String Quartet in D major, Op.33, No.6 (Hob. III:42)

Haydn’s declaration that his Op.33 Quartets were “written in a quite new and special way” has aroused endless speculation as to what he could have meant by it. Some Haydn specialists have dismissed it as sales talk - the composer was looking for subscribers to an expensive “correctly copied” manuscript edition when he made that claim - while others have exercised their ingenuity in detecting technical features that are not apparent in the previous set. In fact, the most obvious difference between the Op.33 Quartets of 1781 and the Op.20 Quartets of 1772 is that the minuets have been replaced by scherzos. True, it amounts to little more than a change of name but it is not insignificant. It was part of a process of modernising the string quartet, of making it less overtly serious, more entertaining, and more popular in melodic style.

There is no better example of what is “new and special” in Op.33 than No.6 in D major. In that it begins with a movement in 6/8 time, like the last work in each of the last four sets of quartet, it is not new. There is nothing very special, entertaining though it is, in the exposition of the two main themes. The development plunges dramatically into alien key areas but it lasts for no more than a few bars before, reassuringly, the main theme reappears in its original D major harmonies. What is new and special is that just when we think we are safely back home we are led through modulations so bewildering that the recapitulation has to start again to settle the situation.

The two middle movements - the Andante with its expressive F major violin arietta between the beautifully scored D minor outer sections, the Scherzo with its cheerful cello solo - could have been written for the Op.20 set. The Finale, which is an early example of Haydn’s double variation form, a theme in the major alternating with one in the minor, could not.