String Quartets, Op. 64

• Haydn composed his set of six Op. 64 string quartets in 1790. The set was published in 1791-2 by English publisher John Bland.
  • Bland had visited Haydn at Eszterháza in November of 1789, and on this occasion, Haydn offered Bland a new string quartet in exchange for a shaving razor. Haydn sent Bland a thank you note for razors in April of 1790, so the writers of Haydn’s Oxford Music article opine that the razor-deal string quartet was one of the quartets in Op. 64, not the Op. 55 no. 2, which has gone down in history with the nickname “Razor Quartet.” (The timing doesn’t match for Op. 55 no. 2, and Bland never published it.)
• Bland’s publication remarks that Haydn’s Op. 64 quartets were performed at 1791 London concerts presented by Haydn’s friend, impresario Johan Peter Salomon. Salomon arranged Haydn’s 1791 London visit.¹

“composed by Giuseppe Haydn, and performed under his direction, at Mr Salomon’s Concert”

from Bland’s published 1791/2 edition of Haydn’s Op. 64 quartets²

• List of quartets in Op. 64:
  • String Quartet in C major, No. 1
  • String Quartet in B minor, No. 2
  • String Quartet in B-flat major, No. 3
  • String Quartet in G major, No. 4
  • String Quartet in D major, No. 5 “The Lark”
  • String Quartet in E-flat major, No. 6
• Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 64, No. 5 picked up its nickname, “The Lark,” from the soaring E-string violin theme in the opening movement.
• Op. 64 was dedicated to Johann Tost, a Hungarian violinist in Haydn’s court orchestra who helped Haydn successfully publish several of his works.³

1. Georg Feder and James Webster, “Haydn, (Franz) Joseph,” Grove Music Online (2001), accessed March 11, 2021, https://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-0000044593.
2. Quoted in Ibid.
3. Herbert Glass, “String Quartet, Op. 64, No. 5, ‘Lark,'” L. A. Phil, accessed January 2, 2025, https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/3747/string-quartet-op-64-no-5-lark.