Wonderful music!

According to the Wiki article about Haydn’s String Quartets, Op. 77 Nos 1 and 2 are nicknamed the “Lobkowitz” quartets, and they were composed/performed in 1799. Haydn was 67.

According to Wikipedia, Lobkowitz refers to the House of Lobkowitz:

The Lobkowicz family (Lobkovicové in modern Czech, sg. z Lobkovic; Lobkowitz in German) dates back to the 14th century and is one of the oldest Bohemian noble families. The first Lobkowiczs were mentioned as members of the gentry of north-eastern Bohemia.

I found Op. 77 No. 1 to be vigorous, meaty, and confident. It had a German sound, to me. Like it was crafted to represent a powerful Bohemian noble family, which – if Wiki is to be believed – it was.

Movement IV (“Finale: Presto”), is particularly triumphant.

Op. 77 No. 2 in F, on the other hand is more serene, less vigorous. Some of the movements in Op. 77 No. 2 are downright slow…

But they have a kick to them. At around the 3:43 mark of Movement II (“Menuet: Presto”), the tempo slows, the instruments kind of drift off to silence…and then – BAM! Everything kicks in at a brisk pace. It’s like Haydn wanted to see if he could shock his audience by first soothing them and then kicking them in the pants. It’s a wonderful surprise to find this kind of change in the middle of something that sounds so pastoral.

Op. 77 No. 2 in F ends with a bang. Movement IV (“Finale: Vivace assai”) harkens back to the fourth movement of Op 77. No. 1 and the stirring finale that brought that composition to a close.

Also on today’s CD is Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 103 in D Minor, composed/performed in 1803. Haydn was 71. This composition is listed as “incomplete,” however. So, for whatever reason (either Haydn stopped working on this one, or the manuscripts have been lost), this is just a partial, two movements.

According to the web site Brentano Quartet, here’s some of the story behind this incomplete string quartet:

The d minor Quartet, opus 103, is a fragment, the final chapter in Joseph Haydn’s monumental string quartet oeuvre. It consists of two movements; it is unclear whether they were intended as the inner movements of a four- movement work, or as the first and second movements. Haydn composed this music around the same time as the two opus 77 quartets, which were meant to be part of a six-quartet set; presumably, then, this work would have been a third quartet in that set. In failing health, the composer subsequently allowed the fragment to be published by itself, as opus 103. He added the following words to the score, a quote from his own chorale Der Greis: “Gone is all my strength, old and weak am I.”

I encourage you to visit that site to read the rest of the story behind Op. 103.

As I have in previous posts, I can’t forget to introduce the members of the Buchberger Quartet (their site is in German):

Hubert Buchberger violin
Julia Greve violin
Joachim Etzel viola
Helmut Sohler cello

The other players in the quartet do not have their own web sites, apparently. So, no link to them. Sorry.

Here’s what I listened to today:

Haydn String Quartet Op. 77 No. 1 in G

Haydn String Quartet Op. 77 No. 2 in F

Haydn String Quartet Op. 103 in D Minor (unfinished)