String Quartets, Op. 33

Composer: HAYDN, Joseph
  • Haydn’s Opus 33 consists of six string quartets written in 1781, nicknamed the “Russian Quartets” due to their dedicatee, Russian Grand Duke Paul (son of Catherine the Great).
    1. String Quartet in b minor
    2. String Quartet in E-flat Major (“The Joke”)
    3. String Quartet in C Major (“The Bird”)
    4. String Quartet in B-flat Major
    5. String Quartet in G Major (“How Do You Do?”)
    6. String Quartet in D Major1
  • While Haydn had written several string quartets before Opus 33 (he was even given the nickname “Father of the String Quartet”), this set of six quartets represents the first instance of Haydn using the genre name “string quartet” rather than “divertimento.” Opus 33 is also the first set of string quartets representing the composer in his mature, balanced, and quintessentially “classical” style.
  • Opus 33 premiered on Christmas Day, 1781, at the Vienna apartment of the wife of Grand Duke Paul, Grand Duchess Maria Feodorovna.2

Sources

  1. Joseph Haydn, String Quartets, Op. 33 (Vienna: Artaria & Comp., 1782).
  2. “String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 33, No. 2, ‘The Joke,'” LA Phil, accessed November 9, 2022, https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/5212/string-quartet-in-e-flat-op-33-no-2-the-joke.

Cut IDs

42465 12018