String Quartet in G Minor

Haydn’s earlier quartets were intended for the relative intimacy of aristocratic drawing rooms, but the three quartets Op. 74 of 1793 were part of the first set he conceived for public performance—in London’s Hanover Square Rooms, which could seat up to 600. Though the Quartet in G Minor Op. 74 No. 3 never oversteps the bounds of chamber music, its “public” face is heard in Haydn’s greater concern for theatricality, with virtuoso writing shared between all four players and showy contrasts of register, timbre and dynamics. The galloping finale, full of virtuoso bravado for the first violin, quickly established the quartet’s nickname, “The Rider”. The slow movement is one of Haydn’s slowest: “Largo assai” was the lowest gear used in the 18th century. The quartet’s sense of theatre extends even to the singing hymn-like melody, which gains dramatic traction as it proceeds, with recourse to far-flung harmonies, breathtaking dynamic changes and whispering tremolo effects.