Selected String Quartets

                The 22 Haydn string quartets that preceded Opus 20 (the "Sun" Quartets) from 1762  

        through 1771 display increasing signs of skillfulness.  They are, however, still are very much 

        in the lighter Galant style and have the older form where the two violins are responsible for

        the melodies while the viola and cello provide the background harmonies. 

                Starting with the "Sun" quartets of 1772, Haydn moved away from the Galant style.  In 

        these quartets, each of the four instruments take turns having their own lead and support roles 

        and this has marked string quartets ever since.  It led the German writer Johann Wolfgang 

        von Goethe to say that the  string quartet was "four rational voices having a conversation."  

The Start of Haydn's many enhancements to the string quartet:

From the Sun Quartets, Opus 20  (1772):


       Quartet No. 25 in C major, Op. 20, No. 2

            Mvmt 2.  Adagio  (6:55)

                   Cello melody, dramatic use of hesitations and silences

            Mvmt 4.   Fuga a 4 Soggetti   (3:00)

                    Polyphonic; Haydn brings back the fugue. 


From the Russian Quartets, Opus 33  (1781):

            Mozart was inspired by these quartets and dedicated his six Op. 10 "Haydn Quartets" (1785) 

            to Haydn.

     Quartet No. 30 in E♭ major ("The Joke"), Op. 33, No. 2

             Mvmt 2.  Scherzo:  Allegro  (3:28)

                    Haydn created the scherzo (lit. "joke") to use in place of the stately, dignified minuet.
                    Like the minuet, scherzos are usually in 3, but are more playful and witty than minuets.  

                    This scherzo has two parts; first there is a German peasant dance with hopping and
                    stamping, then the fiddler gets drunk and slurs his notes (bends them).


             Mvmt 4.  Presto  (3:10)

                    The finale is another Haydn invention, a rondo.  

                    The "joke" is the false ending at the end of the movement.  Haydn often playfully 

                     used false endings.

      Quartet No. 32 in C major ("The Bird"), Op. 33, No. 3,

             Mvmt 1.  Presto  (6:39)  


From the Prussian Quartets, Opus 50  (1787):


      Quartet No. 39 in F♯ minor, Op. 50, No. 4

             Mvmt 4 - Fugue (3:00)


From the Erdődy Quartets, Opus.76   (1796 or 97)


        Quartet No. 63 in B♭ major, "Sunrise", Op. 76, No. 4 

                Allegro con spirito  (8:20)      First movement analysis

                Adagio

                Menuetto.  Allegro

                Finale.  Allegro, ma non troppo