparatively much easier on the Viennese tuned bass. Further research into why

Praetorius made this decision is out of the scope of this paper.

10
Figure 2. Symphony number 7, third movement, minuet and trio19

This violone solo is in the third movement’s trio with the first and second violin providing

mostly harmonic support leaving the violone exposed to play a rather technical solo of running

triadic triplets. By comparison to the previous violone solo in symphony number six, this

violone solo is not nearly as lyrical. Also, the other two trio instruments (violin I&II) provide no

real counterpoint to the violone. This trio can hardly be characterized as musically

conversational by any means, but obviously serves to spotlight the violonista’s technical abilities.

19
H.C. Robbins Landon, Joseph Haydn: Kritische Ausgabe Samtlicher Symphonien vol. 1 (Vienna: Universal
Edition, 1965-1968), 183-184
11
Also notice in measure 40 the low G’ note which gives evidence that Haydn’s violone was a five

string instrument with a low F’.

5.3 Symphony number 8, “Le Soir”, (ca. 1761)

Similarly plentiful as the sources for symphony number six, Landon cites eight sources, labeled

“A” through “H”, for his critical edition of symphony number eight. These various sources

appear to be only parts (i.e. no score). They came from two separate libraries each in Germany

and Italy, the Paris Conservatory, and the Monastery of St. Peter in Salzburg. 20 Here too,

among the sources, there is some confusion regarding the violone solo as evidenced in Landon’s

critical edition endnotes excerpt shown below:21

Landon, in his Haydn Chronicles, believes that the trio of symphony number eight is the most

popular in the trilogy. However, compared to the trio in symphony number six, this violone trio

solo, while certainly grander in scale, is not as intimate. Specifically, unlike symphony number

six, there is no duet, or trio concept. Referring to the image of symphony number eight’s trio on

the next page, the violone solo is more like a string section soli lead by the violone. There are

four instances where the violone plays some unaccompanied modal scales. Measures 59-63 have

an interesting sequence of parallel sixth chords (I6-ii6-iii6-IV6-It+6-V) featuring a held trill on an

Italian augmented sixth chord and resolution to the dominant providing the only real interest of

this trio.

20
H.C. Robbins Landon, Joseph Haydn: Kritische Ausgabe Samtlicher Symphonien vol. 1 (Vienna: Universal
Edition, 1965-1968), LII.
21
Ibid.
12
 I6 ii6 iii 6 IV 6 It+6 V

Figure 3. Symphony number 8, third movement trio22

22
H.C. Robbins Landon, Joseph Haydn: Kritische Ausgabe Samtlicher Symphonien vol. 1 (Vienna: Universal
Edition, 1965-1968), 215
13
 5.4 Symphony number 72, (ca. 1763)
Like symphony number 31 (“The Horn Signal”), symphony number 72 is one of Haydn’s

hunting symphonies featuring a horn choir, however this symphony remains unnamed. Unlike

the violone solos in symphonies number six, seven and eight, there are no questions by Landon,

or in any of the source material, that this is a solo written for the violone. The violone solo is in

variation four of the fourth movement, and is very lyrical, almost Italianate, with light

accompaniment from the rest of the strings. This desirable solo is not overly challenging on

either a Viennese violone, or modern fourths tuned bass (except for maybe the a-A octave leap in

measure 78). And since it is fully encapsulated in the variation, the violonista controls the tempo

at which it is played.

Figure 4. Symphony number 72, fourth movement, variation IV23

23
H.C. Robbins Landon, Joseph Haydn: Kritische Ausgabe Samtlicher Symphonien vol. 7 (Vienna: Universal
Edition, 1965-1968), 324-325
14
5.5 Symphony number 31, “Horn Signal”, (ca. 1765)
The violone solo is in variation seven of the fourth movement. Again like the violone solo in

symphony number 72, the violone gets light accompaniment from the rest of the strings.

Compared to the solo in symphony number 72, this violone solo is quite a bit more technical in

its disjunctive melody ranging from its low A’ to b. In measure 115, the violone does a double

string crossing to leap two A’-a octaves. In measure 121 the violone leaps an A-a octave flirting

on the edge of thumb position to finger the subsequent higher b note. This solo is definitely

easier on the Viennese violone. On the modern fourths tuned bass, the octave leap in measure

121 would be difficult, but not impossible. In Landon’s critical edition endnotes (excerpted

below) he comments that many bassists could not play this solo at measure 11524, but on a

Viennese tuned bass, those low A and D notes would simply be played on open strings and

perhaps not be that difficult after all. The modern bassist has the same advantage.

The Kalmus edition score of this symphony gives variation seven away to the cello. Some

listeners will notice that the cello previously had a solo in variation two. A performance from

this version of the score would surely leave the bassist in an awkward position in a concert.

Thankfully, Landon properly publishes this symphony in his critical edition with the violone

solo.

24
H.C. Robbins Landon, Joseph Haydn: Kritische Ausgabe Samtlicher Symphonien vol. 3 (Vienna: Universal
Edition, 1965-1968), XXXIII.
15
Figure 5. Symphony number 31, fourth movement, variation 725

25
H.C. Robbins Landon, Joseph Haydn: Kritische Ausgabe Samtlicher Symphonien vol. 3 (Vienna: Universal
Edition, 1965-1968), 89
16
5.6 Symphony number 45, “Farewell”, (ca. 1772)
This particular violone solo is unremarkable in that it presents no new material. What is

notable is, that at this point in the symphony, all the wind players have played their last few bars

and have left the stage leaving the strings behind. The violone is the first of the strings to get

their exit opus, getting a full twelve measures of music. Notice how the open-A string of the

Viennese tuned violone anchors the first few measures. It would be fairly difficult, although not

impossible, to play well on a modern double bass. The remaining measures of the violone solo

are also easier to execute on the Viennese tuned bass because of its thirds tuning. The register is

high enough, and the length of the solo is long enough that the Prince would have surely looked

up to notice something was amiss with Haydn’s orchestra. Especially given the abrupt key

change that follows the violone’s exit (circled in red in the score excerpt below).

17
Figure 6. Symphony number 45, fourth movement (finale)26

26
H.C. Robbins Landon, Joseph Haydn: Kritische Ausgabe Samtlicher Symphonien vol. 4 (Vienna: Universal
Edition, 1965-1968), 171
18
6 Conclusions
The violone solos studied in this paper show a progressive development of writing from Joseph

Haydn, always pushing the violonista to greater heights. To recap, the violone solo in symphony

number six has a blend of moderately technical and beautiful lyrical writing set in trio of

bassoon, viola and violone. Symphony number seven’s violone solo moves more towards the

technical aspect with its slurred triads in triplet. And symphony number eight’s violone solo is

more like a string section soli lead by the violone featuring an interesting harmonic progression

with a held trill over an Italian augmented six chord.

The bar is raised significantly in the violone solo in symphony number 72, which is

encapsulated in an entire variation in the fourth movements theme and variations. What is

notable about this solo is that it exists in the first place. All of the string principles, except the

viola, get an entire variation to themselves in this movement. The violone solo is by no means

condescending to the bass, and is in fact written as well as the violin and cello variation solos

that precede it. Like the solo in symphony number 72, the violone solo in symphony number 31

is also a bit of a conundrum. One thing is certain is that for Haydn to continue to write

violone solos of this caliber in his symphonies, that Georg Schwenda must have been a

magnificent violonista.

One last final note, based on low note analysis of symphonies number seven and eight in this

paper (pages 3-4), I do believe that Georg Schwenda had a five-string Viennese violone at his

disposal. Although he may have preferred to play a four-string violone when possible simply

because of it’s comparative nimbleness versus the larger five-string instrument.

19
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20