Deux quatuors pour Deux Violons, Alto, et Basse composes et dedies a Son Altesse Monseigneur le Prince Regnant de Lobkowitz...Oeuvre 77.

Leipsic: Breitkopf & Härtel. [1802]. First German edition. Engraved parts for Violino Secondo, Viola and Violoncello [lacking first violin part]. [PN] 83. Contemporary papered pink "carta rustica," each with handwritten contemporary title ink on an affixed slip of paper. Disbound, separations along spine and from wrappers, wrappers with some tears or other markings in ink, internally somewhat browned but generally clean throughout. Hob. 111/81-82; RISM A/I H 3583.



1799 witnessed a great turning point in the history of the string quartet. With Mozart gone, both an elderly Haydn and a young Beethoven were simultaneously working on a new set of string quartets: Haydn’s last and Beethoven’s first. On this noteworthy “passing of the baton”, the composers shared a common patron, the young Prince Lobkowitz who had commissioned both composers around the same time. Beethoven’s Op. 18 was published at the end of 1801, Haydn’s Op. 77 in early 1802. It is no surprise that Haydn’s last quartets are often called “Beethovenian” just as Beethoven’s first quartets may be called “Haydnesque.” Together, they comprise a great high water mark of the mature Viennese style before Beethoven’s middle period expansion. And just as Beethoven’s quartets are “early”, hewing close to Haydn as a model, Haydn’s final quartets represent his own most modern, consolidated and polished efforts in the form with many forward looking aspects. (8622)

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