Dance Movement - Haydn String Quartet Op.1 No.1 Minuet

There is an obvious anacrussis at the start of this short movement. The three-time is clear to hear, with the first beat often emphasised in some way, dynamically or with an accent. It was interesting to listen to the function of each beat, which is something I've not considered before. It appeared that the last beat was often slurred, leading smoothly to beat one of the next bar. There appears to be canon used between the upper and lower strings giving interest to the texture.

I had difficulty finding analysis or program notes for this piece, so decided to see what I could do on my own. I firstly made notes on the various themes I could hear, where they repeated and where the piece changed key. Here are my notes (I have used A,B,C to label what I could hear, it should not be mistaken for the labeling of binary/ternary form etc):

A
B quiet
C rising
A
B quiet
C rising
MINOR
A variation
MINOR
A variation
PAUSE
D
D
E
D
E
D
PAUSE
A
B quiet
C rising
MINOR
A variation

I then downloaded a copy of the score, which made things a whole lot clearer, and enabled me to put 'faces' to the things I had noticed above. After reading through the score, it becomes clear that we were dealing with a minuet and trio.

The ABC from above were all one theme, which was followed by a repeat sign, hence the ABC again. There is then a contrasting section in a minor key (MINOR and A variation from above) which reuses the canon idea from the first theme. This new theme is also repeated, before a short pause; it is now apparent that this is heralding the start of the trio.

The trio is also made up of two sections, each repeated. It reuses extensively rhythmic material from the end of the minor key section, namely the quaver - four semiquavers pattern. Both sections of the trio make use of chromatic passing-note decoration to create interest. Once the trio is complete, the minuet is heard again in its entirety, this time without repeats.

It now seems that my convoluted notes above can be regarded simply as A-B-A - ternary form. To complicate matters slightly though, the minuet and the trio each on their own is in binary form A-B, as they are each comprised of two sections.