This is Haydn's final full string quartet. He initially intended his Opus 77 to include the usual six quartets, but the two years he labored on his oratorio The Creation left him no time to complete this commission from Prince Lobkowitz. The later, so-called Opus 103 quartet is merely a two-movement torso.

The quartet at hand, not surprisingly at this point, is full of surprises. Haydn begins with a disarmingly simple, graceful tune carried by the first violin with minimal accompaniment. This is the first subject, and the second, too-Haydn keeps elaborating on it, initially with a mere saturation of notes in the melody line, but before long with richer inner voices as well. The development brings shifting harmonic tension to the theme, completing the metamorphosis of its initially sweet nature-a character that returns, of course, in the straightforward recapitulation.

The quartet's inner movements reverse their usual order. Here the Minuet comes second. It begins with four bars of rough, irregular peasant dancing, providing all the material for the movement's outer sections. In the middle is a lyrical trio that at a slightly slower tempo and with less involved curlicues at the ends of phrases could be a fine lullaby. Unusually for Haydn, this section never comes to a full stop; it wanders into fragments of the Minuet theme, which open up into an abbreviated restatement of the opening section.

The long Andante is not the soothing slow movement we've come to expect by now, but an only slightly low-key piece built from a faintly martial melody. Haydn proceeds to put this theme through its paces, sending it to a genteel boot camp of development, embellishment, counterpoint, and even a few harrowing modulations. Despite all this, the theme itself remains intact throughout and never suffers any significant alteration; all the development takes place in the voices surrounding it.

A polonaise seems to have inspired the finale, Vivace assai, although that rhythm is hard to identify if you're not on the alert. This is another monothematic movement in sonata form, although Haydn's technique of development alternating with repeats of the subject in its original form could also count as a monothematic rondo. The composer manipulates the vigorous theme according to the standards he established in the Andante, keeping the melody clearly audible at all times while thickening its surroundings with counterpoint, imitation, and syncopation. The brief coda takes its leave without much ado, two utilitarian bars of moderate loudness capping a passage that had been growing softer by the phrase. Haydn had no idea this would be his last finished quartet, and had no reason to provide a valedictory ending.



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