howard posner
Sun, 23 Dec 2007 08:09:01 -0800
What I mean is: when performing that in an ensemble, what's the point of the lute doubling one of the other parts?
Projection in a large performance space may have been an issue; it could have been a way of creating a super-lute. spaces.
Haydn's piano trios often have a similar texture, with the violin and cello playing what the piano plays, or vice versa. It's still fashionable to speculate that Haydn was compensating for the instrument's weak treble, or bass, or whatever.
A simpler explanation is that players or listeners liked that sort of thing. It certainly makes it easier to know when you're playing the right notes, which might be a consideration in a casual evening's music-making when everyone has eaten and imbibed well.
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