Early String Quartets

The Weinzierl castle in Lower Austria, which still stands today, can be considered to be the birthplace of a chamber music genre, which is firmly established in our present-day repertoire. The young Haydn was invited to spend some time at this place by a wealthy musical friend and often met up with the steward at the castle, the castle priest and the cellist Anton Albrechtsberger to make music. Although his first two works for “2 violins, viola and bass” still have five movements, their musical value establishes the success of the string quartet in its own right.?