Transcription for piano and solo violin of a Haydn quartet

I'll shoot, since it's a Haydn quartet it will surely have given an interesting part to the Violin I, so saving it shouldn't be a bad solution ...no?

Destroyed wrote:

Assuming I have to make a transcription for piano and violin only of one Haydn quartet (let's say Op. 1 No. 1... for "simplicity").

I was thinking about how to proceed, and the very first question I asked myself is whether it might be acceptable to leave the original first violin part as is and give the rest to the piano.

How far (and how) would you go?

Aside from the singularity of the idea (really strange, but I imagine you have your good reasons), to transcribe means in fact to "rethink," so you cannot start a priori by deciding that you will leave the 1st violin part just as it is. You must evaluate step by step and rewrite that quartet "as if" the music had been conceived for piano and violin. Otherwise, we are talking about a "reduction," which is not exactly the same thing.

Taking a very quick glance at the first movement of the "Hunt," in most cases the writing would indeed lend itself to the arrangement you mention (I only took a very cursory look...), but it's not automatic; for example, at the 5th measure of the second part there is a beautiful viola line that could easily be played by the violin, while the piano plays those fragments exchanged between the 1st and 2nd violins... just to name a few.

Furthermore, if you "rethink," you can also allow yourself some octave transpositions, if a line interests you but is written in a register unreachable for the violin...

Good luck with your work.

First, you should create an interesting dialogue between 2 instruments ... which previously occurred between 4, and in this regard, as Carlos rightly also reminds us, Haydn surely would have tried to make all the instruments play interesting parts; it is not certain that the entire violin part is always extremely interesting, given that it has become a soloist, barring implications regarding range, perhaps parts of other instruments can also be utilized....

I absolutely agree with the uselessness of a reduction and the value that a well-done transcription could instead have.

Finding the so-called Melos and making it emerge is not simple, especially when it is in the middle.

The expressive possibilities of the PF are different from those of a string instrument, primarily the impossibility of having a diminuendo/crescendo on a held note; therefore, apart from the solo violin which will stand out more, the pf must be treated properly.

So I would say the first step is to analyze the parts and their conduction and decide what to do.

I connect myself to what was rightly said by cromatismo and add that even if the violin is a soloist, it doesn't mean it must always be in the spotlight ...

in some sections you could perhaps let it play a secondary part.

Carlos wrote:

Aside from the singularity of the idea (really strange, but I imagine you have your good reasons)

It seems to be in vogue in some conservatories regarding the A077 two-year period

Frank wrote:

It seems to be in vogue in some conservatories regarding the A077 two-year course

Here...