NZ String Quartet presents Haydn and the String Quartet

2009 marks 200 years since the death of Haydn, the composer who changed the course of classical music through his “invention” of the string quartet.
The New Zealand String Quartet celebrates the life of Haydn in two different programmes of discovery and celebration.
“We’re looking forward to sharing fascinating insights into a much-loved composer whose affectionate popular title ‘Papa’ belies the ground-breaking role he played in the classical period,” says NZ String Quartet cellist Rolf Gjelsten.
In this concert the quartet performs four of Haydn's greatest and most beloved string quartets from different periods in his life, showing the variety and expressive power he brought to the medium: Quartet in D Major “Lark”; Quartet in G Minor “Rider”; Quartet in F Minor; and Quartet in G Major “Compliments”.
It is said that Haydn is the father of the string quartet and he composed the first string quartets in the late 1750s for Baron Fürnberg: this was music designed to be intimate and tailored to appeal to professionals, connoisseurs and amateurs alike. Haydn returned to the genre again and again, finding new ways to make four string instruments speak.
“We have Haydn to thank for the New Zealand String Quartet existing at all – without the music he composed for four string instruments, we simply wouldn’t exist,” says NZ String Quartet manager Elizabeth Kerr.
Programme two will also be performed today at The PumpHouse, Takapuna at 7.30pm.
The New Zealand String Quartet also performs Programme One - a musical journey using excerpts of his music and readings to illuminate Haydn's creative life - on Friday 4 September at 7.30pm at Hopetoun Alpha.

Event listed by SWPR Ltd

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