String Quartet in G major, Op.33, No.5 (Hob. III:41)

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 while others have exercised their ingenuity in detecting technical qualities 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the most obvious difference between the Op.33 Quartets of 1781 and the Op.20 Quartets of 1772 is that the minuets have been replaced by scherzos.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 no less significant than the disappearance of the fugal last movement, which was a regular feature of the Op.20 set. Both those things were part of a process of modernising the string quartet, of making it less overtly serious, more entertaining, and more popular in melodic style.

The most entertaining aspect of the first movement of the Quartet in G major Op.33 No.5 is the Haydn tease, his flirting with our expectations. We do not, for example, expect a piece to begin at the end. But that is what this Vivace assai does when it opens with a four-note phrase exactly the same as that with which it will end. To make the most of the paradox Haydn keeps that phrase in mind, incorporating it in the main theme, featuring it in the development and after, teasingly holding up events with an episode of fragmented rhythms and unpredictable pauses, introducing the recapitulation with it. But it is only at the end, where it is repeated seven times in the last eleven bars, that it takes its natural place.

If Haydn teases anybody in the slow movement it is not the listener but the second violin, viola and cello, whose participation here is restricted to repeating the same accompaniment figures almost throughout. The first violin, on the other hand, acts the prima donna in a shapely and expressive G minor aria including a decorated reprise and a cadenza. Although the Scherzo, with its teasing pauses and syncopations, does nothing to restore string-quartet democracy, the closing Allegretto makes up for it. A series of variations on a siciliano theme, it offers virtuoso opportunities not only to the first violin but to viola and cello too. Mozart was so impressed by the finale that in the equivalent movement of his Quartet in D major K421 he adopted much the same siciliano rhythm, the variation form and even the acceleration at the end.

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 qualities 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 no less significant than the disappearance of the fugal last movement, which was a regular feature of the Op.20 set. Both those things were part of a process of modernising the string quartet, of making it less overtly serious, more entertaining, and more popular in melodic style.

The most entertaining aspect of the first movement of the Quartet in G major Op.33 No.5 is the Haydn tease, his flirting with our expectations. We do not, for example, expect a piece to begin at the end. But that is what this Vivace assai does when it opens with a four-note phrase exactly the same as that with which it will end. To make the most of the paradox Haydn keeps that phrase in mind, incorporating it in the main theme, featuring it in the development and after, teasingly holding up events with an episode of fragmented rhythms and unpredictable pauses, introducing the recapitulation with it. But it is only at the end, where it is repeated seven times in the last eleven bars, that it takes its natural place.

If Haydn teases anybody in the slow movement it is not the listener but the second violin, viola and cello, whose participation here is restricted to repeating the same accompaniment figures almost throughout. The first violin, on the other hand, acts the prima donna in a shapely and expressive G minor aria including a decorated reprise and a cadenza. Mozart, who had more respect for chamber-music equality, was not tempted to imitate it in a string quartet but the melodic line seems to have enchanted him so much as to find its way into the slow movement of both the Piano Concerto in C major K467 and the “Jupiter” Symphony.

Although the Scherzo, with its teasing pauses and syncopations, does nothing to restore string-quartet democracy, the Finale makes up for it. A series of variations on a siciliano theme, it offers virtuoso opportunities not only to the first violin but to viola and cello too. This piece Mozart was tempted to imitate in a chamber-music context - in the equivalent movement of his Allegretto ma non troppo of his Quartet in D major K421, which shares with it the siciliano rhythm, the variation form and even the acceleration at the end.