Why Do Haydn’s Pauses Make Us Smile?

A pause is not funny by itself. Haydn’s humour comes from first persuading listeners that they know how the music will continue, then making the expected event arrive late, turn aside or fail to appear. A phrase rushes towards a cadence and the pianist suddenly stops. During the silence, listeners supply the “next step” for themselves, so the note that finally sounds can be both logical and surprising.

The finale of the C major Piano Sonata, Hob. XVI:50, written around 1794, makes the process especially clear. Its lively theme initially seems well behaved, but rests and fermatas repeatedly interrupt its momentum. Some pauses resemble a speaker withholding the crucial word; others suspend a harmony that ought to resolve promptly. The joke is not an expression added to the structure. Metre, harmony and syntax create it together. If a pianist merely counts the empty beats, the pause feels vacant. If the performer advertises the joke in advance, the surprise disappears.

The practical task is to preserve direction before and through the silence. Once the hands leave the keys, the body and inner pulse must not collapse; the silence still belongs to the sentence. The return need not be marked by an exaggerated accent, because the wit often lies in the music continuing as if nothing unusual happened. Haydn reminds us that musical time is not made only from sounding notes. Once expectation has formed, silence can organise what we hear. A good pause does not stop expression; it lets listening move forward without sound.

https://imslp.org/wiki/Keyboard_Sonata_in_C_major%2C_Hob.XVI:50_(Haydn%2C_Joseph)
https://www.classical-music.com/features/composers/joseph-haydn