Haydn is known as ‘the father of the string quartet’ because he was the first to compose four-part music for two violins, a viola and a cello on a regular basis. Beethoven was so overawed by ...

Franz Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. Haydn wrote 107 symphonies in total, as well as 83 string quartets, ...

During the Classical period, Joseph Haydn composed music for many string quartets. Like his symphonies, they display many features that are integral to Classical era. These were then developed ...

Early 19th-century music belonged to a quieter time, and string quartet recordings as late as the 1930s capture a far less aggressive, pressurized style of playing.