Franz Joseph Haydn: Streichquartette Heft Xi Lobkowitz Quartette Op.77: String

These are the last of the nearly seventy quartets in Haydn s oeuvre. Originally he intended to write a set of six quartets as so often in the past but at the time they were written in 1803 Haydn s healthwas so poor that he could not fully satisfy the commission from Prince Lobkowitz. Instead he published only two complete quartets as Op. 77. Later he allowed an incomplete work consisting of two middle movementsto appear as op. 103 adding to the print the portentous words: Gone is all my strength old and weak am I. Musically however these quartets are anything but weak: they represent the aged composer virtually at the zenith ofhis powers. Haydn even went so far as to call Op. 77 no. 2 his most beautiful String quartet .