“Stubborn Student” focuses today on the string quartet, the genre that Beethoven made his own by studying Haydn’s quartets intensively. The program explores the connections between Haydn and Beethoven in this genre.
Haydn’s “String Quartet op. 76/3” is called “Kaiserquartett” because its beautiful variation section is based on a folk song composed by Haydn: “Gott, erhalte Franz den Kaiser”. Haydn died in 1809 when Vienna was under siege by the French. As a tribute to him, Beethoven started composing a string quartet, whose opening movement is so full of pizzicato that the piece has been nicknamed “Harfenquartett”.
Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in C major, Op. 76/3 ‘Emperor Quartet’
Carmina Quartet.
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 74 ‘Harp Quartet’
Tokyo Quartet.
