Pieces › Joseph Haydn

String Quartet in B-flat major (“La Chasse”), Hob. III:1, Op. 1 No. 1

5 movements

Joseph Haydn · c. 1762 · B♭ major · 282 bars · 149 chords analysed

Haydn's earliest quartets, written for Baron Fürnberg's house concerts; they are really five-movement divertimentos.

Haydn wrote nearly 70 string quartets and more or less invented the form: four equal voices in conversation. From the early divertimento-like Op. 1 and Op. 2 to the Op. 76 set of 1797, you can hear the genre grow up.

Keys visited: B♭ major, F major, E♭ major.