Franz Joseph Haydn: Quartet Op.17, No.5

Appony Quartets-Joseph Haydn composed the string quartets known as Op.71/74 also called the 'Apponyi' Quartets in 1793. The composer dated the autograph scores accordingly although the year that appears on those of the B flat major and D majorquartets shows signs of having been corrected. These two works might already have been finished in 1792. However it is certain that Op.71/74 were composed in Vienna during the period between Haydn's two journeys to England andintended as a series of six quartets.The decision to divide the quartets into two sets of three was taken by the publishers. The three Quartets Op.71 were first published in 1795 by Corri Dussek & Co. then in a slightlyrevised reprint by the Viennese publishing house of Artaria & Co.

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 X op. 76 Nr. 1-6-?Masterly and full of new ideas?: thus the Swedish ambassadorial secretary Silverstolpe when he first heard these pieces in 1797. Haydn?s friend the music historian Charles Burney reported in 1799 that he had ?nevertaken greater pleasure in instrumental music?. Our new edition of these six works including the famous ?Emperor Quartet? follows the text of the complete edition prepared by the Haydn Institute in Cologne. Boththe study edition (HN 9214) and the set of parts (HN 214) have highly informative notes on the source materials and alternative readings. Fold-out pages in the parts allow for optimum page turns.

Russian Quartets-Joseph Haydn's string quartet Op.33 occupy a special place amongst his works for quartet. After not having composed any string quartets for almost ten years this series written in 1781 marked the beginning of a long phase ofcontinuous work on the genre up to the last unfinished Quartet Op.103 in 1803.Moreover they are the first string quartets that we definitely know he wrote with publication in mind. A new contract of service in 1779 not onlypermitted the Kapellmeister at Prince Esterhazy's court to take on external commissions for compositions but also to arrange for the circulation of his works thus generating extra income.