In one of his letters, Haydn refers to a commission from Spain for a set of short quartets, each to be in three movements. We know nothing more of the commission, nor do we know why Haydn never completed it, but it has long been assumed that the String Quartet in D minor, Op. 42, was composed for Spain, despite the fact that it is in four, rather than three, movements. The quartet was printed alone by Artaria in 1786.

It is tempting to equate the relative brevity of this work with simplicity, but the austere D minor quartet is anything but simple. Haydn increases the apparent size of the work by employing the old-fashioned "church sonata" style, opening with a profound slow movement. Haydn "modernizes" the work, however, by departing from the practice of writing each movement in the tonic key. Its unusual features prompted Haydn biographer Karl Geiringer to describe the quartet as "a foreign body in the firm suite of quartets up to now."

Opening with a slow movement, marked Andante ed innocentemente, the D minor quartet instantly establishes an air of ominous depth. The Allegretto Minuet and Trio, in D major, provides some relief from this bare-bones intensity, but it is over so quickly its effect is minimal. Remarkable is the extremely high register in which Haydn asks the first violinist to play several times in this movement. Some have suggested that the composer thought Spanish violinists were generally capable of playing comfortably in this register; others have pointed out that during this period Haydn tended to write high parts for the first violins in his chamber works.

The third movement, an Adagio cantabile, has confused commentators since it was published. A seductive melody begins in the first violin and continues for a much longer time than one would expect; it does not become the basis of variations, does not go through development and does not lead to a contrasting second theme. It broadens across the span of the entire movement, rounding itself out at the conclusion. Its purpose seems to be to provide lyric contrast in a work of intense dramatic action. Haydn infuses the Finale with an incredible intensity by employing the short theme in fugato passages, similar to what we hear in the Finale of his Symphony No. 77, of 1782.

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