Pieces › Joseph Haydn

String Quartet in B-flat major, Hob. III:78, Op. 76 No. 4 “Sunrise”

4 movements

Joseph Haydn · 1797 · B♭ major · 550 bars · 465 chords analysed

The first violin rises slowly over a sustained chord at the opening, like the sun coming up.

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, G minor, F major, F minor, D minor, C minor, B♭ minor, E♭ major, E♭ minor.