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Haydn’s Emperor Quartet

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In Charleston, South Carolina, Geoff Nuttal and the St. Lawrence Quartet play Haydn’s classic Emperor Quartet for Scott.

TRANSCRIPT

GN: But you know which quartet would sum up the genius of Haydn, as well or better than any others. And we came up with one of the late, Opus 76 quartets, the Emperor. So we have the four-movement structure that he created early on, and it stayed with the quartets into Beethoven and Mozart and everyone that followed. First movement story telling. It's a simple story. Then the song, beautiful song Kaiserleid, in this case. Dance! Third movement the Minuet. And then the final movement is a party. Incredible energy, in this case, starting dark and ending jubilant. So it's really this first movement is one of his great stories.

SY: Love to hear it!

Here in Charleston with the St. Lawrence Quartet and in Austria and Hungary, Haydn's old stomping grounds, I'd go with Geoff to learn the story of the Emperor Quartet.

And through it the story of Haydn's creation of this genre of music.

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