String Quartets Book VIII op. 64-The quartets were dedicated to the violinist Johann Tost who was the second principal violinist at the Esterházy court during the 1780s. His business sense led him to sell twelve quartets - opus 64 was probably amongst them - toa Parisian publisher. Whether Haydn approved of this is open to question - the dedication was however no longer present in the second imprint or the following ones. Our edition follows the Haydn Complete Edition and for thefirst time juxtaposes the quartet in E flat major and the two original trios.

This String Quartet has some technical difficulties particularly for the first violinist but the musical result is worth the effort and players familiar with Beethoven's quartets will enjoy playing it. It is one of three Hummel opus 30 quartets published by SJ Music. All three are classical in style and pleasurable to listen to and play and many would say that they have been unjustly neglected. Johann Nepomuk Hummel was a Hungarian pianist conductor and composer born in Pozsony (now Bratislava) in 1778. He died in Weimar in 1837. Mozart heard him play aged seven in Vienna and was so impressed that he offered him lessons and took him to live with him for the next two years.As an adult in Vienna he became good friends with Beethoven.