Franz Joseph Haydn: Streichquartette Op.71/74: String Quartet: Study Score

Joseph Haydn's String Quartets Op.20 were composed in 1772 according to the date of the autographs. They are the last group in the series of string quartets with the opus numbers 9 17 20 composed a long time after the earlystring quartets in the years around 1770. Following these compositions several years were to pass before once again before Haydn wrote his next string quartets for a long while following completion of Op.20 does not necessarilyimply that he was having a 'crisis'; it might have had to do with the increasing load on Haydn occasioned by the regular performances at the Eszterhaza opera house leaving him with little time for other activities.

These are the last of the nearly seventy quartets in Haydn?s oeuvre. Originally he intended to write a set of six quartets as so often in the past but at the time they were written in 1803 Haydn?s healthwas so poor that he could not fully satisfy the commission from Prince Lobkowitz. Instead he published only two complete quartets as Op. 77. Later he allowed an incomplete work consisting of two middle movementsto appear as op. 103 adding to the print the portentous words: ?Gone is all my strength old and weak am I.? Musically however these quartets are anything but weak: they represent the aged composer virtually at the zenith ofhis powers. Haydn even went so far as to call Op. 77 no. 2 his ?most beautiful String quartet?.

String Quartets Book IX op. 71 and 74-Haydn dedicated the series of Quartets op. 71 and 74 to the Hungarian Count Apponyi a Viennese patron of music and a freemason friend. Haydn composed them when he was enjoying a great deal ofsuccess with his 'London Symphonies' in England. With their weighty slow introductions and dense movements focusing on sound they also have symphonic characteristics. In particular the Quartet in g minor op. 74 3 isstriking on account of its expressiveness and originality. Due to the rhythmic drive of the outer movements it was give the epithet 'Rider Quartet'. The study edition complements the parts of the 'ApponyiQuartets' which are already available in Henle Urtext.