Haydn: String Quartets Op. 64, Nos. 4 - 6

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Cat No: 8550674

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 4891030506749

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: HAYDN

Description
Joseph Haydn (1732 - 1809)String Quartet in G major, Op. 64,No.4, Hob. III: 66 String Quartet in D major, Op. 64,No.5, Hob. III: 63 "The lark" String Quartet in E flat major, Op.64, No.6, Hob. III: 64 Joseph Haydn was born in the villageof Rohrau in 1732, the son of a wheelwright. Trained at the choir-school of St. Stephen'sCathedral in Vienna, he spent some years earning a living as best he could from teachingand playing the violin or keyboard, and was able to learn from the old musician Porpora,whose assistant he became. Haydn's first appointment was in 1759 as Kapellmeister to aBohemian nobleman, Count von Morzin. This was followed in 1761 by employment asVice-Kapellmeister to one of the richest men in the Empire, Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy,succeeded on his death in 1762 by his brother Prince Nikolaus. On the death in 1766 of theelderly and somewhat obstructive Kapellmeister, Gregor Werner, Haydn succeeded to hisposition, to remain in the same employment, nominally at least, for the rest of his life.On the completion of the magnificentpalace at Esterhaza, in the Hungarian plains under the new Prince, Haydn assumed commandof an increased musical establishment. Here he had responsibility for the musicalactivities of the palace, which included the provision and direction of instrumentalmusic, opera and theatre music, and music for the church. For his patron he provided aquantity of chamber music of all kinds, particularly for the Prince's own peculiarinstrument, the baryton, a bowed string instrument with sympathetic strings that couldalso be plucked.On the death of Prince Nikolaus in1790, Haydn was able to accept an invitation to visit London, where he provided music forthe concert season organized by the violinist-impresario Salomon. A second successfulvisit to London in 1794 and 1795 was followed by a return to duty with the Esterhazyfamily, the new head of which had settled principally at the family property inEisenstadt, where Haydn had started his career. Much of the year, however, was to be spentin Vienna, where Haydn passed his final years, dying in 1809, as the French armies ofNapoleon approached the city yet again.Haydn lived during the period of the18th century 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 basis of muchinstrumental composition. The string quartet itself, which came to represent classicalmusic in its purest form, grew from a genre that was relatively insignificant, at least inits nomenclature, the Divertimento, into music of greater weight, substance andcomplexity, although Haydn, like any great master, knew well how to conceal the technicalmeans by which he achieved his ends. The exact number of string quartets that Haydn wroteis not known, although he listed some 83. The earlier of these, often under the title Divertimento, proclaim their origin and purpose. Thelast quartet, Opus 103, started in 1803, remained unfinished
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