Today a listener from one of my recent house recitals described that it felt as though he was eavesdropping on a conversation between me and Haydn. What a lovely compliment, not just to myself, but also to him--that he would permit himself that degree of intimate involvement.
The cues in Haydn are vocal. Vocal cues do not require text to be vivid. They require a physical involvement in direction and in intervalic coloration, as in a descending vs an ascending half-step, or a black-key to white-key vs a white-key to black-key half-step.
Having sung all my life these colorations come naturally. Doesn't everyone hear them?
