Repertoire
Franz Joseph Haydn:
String Quartet in D minor “Fifths”, Op. 76 No. 2 (1797-98) 20’
String Quartet in G, Op. 54 No. 1 (1788) 21’
Artists
Modigliani Quartet
Amaury Coeytaux, violin
Loïc Rio, violin
Laurent Marfaing, viola
François Kieffer, cello
Program
The great German poet Goethe once wrote that string quartets seemed to him the paradigm of good conversation. With their expressive and profound dialogues full of wit and humour, the works of Haydn, who was a contemporary of Goethe, are the epitome of this.
DOWNLOAD THE PROGRAMME HEREHe composed the six op. 76 quartets while working on the oratorio The Creation and on the Esterházy family’s other commissions for musical works. The second quartet in the series begins with the two initial fifths that have earned it its well-known nickname and that appear in a great variety of forms and techniques throughout the first movement.
The op. 54 quartets join the op. 55 quartets to form a block of six works dedicated to the violinist Johann Tost, a musician in the orchestra conducted by Haydn at the Esterházy mansion. The first quartet, written in G, requires the two violinists to perform almost a two-violin concerto, while the fluctuations in harmony are as poetic as they are ingenious.
