String Quartet in G minor/major Op.74 No.3, Hob.III:74 “Rider” (1793)

Although the dedicatee of the six quartets (Op.71 and Op.74) Haydn wrote in Austria in 1792 and 1793 was Count Apponyi, an influential member of musical society in Vienna, the personality the composer had in mind as he scored them was Johann Peter Salomon – violinist and impresario of Haydn’s concerts in London. In fact, unlike all his earlier chamber music, they were written specifically for public performance by a virtuoso ensemble before a paying audience in a comparatively large hall in London in 1794. One special requirement in these circumstances was a striking introductory gesture of some kind – in the case of the Quartet in G minor the prancing octaves which have given the work its nickname. Another was a particularly expressive slow movement: the Largo assai in E major of the present work is an inspired example. Aftrer a congenial Menuetto in G major, the rider gets back on his G minor horse in a Finale which, though under stress at first – not least for the harp-pressed first violin – finds a happy ending in G major.

Unlike all Haydn’s earlier chamber music, the six quartets of Op.71 and Op.74 were conceived specifically for public performance by a virtuoso ensemble before a paying audience in a comparatively large hall. Although they are dedicated to Count Apponyi, an influential member of musical society in Vienna, they were written not so much with his aristocratic taste in mind as the requirements of Johan Peter Salomon, violinist and impresario of Haydn’s concerts in London.

The present work is a particularly vivid demonstration of how, without compromising his standards in any way, Haydn was able to enlarge both the sound and the popular appeal of the string quartet. The only one of the six to risk testing the seriousness of the audience by presenting itself ostensibly in the minor, it congenially contrives to be in the major at the same time. As for popular gestures, the boldly prancing introduction to the first movement, which gives the work its “Rider” nickname, is only the first example. The textural complexity of the main theme in G minor is offset by the instrumental virtuosity associated with it and is then displaced, without transition, by the innocent charm of the second subject in B flat major. After an eventful and comprehensive development, that second subject not only reppears in G major but also uses its influence to end the movement in that key. So are we in G minor, G major, or both at once?

The melodically and harmonically inspired Largo assai, a ternary construction in E major with a voluptuously decorated reprise, is sublimely remote from such questions. The the next movement offers a clue, however, in that the minuet is by classical convention in the basic key of the work and this one is in G major, though with a G minor trio section. The Finale confirms the duality. Returning to horseback, it galops off in G minor but then follows the structural and harmonic pattern of the first movement. Just like its counterpart in the Allegro non troppos, the tuneful and brilliantly scored B flat major second subject uses its irresistible influence to end the work in G major.