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64-455: The Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974 and led by the British violinist Irvine Arditti . The quartet is a globally recognized promoter of contemporary classical music and has a reputation for having a very wide repertoire. They first became known taking into their repertoire technically challenging pieces. Over the years, there have been personnel changes but Irvine Arditti

128-456: A continuo section consisting of a bass instrument (such as the cello) and keyboard . A very early example is a four-part sonata for string ensemble by the Italian composer Gregorio Allegri that might be considered an important prototype. By the early 18th century, composers were often adding a third soloist; and moreover it became common to omit the keyboard part, letting the cello support

192-403: A related key and a minuet and trio follow; and the fourth movement is often in rondo form or sonata rondo form , in the tonic key. Some string quartet ensembles play together for many years and become established and promoted as an entity in a similar way to an instrumental soloist or an orchestra . The early history of the string quartet is in many ways the history of the development of

256-774: A "kind of high-flown rhetoric that almost seemed designed to show that 'new music' can live in a pretentiously self-absorbed world." Awards include the Deutsche Shallplatten Preis on various occasions, the Gramophone Award for best recording of contemporary music in 1999, 2002 and 2018, the Coup de Coeur Prize and Grand Prix from the Academie Charles Cros in 2004 and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize for lifetime achievement in 1999. They are

320-542: A Pack of Hungry Cannibals", and Bob Dylan 's " Don't Think Twice, It's All Right ". Kronos has also worked with a variety of global musicians, including Bollywood playback singer Asha Bhosle ; Mexican-American painter Gronk ; American soprano Dawn Upshaw ; jazz composer/performer Pat Metheny ; Mexican rockers Café Tacuba ; Azerbaijani mugam singer Alim Qasimov ; and the Romanian gypsy band Taraf de Haïdouks among others. Kronos has performed live with

384-461: A composer. String quartet composition flourished in the Classical era , and Mozart , Beethoven and Schubert each wrote a number of them. Many Romantic and early-twentieth-century composers composed string quartets, including Mendelssohn , Schumann , Brahms , Dvořák , Janáček , and Debussy . There was a slight lull in string quartet composition later in the 19th century, but it received

448-587: A diversity of countries— Kaija Saariaho from Finland, Pēteris Vasks from Latvia, Franghiz Ali-Zadeh from Azerbaijan, Homayun Sakhi from Afghanistan, Hamza El Din from Egypt , Victoria Vita Polevá from Ukraine and Fernando Otero , Astor Piazzolla , and Osvaldo Golijov from Argentina. Some of Kronos's string-quartet arrangements were published in 2007. I've always wanted the string quartet to be vital, and energetic, and alive, and cool, and not afraid to kick ass and be absolutely beautiful and ugly if it has to be. But it has to be expressive of life. To tell

512-559: A guest capacity. From 1982 to 1996, they worked with young composers at the Darmstadt International Summer Courses for New Music . They also encourage younger quartets interested in new music. In 2013, they collaborated with the composer Brian Ferneyhough on a documentary called Climbing a Mountain which is about how the group prepares for the presentation of new pieces. It was created particularly for composers and music students to help them understand

576-405: A kind of service to composers, especially younger, and the lesser-known. Composers often make minor adjustments to their compositions after working with the quartet. Norwegian composer Sven Lyder Kahrs  [ no ] calls the group the "Rolls-Royce" of quartets, in part because he does not have to explain how to play his music to them. They just know. In the past they have been compared to

640-612: A location (e.g. the Budapest Quartet ). Established quartets may undergo changes in membership whilst retaining their original name. Kronos Quartet The Kronos Quartet is an American string quartet based in San Francisco. It has been in existence with a rotating membership of musicians for 50 years. The quartet covers a very broad range of musical genres, including contemporary classical music . More than 1,000 works have been written for it . The quartet

704-584: A number of quartets: "Beethoven in particular is credited with developing the genre in an experimental and dynamic fashion, especially in his later series of quartets written in the 1820s up until his death. Their forms and ideas inspired and continue to inspire musicians and composers, such as Wagner and Bartók ." Schubert's last musical wish was to hear Beethoven's Quartet in C ♯ minor, Op. 131 , which he heard on 14 November 1828, just five days before his death. Upon listening to an earlier performance of this quartet, Schubert had remarked, "After this, what

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768-489: A part, playing works written for string orchestra , such as divertimenti and serenades , there being no separate (fifth) contrabass part in string scoring before the 19th century. However, these composers showed no interest in exploring the development of the string quartet as a medium. The origins of the string quartet can be further traced back to the Baroque trio sonata , in which two solo instruments performed with

832-435: A perspective] is the notion that Haydn "invented" the string quartet... Although he may still be considered the 'father' of the 'Classical' string quartet, he is not the creator of the sting quartet genre itself... This old and otiose myth not only misrepresents the achievements of other excellent composers, but also distorts the character and qualities of Haydn's opp. 1, 2 and 9". The musicologist Cliff Eisen contextualizes

896-704: A piece named after Kronos, "The Kronos Wartet", as a part of the soundtrack to Star Trek Into Darkness for a scene that takes place on the fictional planet "Kronos". (also spelled " Qo'noS "). Over 1,000 pieces have been created for the Kronos Quartet, which has a long history of commissioning new works. It has worked with many minimalist composers, including John Adams , Arvo Pärt , George Crumb , Henryk Górecki , Steve Reich , John Luther Adams , Roberto Paci Dalò , Philip Glass , Terry Riley , Peter Sculthorpe and Kevin Volans ; collaborators hail from

960-724: A rendition of the track "Another Version of the Truth"". The group performed Lee Brooks 's score for the short film 2081 , based on the Kurt Vonnegut short story " Harrison Bergeron ". In 2009, Kronos contributed an acoustic version of Blind Willie Johnson 's "Dark Was the Night" for the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night produced by the Red Hot Organization . In 2017, the quartet performed as featured artists on

1024-545: A resurgence in the 20th century, with the Second Viennese School , Bartók , Shostakovich , Babbitt , and Carter producing highly regarded examples of the genre, and it remains an important and refined musical form. The standard structure for a string quartet as established in the Classical era is four movements , with the first movement in sonata form , allegro, in the tonic key; a slow movement in

1088-464: A total of five string quartets; he won Pulitzer Prizes for two of them: No. 2 and No. 3 . Three important string quartets were written by Helmut Lachenmann . The late 20th century also saw the string quartet expand in various ways: Morton Feldman's vast Second String Quartet is one of the longest ever written, and Karlheinz Stockhausen's Helikopter-Streichquartett is to be performed by the four musicians in four helicopters. Quartets written during

1152-646: Is left for us to write?" Wagner, when reflecting on Op. 131's first movement, said that it "reveals the most melancholy sentiment expressed in music". Of the late quartets , Beethoven cited his own favorite as Op. 131 , which he saw as his most perfect single work. Mendelssohn 's six string quartets span the full range of his career, from 1828 to 1847; Schumann 's three string quartets were all written in 1842 and dedicated to Mendelssohn, whose quartets Schumann had been studying in preparation, along with those of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Several Romantic-era composers wrote only one quartet, while Dvořák wrote 14. In

1216-436: Is still at the helm, leading the group. The repertoire of the group is mostly music from the last 50 years with a strong emphasis on living composers. Their aim from the beginning has been to collaborate with composers during the rehearsal process. However, unlike some other groups, it is loyal to music of a classical vein and avoids cross-genre music. The Quartet has performed in major concert halls and cultural festivals all over

1280-611: The Kronos Quartet but unlike them are not interested in crossover audiences or cross-genre pieces, but rather stick with the classical quartet form. There are very few pieces common to both groups. The Quartet was founded in 1974 by Irvine Arditti with Levine Andrade , Lennox Mackenzie and John Senter while all were students at the Royal Academy of Music . They modeled themselves on the La Salle Quartet of

1344-460: The classical period usually had four movements, with a structure similar to that of a symphony : The positions of the slow movement and third movement are flexible. For example, in Mozart's six quartets dedicated to Haydn , three have a minuet followed by a slow movement and three have the slow movement before the minuet. Substantial modifications to the typical structure were already present by

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1408-456: The "classical" string quartet around 1757, but the consensus amongst most authorities is that Haydn is responsible for the genre in its currently accepted form. The string quartet enjoyed no recognized status as an ensemble in the way that two violins with basso continuo – the so-called ' trio sonata ' – had for more than a hundred years. Even the composition of Haydn's earliest string quartets owed more to chance than artistic imperative. During

1472-533: The 1750s, when the young composer was still working mainly as a teacher and violinist in Vienna, he would occasionally be invited to spend time at the nearby castle at Weinzierl of the music-loving Austrian nobleman Karl Joseph Weber, Edler von Fürnberg. There he would play chamber music in an ad hoc ensemble consisting of Fürnberg's steward, a priest, and a local cellist, and when the Baron asked for some new music for

1536-497: The 1st quartet of Gavin Bryars which was written for them. Also works involving electronics are in their repertoire. York Holler 's Antiphon , Kaija Saariaho 's Nymphea and Roger Reynolds Ariadne's Thread. [7] In their first concert they played new compositions only, but by their second year, they decided that their repertoire needed to include works of the Second Viennese School and Bartók came soon after. Works from earlier in

1600-412: The 20th century as perspective followed and in the 1980s they incorporated Beethoven 's Grosse Fuge. They have played Ligeti's Second Quartet and Xenakis 'Tetras' hundreds of times. The focus on new music is to have the ability to collaborate with the composer in the interpretation of the piece, something the group considers very important, both in how to play and the fact that they consider their work as

1664-659: The Kronos Quartet has been called "probably the most famous ' new music ' group in the world" and been praised in philosophical studies of music for the inclusiveness of its repertoire. By the time the quartet celebrated its 25th anniversary in 1999, it had a repertoire of over 600 works, including 400 quartets written for it, more than 3,000 performances, seven first-prize ASCAP awards, Edison Awards in classical and popular music, and had more than 1.5 million record sales. When Kronos turned 30, in 2003, it decided to commission new pieces from composers under age 30, in hopes of encouraging talented young composers. The program, called

1728-510: The Op. 20 quartets as follows: "Haydn's quartets of the late 1760s and early 1770s [opp. 9, 17, and 20] are high points in the early history of the quartet. Characterized by a wide range of textures, frequent asymmetries and theatrical gestures...these quartets established the genre's four-movement form, its larger dimensions, and ...its greater aesthetic pretensions and expressive range." That Haydn's string quartets were already "classics" that defined

1792-739: The Under 30 Project, is now run in cooperation with Carnegie Hall , Cal Performances at the University of California, Berkeley , and the Montalvo Arts Center . The first recipient was Alexandra du Bois (at the time a student at Indiana University , later a Juilliard School graduate), followed by Felipe Perez Santiago (born in Mexico in 1973), and Dan Visconti (born in Illinois in 1982); in 2007, Israeli composer Aviya Kopelman became

1856-714: The United States, focused at first on the LaSalle repertoire, with the aim of supporting composers, playing the pieces as they want them played. Very soon the size of their repertoire went far beyond what the LaSalle achieved or in fact any other group in the history of classical music. Arditti was born in London in 1953, and began his studies in violin and composition at the Royal Academy at the age of sixteen. Arditti won prizes for violin and composition, but decided he

1920-399: The bass line alone. Thus when Alessandro Scarlatti wrote a set of six works entitled Sonata à Quattro per due Violini, Violetta [viola], e Violoncello senza Cembalo (Sonata for four instruments: two violins, viola, and cello without harpsichord), this was a natural evolution from the existing tradition. The musicologist Hartmut Schick has suggested that Franz Xaver Richter invented

1984-458: The commission involved not playing in a concert hall. This was Stockhausen's Helicopter quartet, which required each member to perform his part in his own helicopter, and be relayed to the ground electronically where the audience was listening in a concert hall. Members of the group regularly conduct master classes in Europe, the United States and Canada, for performers and composers, generally in

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2048-616: The difference between one masterpiece and the next." The musicologist Roger Hickman has however demurred from this consensus view. He notes a change in string quartet writing towards the end of the 1760s, featuring characteristics which are today thought of as essential to the genre – scoring for two violins, viola and cello, solo passages, and absence of actual or potential basso continuo accompaniment. Noting that at this time other composers than Haydn were writing works conforming to these 'modern' criteria, and that Haydn's earlier quartets did not meet them, he suggests that "one casualty [of such

2112-469: The early "quartets" are actually symphonies missing their wind parts. They have five movements and take the form: fast movement, minuet and trio I, slow movement, minuet and trio II, and fast finale . As Ludwig Finscher notes, they draw stylistically on the Austrian divertimento tradition. After these early efforts, Haydn did not return to the string quartet for several years, but when he did so, it

2176-459: The finales of nos. 2, 5 and 6. After Op. 20, it becomes harder to point to similar major jumps in the string quartet's development in Haydn's hands, though not due to any lack of invention or application on the composer's part. As Donald Tovey put it: "with Op. 20 the historical development of Haydn's quartets reaches its goal; and further progress is not progress in any historical sense, but simply

2240-480: The first and only group to date to receive the Siemens Foundation prize. The Quartet is highly active throughout the year, mostly with performing and recording and premiering between twenty and fifty new works each year, taking time off only during the summer and Christmas vacations. They have performed hundreds of new works and commissions, with a discography of over 200 CDs on over twenty labels, by far

2304-410: The first movement in the 2020 documentary Zappa , directed by Alex Winter. Kronos's artistic director, founder, and violinist David Harrington is also interviewed in the film. On the 1998 Dave Matthews Band album Before These Crowded Streets , Kronos Quartet performed on the tracks "Halloween" and "The Stone". It also recorded for the 2007 Nine Inch Nails remix album, Year Zero Remixed doing

2368-523: The fourth. To celebrate its 40th year, the Kronos Quartet returned to Seattle, the city in which it first played, and worked in collaboration with Seattle's Degenerate Art Ensemble to create a piece incorporating music, dance and video. It celebrated its 40th anniversary with a sold-out performance at Zellerbach Hall , UC Berkeley , in December 2013. The same year, Michael Giacchino , a soundtrack composer who often names his pieces with puns, published

2432-459: The genre by 1801 can be judged by Ignaz Pleyel 's publication in Paris of a "complete" series that year, and the quartet's evolution as vehicle for public performance can be judged by Pleyel's ten-volume set of miniature scores intended for hearers rather than players – early examples of this genre of music publishing . Since Haydn's day, the string quartet has been prestigious and considered one of

2496-455: The genre by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn . There had been examples of divertimenti for two solo violins, viola and cello by the Viennese composers Georg Christoph Wagenseil and Ignaz Holzbauer ; and there had long been a tradition of performing orchestral works one instrument to a part. The British musicologist David Wyn Jones cites the widespread practice of four players, one to

2560-575: The genre. During his tenure as Master of the Queen's Music , Peter Maxwell Davies produced a set of ten entitled the Naxos Quartets (to a commission from Naxos Records ) from 2001 to 2007. Margaret Jones Wiles composed over 50 string quartets. David Matthews has written eleven, and Robin Holloway both five quartets and six "quartettini". Over nearly five decades, Elliott Carter wrote

2624-430: The group to play, Haydn's first string quartets were born. It is not clear whether any of these works ended up in the two sets published in the mid-1760s and known as Haydn's Opp. 1 and 2 ('Op. 0' is a quartet included in some early editions of Op. 1, and only rediscovered in the 1930s), but it seems reasonable to assume that they were at least similar in character. Haydn's early biographer Georg August Griesinger tells

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2688-584: The longest contemporary discography of any string quartet. A complete archive of the quartet's work is located at the Sacher Foundation in Basel , Switzerland. Most of their performances are in concert halls and festivals within Europe, but they are known all over the world and have performed extensively in the US, Canada, Korea, South America, Japan and Mexico. One special piece which Arditti himself arranged

2752-469: The modern era, the string quartet played a key role in the development of Schoenberg (who added a soprano in his String Quartet No. 2 ), Bartók , and Shostakovich especially. After the Second World War , some composers, such as Messiaen questioned the relevance of the string quartet and avoided writing them. However, from the 1960s onwards, many composers have shown a renewed interest in

2816-634: The most difficult and complex compositions. They rarely improvise as their focus is on working with composers. These composers range from those active in the early 20th century to the present and include Hans Abrahamsen , Thomas Adès , Luciano Berio , John Cage , Elliott Carter , Franco Donatoni , Pascal Dusapin , Henri Dutilleux , Brian Ferneyhough , Morton Feldman , Georg Friedrich Haas , György Kurtág , Helmut Lachenmann , György Ligeti , Witold Lutosławski , Wolfgang Rihm , Giacinto Scelsi , and Iannis Xenakis . They have on occasion performed minimalist pieces such as " Mishima " by Philip Glass and

2880-556: The poet Allen Ginsberg , Astor Piazzolla , The National , the Modern Jazz Quartet , Tom Waits , David Bowie , Paul McCartney and Björk , and has recorded with Nelly Furtado , Rokia Traoré , Joan Armatrading , Brazilian electronica artist Amon Tobin , Texas yodeler Don Walser , Faith No More , Tiger Lillies and David Grisman . In 1984, Frank Zappa wrote "None of the Above" for Kronos, of which it performs

2944-454: The progressive aims of the Op. 20 set of 1772, in particular, makes them the first major peak in the history of the string quartet. Certainly they offered to their own time state-of-the art models to follow for the best part of a decade; the teenage Mozart , in his early quartets, was among the composers moved to imitate many of their characteristics, right down to the vital fugues with which Haydn sought to bring greater architectural weight to

3008-564: The pursuit of the more advanced quartet style found in the eighteen works published in the early 1770s as Opp. 9, 17, and 20 . These are written in a form that became established as standard both for Haydn and for other composers. Clearly composed as sets, these quartets feature a four-movement layout having broadly conceived, moderately paced first movements and, in increasing measure, a democratic and conversational interplay of parts, close-knit thematic development, and skilful though often restrained use of counterpoint. The convincing realizations of

3072-411: The rehearsal process. String quartet The string quartet was developed into its present form by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn , whose works in the 1750s established the ensemble as a group of four more-or-less equal partners. Since that time, the string quartet has been considered a prestigious form; writing for four instruments with broadly similar characteristics both constrains and tests

3136-910: The story thus: The following purely chance circumstance had led him to try his luck at the composition of quartets. A Baron Fürnberg had a place in Weinzierl , several stages from Vienna, and he invited from time to time his pastor, his manager, Haydn, and Albrechtsberger (a brother of the celebrated contrapuntist Albrechtsberger ) in order to have a little music. Fürnberg requested Haydn to compose something that could be performed by these four amateurs. Haydn, then eighteen years old [ sic ], took up this proposal, and so originated his first quartet which, immediately it appeared, received such general approval that Haydn took courage to work further in this form. Haydn went on to write nine other quartets around this time. These works were published as his Op. 1 and Op. 2; one quartet went unpublished, and some of

3200-494: The story with grace and humor and depth. And to tell the whole story, if possible. —David Harrington Kronos covers a very broad range of musical genres : Mexican folk , experimental , pre-classical early music , movie soundtracks ( Requiem for a Dream , Heat , The Fountain ), jazz and tango . Kronos has also recorded adaptations of Jimi Hendrix 's " Purple Haze ", Sigur Rós 's "Flugufrelsarinn", Television 's " Marquee Moon ", Raymond Scott 's "Dinner Music for

3264-477: The string quartet: Further expansions have also produced works such as the String octet by Mendelssohn , consisting of the equivalent of two string quartets. Notably, Schoenberg included a soprano in the last two movements of his second string quartet , composed in 1908. Adding a voice has since been done by Milhaud , Ginastera , Ferneyhough , Davies , İlhan Mimaroğlu and many others. Another variation on

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3328-628: The time he was in the London Symphony Orchestra from 1976 to 1980, after which he left the Orchestra in order to dedicate himself full-time to the quartet. The Quartet's first concert was in March 1974, with the works of Krzysztof Penderecki , who was at the Royal Academy to receive an honorary degree. This gave the group a chance to collaborate with the composer, something they continue to do with composers ever since. The quartet

3392-449: The time of Beethoven's late quartets, and despite some notable examples to the contrary, composers writing in the twentieth century increasingly abandoned this structure. Bartók's fourth and fifth string quartets, written in the 1930s, are five-movement works, symmetrical around a central movement. Shostakovich's final quartet , written in the 1970s, comprises six slow movements. Many other chamber groups can be seen as modifications of

3456-421: The tradition that has been established in Europe for several centuries. They do not work with composers from fields such as jazz, pop or crossover . They concentrate on those from the last fifty years, along with very new music, mostly repertoire specially written for the ensemble to premiere. The quartet is considered the authentic interpreters for many late 20th century composers, with a reputation for mastering

3520-550: The traditional string quartet is the electric string quartet with players performing on electric instruments . Notable works for string quartet include: Whereas individual string players often group together to make ad hoc string quartets, others continue to play together for many years in ensembles which may be named after the first violinist (e.g. the Takács Quartet ), a composer (e.g. the Borodin Quartet ) or

3584-413: The true tests of a composer's art. This may be partly because the palette of sound is more restricted than with orchestral music, forcing the music to stand more on its own rather than relying on tonal color ; or from the inherently contrapuntal tendency in music written for four equal instruments. Quartet composition flourished in the Classical era. Mozart , Beethoven and Schubert each composed

3648-509: The world and has the longest discography of any group of its type. In 1999, it won the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize for lifetime achievement, being the first and only group to date to receive this award. The Arditti Quartet is dedicated to 20th century and contemporary works, a niche in chamber music where classical masters dominate. While they only play a handful of works from before the 20th century, they require that their repertoire maintains

3712-433: The world premiere or several new works. The Quartet has a worldwide reputation as a leader for its interpretation of 20th century and contemporary new music, receiving extensive critical praise. They have been noted for their "...astonishing virtuosity and their willingness to extend the boundaries of what can be expected of a string quartet..." However, they have also been criticized as being severe, dry and intellectual with

3776-564: Was "eager for something new"; she was replaced by Jennifer Culp, who, in turn, left in 2005 and was replaced by Jeffrey Zeigler. In June 2013, Zeigler was replaced by Sunny Yang. In February 2023, cellist and composer Paul Wiancko became the quartet's newest cellist. In March 2024, Kronos Quartet announced that Sherba and Dutt will retire in June of that year, being replaced by violinist Gabriela Díaz and violist Ayane Kosaza. With over 40 studio albums to its credit and having performed worldwide,

3840-541: Was a better violinist and stopped composing. The focus of the quartet on new music is due to Arditti's interest in it, which began with composing in his childhood and hearing music by Stockhausen , Ligeti and others of the avant garde of the 1960s. It was later that Ardittí became aware of the work of the LaSalle Quartet. In his last year at the Royal Academy of Music the Quartet was founded, and it continued during

3904-571: Was founded by violinist David Harrington in Seattle , Washington . Its first performance was in November 1973. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco , California . The longest-running combination of performers (from 1978 to 1999) had Harrington and John Sherba on violin , Hank Dutt on viola , and Joan Jeanrenaud on cello . In 1999, Jeanrenaud left Kronos because she

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3968-499: Was named after Arditti because they needed a name in 24 hours, so they used his with the idea that it would be temporary, but the name stuck. In their early years, before the end of the 1970s, the ensemble performed and recorded all the quartets of Hans Werner Henze and Gyorgy Ligeti. They also began performing live on BBC. They commissioned their first piece in 1977, Jonathan Harvey 's String Quartet No. 1. The group continued to have success touring and recording in Europe but it

4032-555: Was not until the success of Kronos Quartet that the ensemble came to the attention of US and Canadian audiences, with a tour in the late 1980s. The founder, Irvine Arditti, is the only member who has played throughout the entirety of the quartet's existence, stretching over more than four decades. For the 40th anniversary of the quartet in 2014, one of the celebrations in London included a three-concert-in-one-day event, with works by fifteen different composers with whom their leader Arditti has been particularly closely associated, as well as

4096-496: Was to make a significant step in the genre's development. The intervening years saw Haydn begin his employment as Kapellmeister to the Esterházy princes, for whom he was required to compose numerous symphonies and dozens of trios for violin, viola, and the bass instrument called the baryton (played by Prince Nikolaus Esterházy himself). The opportunities for experiment which both these genres offered Haydn perhaps helped him in

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