String Quartet in G major, Op.54, No.1 (Hob.III.57) [1787-88]

Having known Johann Tost as a violinist in the Esterháza orchestra, Haydn had a very good idea of his colleague’s qualities as a musician. The twelve string quartets he wrote for Tost between 1788 and 1790, after the latter had left the orchestra to take up the wholesale trade in Vienna, have several distinctive features in common. It was not so much his technical accomplishment that Haydn admired - he could even be a little satirical about Tost’s rare facility in the highest register of the instrument - as his wit and the quality of his imagination. That much is clear from the trust he placed in his comic timing in the Finale of Op.54, No.1, and in his expressive spontaneity in the extravagantly scored slow movement of the same work.

The first movement of the Quartet in G major was clearly intended to indulge his wholesaler patron in a big way. Given the privilege of introducing the briskly dramatic main theme, the first violin retains exclusive rights on it, re-presenting it as a kind of second subject and allowing only the second violin to have a share of it in the development - and even then only in a brief canonic passage shortly before the beginning of the recapitulation.

The slow movement does not submit so easily to the Tost authority. It appears from the opening section, as the first violin makes a graceful entry with the siciliano main theme, that the distribution of favours will be seriously one-sided. The first violin’s daring excursion high into its top register seems to confirm that impression. The viola and cello share little or none of the melodic interest but in recompense - as they so effectively demonstrate in the middle of the movement and again towards the end - they have a subversive way of deflecting the harmonies in unexpected directions, leaving even the first violin with no alternative but obediently to follow.

While this assertion of individuality results in no special concessions for the viola, it does secure the cello a prominent solo role in the Trio section of the following Menuetto. At the same time, while the cello applies itself to its busy arpeggio figuration, the upper strings discreetly turn their attention to anticipating the theme of the Presto Finale. It is worth anticipating not only because it is such an engaging melodic inspiration in itself but also because it performs the unlikely feat of supplying all the melodic material for an authentic rondo without the intervention of a contrasting theme.

Although Haydn might have suspected Johann Tost’s integrity as a businessman even before he left the orchestra at Esterháza for the wholesale trade in Vienna, he always had great admiration for him as a violinist. It was not so much his technical accomplishment that Haydn admired - he could even be a little satirical about Tost’s rare facility in the highest register of the instrument - as his wit and the quality of his imagination. That much is clear from the trust he placed in his comic timing in the Finale of Op.54, No.1, and in his expressive spontaneity in the extravagantly scored slow movements of Op.54, Nos.2 and 3. Haydn was perhaps less wise in entrusting him also with the responsibility of taking Op.54 and Op.55 to sell to a publisher in Paris: they were immediately accepted by Sieber, for publication in 1789, but on what terms Tost was curiously reluctant to say.

While 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 later Op.64 set, which is specifically dedicated “to wholesaler Tost,” that they were written with him firmly in mind.

The first movement of the Quartet in G major was clearly intended to indulge Johann Tost in a big way. Given the privilege of introducing the briskly dramatic main theme, the first violin retains exclusive rights on it, re-presenting it as a kind of second subject and allowing only the second violin to have a share of it in and even then only in a brief canonic passage shortly before the beginning of the recapitulation. In spite of the first violin’s compulsive virtuoso activity, however, the other instruments do get to participate in the introduction and development of three shorter subsidiary themes which, integrated into the texture in this way, play as important a part in the construction as the violin theme itself.

The slow movement, on the other hand, does not submit so easily to the Tost authority. It appears from the opening section, as the first violin makes a graceful entry with the siciliano main theme over an ostinato rhythm in the rest of the ensemble, that the distribution of favours will be seriously one-sided. The first violin’s daring excursion high into its top register seems to confirm that impression. The other instruments prove not to be so meek, however. The viola and cello share little or none of the melodic interest but in recompense - as they so effectively demonstrate in the middle of the movement and again towards the end - they have a subversive way of deflecting the harmonies in unexpected directions, leaving even the first violin with no alternative but obediently to follow.

While this assertion of individuality results in no special concessions for the viola, it does secure the cello a prominent solo role in the Trio section of the following Menuetto. At the same time, while the cello applies itself to its busy arpeggio figuration, the upper strings discreetly turn their attention to anticipating the theme of the Presto Finale. It is worth anticipating not only because it is such an engaging melodic inspiration in itself but also because it performs the unlikely feat of supplying all the melodic material for an authentic rondo without the intervention of a contrasting theme. Haydn’s monothematic virtuosity here is concealed partly by the brilliance of his writing for the strings and partly by the distracting use he makes of a modest little three-note figure. Derived from the first three notes of the main theme, it teases, irritates, stalls, and finally disappears into silence, taking the whole ensemble with it.