In the series ‘Genius Music Friends’ Thijs Bonger looks for musical pieces in which we can hear that Haydn and Mozart deeply influenced each other. According to Mozart it was Haydn who had really taught him how to write quartets. In part IX of our series you will hear a selection from a new series of string quartets written by Haydn after his jaw-dropping experience of listening to Mozart’s efforts in this area. After that introduction Haydn made some adjustments to his ideas about string quartets. We will play a selection of his op. 50, passionately performed by the Tokyo String Quartet on Amati instruments dating from approximately 1650 (see photograph).
- Joseph Haydn: String quartet in B-flat, op. 50 no. 1, Tokyo String Quartet
- Joseph Haydn: String quartet in C, op. 50 no. 2, Tokyo String Quartet
- Joseph Haydn: String quartet in E-flat, op. 50 no. 3 part 1, Tokyo String Quartet
