Today in Music (1797): Haydn’s String Quartet No. 3 in C major (Emperor) premiered

String Quartet No. 3 in C major (Emperor) Franz Josef Haydn

Composed: 1797 First Performed: February 12, 1797 Published: 1799 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: classical > chamber music

Parts/Movements: I. Allegro II. Poco adagio – cantabile III. Menuetto. Allegro IV. Finale. Presto Average Duration: --

Rating: 4.695 out of 5.00 (average of 5 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Work: Haydn’s third string quartet grew out of visits to London from 1791 through 1795. After returning to Vienna, he told Baron von Swieten, a friend and patron for numerous composers, that, in light of the threat from Napoleon, the Austrian empire needed “something to rally patriotic hearts and spur military recruitment the way ‘God Save the King’ did in England.” HB Swieten was instrumental in arranging “for a prominent poet to write ‘Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser’ (God Save Emperor Franz),” HB a tribute to Emperor Francis II. Haydn integrated “a set of variations” WK of the piece in the second movement of his string quartet, hence its nicknames of Emperor and Kaiser. It became “the centerpiece of one of his boldest and brightest quartets” HB Haydn’s work became “an instant and enduring classic” HB and “quickly acquired national status.” HB In 1847 it became the national anthem of Austria-Hungary. The same melody was later used for the German national anthem, WK adopted by the Weimer Republic in 1922. HB “The tune has also been turned into Christian and Masonic hymns. Haydn always loved it. In his final years, when he was unable to compose (an unknown illness changed Haydn from a vigorous, creative 70-year-old to a feeble 71-year-old), he would play it on his piano and weep.” HB Regarding the rest of the quartet, “its first movement mixes energetic high spirits, intricate counterpoint, and some harmonic adventures that foreshadow Schubert.” HB “The third movement continues the first movement’s intriguing juxtaposition of major and minor, but is, rhythmically speaking, a fairly conventional minuet, which is a surprise coming from a composer who liked to stretch the minuet form beyond its dance origins.” HB “The finale is a violent tempest in C minor that looks back to Haydn’s Sturm und Drang period of 30 years earlier, and forward to Beethoven’s early quartets of a few years later. When the key of C major finally reappears in the coda, it seems less an inevitable development than torrential rain finally ending and the sun coming out, even while the wind is still blowing.” HB

Reviews: HB HollywoodBowl.com by Howard Posner WK Wikipedia Related DMDB Links: First posted 2/22/2026.

Today in Music (1811): Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 5 was performed for the first time

Piano Concerto No. 5 in E-flat Major (Emperor) Ludwig van Beethoven

Composed: 1809-1811 First Performed: January 13, 1811 Peak: -- Sales (in millions): -- Genre: classical > piano concerto

Parts/Movements: Allegro Adagio un poco moto Rondo, Allegro Average Duration: 38:40

Rating: 4.144 out of 5.00 (average of 7 ratings) Awards: (Click on award to learn more).

About the Work: This work is often known as the “Emperor Concerto,” so-named by Johann Baptist Cramer, the English publisher of the concerto. WK “There is hardly an adjective that could more aptly evoke the work’s impressive scale and majesty. Despite its considerable technical demands, the ‘Emperor’ Concerto handily transcends the typical role of the concerto as a mere virtuoso vehicle. Indeed, it is virtually symphonic in conception; its E flat major key (the same as that of the ‘Eroica’ Symphony), expansive form, and sometimes martial, always grand, character grant the concerto a place among the defining works in the composer’s heroic vein.” MR “In the Piano Concerto No. 4, Beethoven made a striking break with convention in commencing the work with a piano solo. In the opening Allegro of No. 5, he takes this idea to an extreme, providing the soloist with an extended cadenza, punctuated by tutti chords from the orchestra, that outlines in miniature the entire 20-minute movement. The main theme is marchlike and assertive; the somewhat more relaxed second theme first appears cloaked in mystery, in a minor-key version that soon gives way to the expected statement in the dominant major. The grandeur of the movement is colored by excursions to remote keys that, however, never fully thwart the powerful forward drive.” MR This piece was Beethoven’s last completed piano concerto. WK His advanced deafness, which eventually ended his own career as a pianist, may have stirred his “lost interest in concertante works.” MR Although he performed his four previous concertos, he never publicly played this one. MR It was dedicated to Archduke Rudolf, his patron and pupil. It was first performed in Vienna at the Palace of Prince Joseph Lobkowitz with Rudolf serving as the soloist. A public concert was held in Leipzig at the Gweandhaus on 11/28/1811 with Friedrich Schneider serving as the soloist and Johann Philipp Christian Schulz as the conductor. WK

Resources and Related Links: DMDB encyclopedia entry for Ludwig van Beethoven MR Michael Rodman, All Music Guide WK Wikipedia Last updated 4/17/2022.