composer. The choice may seem curious when we remember that Haydn
had at his hand all the music of Handel and Bach, and the masters
of the old contrapuntal school. But it was wisely made. The
simple, well-balanced form of Emanuel Bach's works "acted as well
as a master's guidance upon him, and led him to the first steps
in that style of writing which was afterwards one of his greatest
glories." The point is admirably put by Sir Hubert Parry. He
says, in effect, that what Haydn had to build upon, and what was
most congenial to him, through his origin and circumstances, was
the popular songs and dances of his native land, which, in the
matter of structure, belong to the same order of art as
symphonies and sonatas; and how this kind of music could be made
on a grander scale was what he wanted to discover. The music of
Handel and Bach leaned too much towards the style of the choral
music and organ music of the church to serve him as a model. For
their art was essentially contrapuntal--the combination of
several parts each of equal importance with the rest, each in a
sense pursuing its own course. In modern music the essential
principle is harmonic: the chords formed by the combination of
parts are derived and developed in reference to roots and keys.
In national dances few harmonies are used, but they are arranged
on the same principles as the harmonies of a sonata or a
symphony; and "what had to be found out in order to make grand
instrumental works was how to arrange more harmonies with the
same effect of unity as is obtained on a small scale in dances
and national songs." Haydn, whose music contains many
reminiscences of popular folk-song, had in him the instinct for
this kind of art; and the study of Philipp Emanuel's works taught
him how to direct his energies in the way that was most agreeable
to him.