Pieces › Joseph Haydn

String Quartet in C major, Hob. III:77, Op. 76 No. 3 “Emperor”

4 movements

Joseph Haydn · 1797 · C major · 531 bars · 498 chords analysed

The slow movement is a set of variations on “Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser”, the hymn Haydn wrote for the Austrian emperor — later the German national anthem.

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: C major, G major, G minor, E minor, E major, A minor, A major.