Joseph Haydn

Quartett in D-dur

This "Quartet Op.2 (Hob.III:8) in D major con laute" in 5 movements is added to the two Cassations in C major (Hob.III.6) and in B flat major (Hob.III.1) and to the "Sonata in F major (Hob.IV.F2)" by Joseph Haydn. This precious corpus of works for the king of baroque plucked strings, some of which are the primitive version of later works by the composer (such as for example his string quartet op.1 no.6), probably dates from his meeting with the lutenist Joachim Bernhard Hagen in 1755 and was published by Breitkopf in 1770. It is more than likely that these gallant works, perfectly adapted to the technical and musical possibilities of the mandolin, could have been performed by mandolinists of the late 18th century, which constituted the golden age of the small "Italian" lute, especially in Vienna where we find the original works for mandolin by Mozart, Kozeluch, Hummel, Hoffmann, Giuliani... We are therefore dealing more with an extension of the original repertoire than with a true transcription; the border between the soprano lute and the lute being very blurred, even non-existent in the case of Antonio Vivaldi a few years earlier.