Repertoire
Franz Joseph Haydn:
String Quartet in E flat major “The joke”, Op. 33 No. 2 (1781) 18’
String Quartet in G major, Op. 33 No. 5 (1781) 19’
Artists
Cuarteto Casals
Vera Martínez Mehner, violin
Abel Tomàs Realp, violin
Jonathan Brown, viola
Arnau Tomàs Realp, cello
Program
Joseph Haydn is considered the father of the string quartet. Thanks to him, the quartet went from being an instrumental ensemble for which music was written to constituting a genre in itself, with its own personality.
DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAMME HERETen years after his intense op. 20 works, the op. 33 quartets reveal the full extent of Haydn’s ingenuity, humour, and technical skills. They are usually referred to as the “Russian Quartets” since they were dedicated to the Grand Duke Paul of Russia and were first performed at the Viennese home of Grand Duchess Maria. In the second quartet, Haydn teases the listener with false endings, unexpected repetitions and lengthy pauses that have earned this work its nickname “The Joke”. In the fifth of the series – although it was probably the first quartet he composed – he uses a four-note motif in a distinctly theatrical way, a musical greeting that explains the quartet’s nickname “How Do You Do?”.
