Haydn: String Quartets Op. 50, Nos. 4 - 6, 'prussian'

Kodaly 4Tet

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Cat No: 8553984

Release Date: 12 January 1999

Label: Naxos - Nxc / Naxos Classics

Packaging Type: Jewel Case

No of Units: 1

Barcode: 730099498425

Genres: Classical

Composer/Series: HAYDN

Description
Joseph Haydn(1732-1809)String Quartet in Fsharp minor, Op. 50, No. 4, Hob. III: 47 String Quartet in Fmajor, Op. 50, No. 5, Hob. III: 48 String Quartet in Dmajor, Op. 50, No. 6, Hob. III: 49Joseph Haydn was born in the village of Rohrau in 1732, the son of awheelwright. Trained at the choir-school of St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna,he subsequently spent some years earning a living as best he could fromteaching and playing the violin or keyboard, and was able to profit fromassociation with the old composer Porpora, whose assistant he became. Haydn'sfirst appointment was in 1759 as Kapellmeister to a Bohemian nobleman, Countvon Morzin, whose kinsman had once served as patron to Vivaldi. This wasfollowed in 1761 by employment as Vice-Kapellmeister to one of the richest menin the Empire, Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy, succeeded after his death in 1762by Prince Nikolaus. On the death in 1766 of the elderly and somewhatobstructive Kapellmeister Gregor Werner, who had found much to complain about inthe professionalism of his young and resented deputy, Haydn succeeded to hisposition, to remain in the same employment, nominally at least, for the rest ofhis life.On the completion of the magnificent palace at Esterhaza in theHungarian plains under Prince Nikolaus, Haydn assumed command of an increasedmusical establishment. Here he had responsibility for the musical activities ofthe palace, which included the provision and direction of instrumental music,opera and music for the theatre, as well as music for the church. For hispatron he provided a quantity of chamber music of all kinds, particularly forthe Prince's own peculiar instrument, the baryton, a bowed string instrumentwith sympathetic strings that could also be plucked and one that the Englishscholar Dr Burney thought to have its only proper use on a desert island, wherea castaway might accompany himself.Prince Nikolaus died in 1790 and Haydn found himself able to accept aninvitation to visit London. There he provided music for concert seasonsorganized by the violinist-impresario Salomon. A second successful visit toLondon 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 with them. Much of the year,however, was to be spent in Vienna, where Haydn passed his final years, dyingin 1809, as the French armies of Napoleon approached the city yet again.Haydn lived during the period of the eighteenth century that saw thedevelopment of instrumental music from the age of Bach and Handel to the era ofthe classical sonata, with its tripartite first-movement form and complementarythree or four movements, the basis now of much instrumental composition. Thestring quartet itself, which came to represent classical music in its purestform, grew from a genre that was relatively insignificant, at least in name,the Divertimento, into music of greater weight, complexity andsubstan
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