[Hob. III:78-80]. Trois Quatuors pour deux Violons, Alto, et Violoncelle ... dediés a Son Excellence Monsieur le Comte Joseph Erdödy de Monyorókerék Chambellan et Conseiller Intime Actuel d'Etat de S. Maj. l'Empereur et Roy Supreme Comte du Comitat de Neuttra ... Oeuvre [76] f. 3. [String quartets]. [Set of parts]

Vienne: Artaria et Comp. [PN 837], 1800. Folio. First violin part in early marbled wrappers with decorative cut-paper title label in manuscript to upper; other parts with thin strips of marbled paper reinforcing spines.

Violino primo: 1f. (recto title, verso blank), 19, [i] (blank) pp. Title within elaborate border engraved by J. E. Mansfeld incorporating a portrait of Haydn at head, a muse holding a flute and trumpet, and an angel playing a lyre.
Violino 2o.: 17, [i] (blank) pp.
Viola: 17, [i] (blank) pp.
Violoncello: 17, [i] (blank) pp.
Engraved throughout.

Wrappers quite worn and torn at spine. Slightly worn, (truncated) foxed, soiled and stained; old paper repair to inner margins of title and final leaf; margins of two leaves of first violin part trimmed, with partial loss of plate number. First Edition, with the noted title page incorporating a portrait of the composer. Hoboken 7, 647. Hoboken Collection Vol. 7, 647. BUC, p. 466. RISM H3574.

"The last of Haydn's six great E-flat quartets (1797) is perhaps - dare one compare on this level? - the greatest of them all; in any case, it is amongst the greatest of the his great quartets as well as being the very greatest of the 'celebrated', which status it no doubt again owes to its symmetrical themes - the only aspect of the work, one is tempted to suggest, which is not drastically innovatory. One hardly knows where to start when listing its lasting innovations ... but inasmuch as they affect one's performance of the work, one can concentrate on them with a quiet conscience." Keller: The Great Haydn Quartets, p. 228. (Inventory #: 40445)