The study edition complements the parts of the String Quartets op. 20 that have already been published in Henle Urtext (HN 208); a new preface by Christin Heitmann provides illuminating background information. Haydn did not assign the nickname “Sun Quartets”: it alludes to an edition of the time, in which the title page was decorated with a rising sun. The Quartets op. 20 are the last series in a group of earlier string quartets, but are clearly ahead of their time. The demanding fugues which close three of the six quartets are a particular structural feature.
Song List
Haydn: Quartet [“Sun Quartet”] A major op. 20,6 Hob. III:36
Haydn: Quartet [“Sun Quartet”] g minor op. 20,3 Hob. III:33
Haydn: Quartet [“Sun Quartet”] C major op. 20,2 Hob. III:32
Haydn: Quartet [“Sun” Quartet] f minor op. 20,5 Hob. III:35
Haydn: Quartet [“Sun Quartet”] E flat major op. 20,1 Hob. III:31
Haydn: Quartet [Sun Quartet] D major op. 20,4 Hob. III:34