Haydn dedicated the series of Quartets op. 71 and 74 to the Hungarian Count Apponyi, a Viennese patron of music and a freemason friend. Haydn composed them when he was enjoying a great deal of success with his "London Symphonies" in England. With their weighty slow introductions and dense movements focusing on sound, they also have symphonic characteristics. In particular the Quartet in g minor op. 74,3 is striking on account of its expressiveness and originality. Due to the rhythmic drive of the outer movements it was give the epithet "Rider Quartet". The study edition complements the parts of the "Apponyi Quartets" which are already available in Henle Urtext.
G. Henle Publishers stands for Urtext sheet music of the highest quality. The Urtext editions not only provide the undistorted and authoritative musical text but are also aesthetically pleasing, optimised for practical use and extremely durable. And then there is the strong, distinctive blue profile: (almost) all of the Urtext editions are bound in the characteristic blue cardboard.
Musicians trust Henle's blue Urtext editions because they:
- provide an undistorted, reliable and authoritative musical text
- offer superb, aesthetically appealing music engraving
- are optimised for practical use (page turns, fingerings)
- are of high quality and durable (cover, paper, binding)
- contain a short preface that introduces the work (particularly useful for AMEB exams) in German, English and French, as well as explanatory footnotes for particularly interesting passages in the score
- contain a description of the sources, an evaluation of the sources, readings and a documentation of the corrections made (= "Critical Report") in German and English, and often also in French
