String Quartet in E major, Op.54, No.3 (Hob.III.59)

It is clear from the 12 quartets Haydn wrote for his friend Johann Tost that it was not so much the violinist’s technical accomplishment he admired, considerable though it was, as his wit and imagination. Extravagantly scored slow movements    like the Adagio of Op.54 No.2, the Largo cantabile of Op.54 No.3 and the Andante of Op.64 No.6 are unmistakably sincere tributes to his musicianship. At the same time Haydn made sure as he scored these works

that the outstanding virtuosity of one instrumentalist should not compromise the integrity of the string quartet texture.

The first movement of Op.54, No.3, is essentially a conversation. It is dominated by the first violin, it is true, but it is a genuine exchange of ideas even so. The idea offered by second violin and viola in the first bar modestly rises on four adjacent notes and falls again. The first violin’s idea is bolder, falling and rising through wider intervals and over a longer span, and is so persuasive that the other two instruments immediately adopt it -– but only to hear the first violin take off at a tangent in a bravura passage of quaver triplets. The brief second subject presents a similar situation, with more bravura triplets. Throughout the development, while the second violin and viola discuss both ideas, the first violin avoids all mention of theirs. It is only towards the end of the movement, after the cello has sided with the first violin in the recapitulation, that the latter instrument consents to acknowledge the more modest proposal.

The first violin’s decorative treatment of the graceful A major main theme of the Largo cantabile proliferates in details as the movement proceeds. Its activity here, however, is restrained in comparison with its enterprise in the A minor middle section where, taking up a phrase introduced by the cello in the previous bar, it twice doubles the speed of the figuration and, while its colleagues tread the same even ostinato, it emphatically contradicts them by syncopating the rhythms.

If ever there was an occasion for a steady minuet and trio this is it, as Haydn duly confirms in a not too adventurous E major Allegretto. The Presto Finale, on the other hand, is far from steady and is not so much conversational as dynamic. It is a joint celebration of the vigorous little theme introduced by second violin in the opening bars, the four instruments pooling their resources to develop its potential in all directions. The same theme is unapologetically presented as the second subject and    there is scarcely one phrase in the whole movement not derived from that theme in one way or another.       

Whatever Haydn thought of Johann Tost as a businessman, he had great admiration for him as a violinist. It was not so much his technical accomplishment that Haydn admired - he could be even a little satirical about Tost’s rare facility in the hightest register of the instrument - as his wit and his imagination. That much is clear from the extravagantly scored slow movements he wrote for him, like the Adagio of Op.54, No.2, the Largo cantabile of Op.54, No.3, and the Andante of Op.64, No.6. Although the six Quartets of Op.54 and Op.55 are not actually inscribed to Tost, incidentally, it is evident from the distinctive nature of the first violin parts and the parallels between them and those of the Op.64 set, which is specifically dedicated “to wholesaler Tost,” that they were written with him firmly in mind.

It was no less firmly in Haydn’s mind as he scored these works in 1787 or 1788 that the outstanding virtuosity of one instrumentalist should not compromise the integrity of the string quartet texture. The first movement of Op.54, No.3, is essentially a conversation. It is dominated by the first violin, it is true, but it is a genuine exchange of ideas even so. The idea offered by second violin and viola in the first bar modestly rises on four adjacent notes and falls again. The first violin’s idea is bolder, falling and rising through wider intervals and over a longer span, and is so persuasive that the other two instruments immediately adopt it - but only to hear the first violin take off at a tangent in a bravura passage of quaver triplets. The brief second subject presents a similar situation, with more bravura triplets. Throughout the development, while the second violin and viola discuss both ideas, the first violin avoids all mention of theirs. It is only towards the end of the movement, after the cello has sided with the first violin in the recapitulation, that the latter instrument consents to acknowledge the more modest proposal.

The first violin’s decorative treatment of the graceful A major main theme of the Largo cantabile proliferates in details as the movement proceeds. Its activity here, however, is restrained in comparison with its enterprise in the A minor middle section where, taking up a phrase introduced by the cello in the previous bar, it twice doubles the speed of the figuration and, while its colleagues tread the same even ostinato, it emphatically contradicts them by syncopating the rhythms. Even then, as the still more elaborated reprise of the first section confirms, its decorative resources are far from exhausted.

If ever there was an occasion for a steady Menuetto and Trio this, as Haydn duly confirms in a not too adventurous E major Allegretto, is it. The Presto Finale, on the other hand, is far from steady and is not so much conversational as dynamic. It is a joint celebration of the vigorous little theme introduced by second violin in the opening bars, the four instruments pooling their resources to develop its potential in all directions. The same theme is unapologetically presented as the second subject and, although the first violin immediately goes off at another bravura tangent - this time rising high up the E-string with the second violin in parallel flight an octave below - there is scarcely one phrase in the whole movement not derived from that theme in one way or another. As if by chance, every apparently spontaneous event, every modulation, contrapuntal inspiration, and dramatic pause falls into place as part of the underlying sonata-form logic.