String Quartets Volume 8, Op. 64 (Second Tost Quartets)

The quartets were dedicated to the violinist Johann Tost, who was the second principal violinist at the Esterhazy court during the 1780s. His business sense led him to sell twelve quartets - opus 64 was probably amongst them - to a Parisian publisher. Whether Haydn approved of this is open to question - the dedication was, however, no longer present in the second imprint or the following ones. Our edition follows the Haydn Complete Edition and for the first time juxtaposes the quartet in E flat major and the two original trios.