Kodaly 4 - Haydn: String Quartets, Op. 54, Nos. 1-3 [CD]

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Joseph Haydn (1732 -1809) String Quartets Op. 54, Nos. 1 - 3 Joseph Haydn was born in the village ofRohrau in 1732, the son of a wheelwright. Trained at the choir-school of St.Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna, he spent some years earning a living as best hecould from teaching and playing the violin or keyboard, and was able to learnfrom the old musician Porpora, whose assistant he became. Haydn's firstappointment was in 1759 as Kapellmeister to a Bohemian nobleman, Count vonMorzin. This was followed in 1761 by employment as Vice-Kapellmeister to one ofthe richest men in the Empire, Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy, succeeded after hisdeath in 1762 by Prince Nikolaus. On the death in 1766 of the elderly andsomewhat obstructive Kapellmeister, Gregor Werner, Haydn succeeded to hisposition, to remain in the same employment for the rest of his life.On the completion of the magnificentpalace at Esterhazy, in the Hungarian plains, under Prince Nikolaus, Haydnassumed command of an increased musical establishment. Here he hadresponsibility for the musical activities of the palace, which included theprovision and direction of instrumental music, opera and theatre music, andmusic for the church. For his patron he provided a quantity of chamber music ofall kinds, particularly for the Prince's own peculiar instrument, the baryton.On the death of Prince Nikolaus in 1790,Haydn was able to accept an invitation to visit London, where he provided musicfor the concert season organized by the violinist-impresario Salomon. A secondsuccessful visit to London in 1794 and 1795 was followed by a return to dutywith the Esterhazy family, the new head of which had settled principally at thefamily property in Eisenstadt, where Haydn had started his career. Much of theyear, however, was to be spent in Vienna, where Haydn passed his final years,dying in 1809, as the French armies of Napoleon approached the city yet again. Haydn lived during the period of the 18thcentury that saw the development of instrumental music from the age of Bach andHandel to the era of the classical sonata, with its tripartite form, the basisof much instrumental composition. The string quartet itself, which came torepresent classical music in its purest form, grew from a genre that was relativelyinsignificant, at least in its nomenclature, the Divertimento, into music ofgreater weight, substance and complexity, although Haydn, like any greatmaster, knew well how to conceal the technical means by which he achieved hisends. The exact number of string quartets that Haydn wrote is not known,although he listed some 83. The earlier of these, often under the titleDivertimento, proclaim their origin and purpose.The string quartets of Opus 54open the first set of half a dozen quartets dedicated to the violinist JohannTost, a man who led the second violins in Haydn's orchestra at Esterhaza from1783 until his departure for Paris in 1788, although he is mentioned as MusicDirector for the Seipp theatre company in Pressburg

Str Qt in C, Op.54 No.2, Hob.III: 57: Vivace

Str Qt in C, Op.54 No.2, Hob.III: 57: Adagio

Str Qt in C, Op.54 No.2, Hob.III: 57: Menuetto: Allegretto

Str Qt in C, Op.54 No.2, Hob.III: 57: Finale: Adagio - Presto-Adagio

Str Qt in G, Op.54 No.1, Hob.III: 58: Allegro Con Brio

Str Qt in G, Op.54 No.1Str Qt in G, Op.54 No.1, Hob.III: 58: Allegretto

Str Qt in G, Op.54 No.1Str Qt in G, Op.54 No.1, Hob.III: 58: Menuetto: Allegretto

Str Qt in G, Op.54 No.1Str Qt in G, Op.54 No.1, Hob.III: 58: Finale: Presto

Str Qt in E, Op.54, No.3, Hob.III: 59: Allegro

Str Qt in E, Op.54, No.3, Hob.III: 59: Largo Cantabile

Str Qt in E, Op.54, No.3, Hob.III: 59: Menuetto: Allegretto

Str Qt in E, Op.54, No.3, Hob.III: 59: Finale: Presto