- Allegro di molto
- Un poco Adagio affettuoso (Theme with variations)
- Menuetto: Allegretto all zingarese
- Finale. Presto scherzando
Of humble origins, Franz Joseph Haydn was born in the village of Rohrau, near Vienna, on March 31, 1732. When eight years old he was accepted into the choir school of Saint Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, where he received his only formal education. Dismissed from the choir at the age of seventeen, when his voice broke, he spent the next several years as a struggling freelance musician. He studied on his own the standard textbooks on counterpoint and took occasional lessons from the noted Italian singing master and composer Nicola Porpora. In 1755 Haydn was engaged briefly by Baron Karl Josef von Fürnberg, for whom he apparently composed his first string quartets. Haydn's marriage in 1760 to Maria Anna Keller proved to be unhappy.
The turning point in Haydn's fortunes came in 1761, when he was appointed assistant music director to Prince Pál Antal Esterházy; a year later he became full director. As Kapellmeister, Haydn served under the patronage of three successive princes of the Esterházy family. The second of these, Pál Antal's brother, Prince Miklós József Esterházy, was an ardent, cultivated music lover. At Esterháza, his vast summer estate, Prince Miklós could boast a musical establishment second to none, the management of which made immense demands on its director. Beyond the symphonies, operas, marionette operettas, masses, chamber pieces, and dance music that Haydn was expected to compose for the prince's entertainment, he was required to rehearse and conduct performances of his own and others' works; coach singers; maintain the instrument collection and music library; perform as organist, violist, and violinist when needed; and settle disputes among the musicians in his charge. Although he frequently regretted the burdens of his job and the isolation of Esterháza, Haydn's position was enviable by 18th-century standards. One remarkable aspect of his contract after 1779 was the freedom to sell his music to publishers and to accept commissions. As a result, much of Haydn's work in the 1780s reached beyond the guests at Esterháza to a far wider audience, and his fame spread accordingly.
After the death of Prince Miklós in 1790 his son, Prince Antal, greatly reduced the Esterházy musical establishment. Although Haydn retained his title of Kapellmeister, he was at last free to travel beyond the environs of Vienna. The enterprising British violinist and impresario Johann Peter Salomon lost no time in engaging the composer for his concert series in London. Haydn's two trips to England for these concerts, in 1791-92 and 1794-95, were the occasion of the huge success of his last symphonies. Known as the "Salomon" or "London" symphonies, they include several of his most popular works. In his late years in Vienna, Haydn turned to writing masses and composed his great oratorios. From this period also comes his Kaiser Quartet (1797); its Adagio later became the Austrian national anthem. He died in Vienna, on 31 May 1809, a famous and wealthy man.
Haydn was prolific in nearly all genres, vocal and instrumental, sacred and secular. Many of his works were unknown beyond the walls of Esterháza, most notably the 125 trios and other assorted pieces featuring the baryton, a hybrid string instrument played by Prince Miklós. Most of Haydn's nineteen operas and marionette operettas were written to accommodate the talents of the Esterháza company plus the tastes of his prince. Haydn freely admitted the superiority of the operas of his young friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In other categories, however, his works circulated widely, and his influence was profound. Haydn's productivity is matched by his inexhaustible originality. More than one hundred symphonies and almost eighty string quartets that span his career document a growth from the easy elegance suitable for the home music making to the public virtuosity of his late works. His contemporaries admired his innovative manner of turning a simple tune or motive into unexpectedly complex developments. Dramatic surprise, often turned to humorous effect, is characteristic of his style, as is a fondness for folklike melodies.
Haydn's three sets of string quartets (opp 9, 17, and 20) were written over three years starting in 1769 and follow a gap in quartet writing of nearly ten years. The Quartet in D that we hear this afternoon is the fourth from the opus 20 set of six quartets, known as the "Sun" quartets and was composed in 1772 in Esterháza.
- Angelo Frascarelli (Violin)
- Lilajane Frascarelli (Violin)
- William Shapiro (Viola)
- Ingrid Porter (Violoncello)
credit: Program notes for the Willow Pond String Quartet 1996 concert, posted here