Haydn and Mozart - The "Haydn" Quartets

The "Haydn" Quartets

Mozart's "Haydn" quartets (K387, K421, K428, K458, K464 and K465) were written during the early years of their friendship, and were published in 1785. They are thought to be stylistically influenced by Haydn's Opus 33 series, which had appeared in 1781. Mozart's dedication of these six quartets to Haydn was rather unusual, at a time when dedicatees were usually aristocrats:

A father who had decided to send his sons out into the great world thought it his duty to entrust them to the protection and guidance of a man who was very celebrated at the time, and who happened moreover to be his best friend. In the same way I send my six sons to you Please then, receive them kindly and be to them a father, guide, and friend! I entreat you, however, to be indulgent to those faults which may have escaped a father's partial eye, and in spite of them, to continue your generous friendship towards one who so highly appreciates it.

Haydn in turn was very impressed with Mozart's new work. He heard the new quartets for the first time at a social occasion on 15 January 1785, at which Mozart performed the quartets with "my dear friend Haydn and other good friends". At a second occasion, on 12 February, the last three quartets were performed. Mozart's father Leopold was present, having come from Salzburg to visit. At that time Haydn made a remark to Leopold that is now widely quoted:

Before God and as an honest man I tell you that your son is the greatest composer known to me either in person or by name; he has taste, and, furthermore, the most profound knowledge of composition.

It is likely that Mozart would have appreciated the remark, in light of his father's frequently-expressed doubts about his career path.