Haydn Quartet op 76 no 1
Beethoven Harp quartet
Schubert Quartettsatz

The Rawlinson Quartet
Charlotte Howdle
Liz Merrifield
Julius Kiln
Emma Chamberlain

The six String Quartets, Op. 76, by Joseph Haydn were composed in 1797 or 1798 and dedicated to the Hungarian count Joseph Georg von Erdődy. They form the last complete set of string quartets that Haydn composed. At the time of the commission, Haydn was employed at the court of Prince Nicolaus Esterházy II and was composing the oratorio The Creation as well as Princess Maria Hermenegild Esterházy’s annual mass.

Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 10 in E♭ major, Op. 74, was written in 1809 and is nicknamed the “Harp” quartet. The nickname “Harp” refers to the characteristic pizzicato sections in the allegro of the first movement, where pairs of members of the quartet alternate notes in an arpeggio, reminiscent of the plucking of a harp. Like many nicknames for Beethoven’s works, this was created by the publisher.

The Quartettsatz c-Moll (Quartet Movement in C minor) D 703 was composed by Franz Schubert in December 1820 as the first movement, Allegro assai, of a string quartet he was never to complete. Upon publication it was nonetheless listed as his “String Quartet No. 12”. (Schubert did also compose the first 40 bars of the next movement, Andante.) The nine-minute work is regarded as an early product of the composer’s mature phase of output.