Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) has often been called "Papa Haydn," partly because he is recognized as the "father" of the symphony but perhaps also on account of the congenial, humorous grandfatherly personality that comes through his music. As the founder of the symphony, the most sophisticated and subtle form of instrumental composition ever achieved in the West, Haydn rightly deserves this attention, but his contribution to another multi-movement instrumental genre is also noteworthy, namely, the string quartet. Like symphonies, string quartets typically have four movements which proceed in tempo as 1) fast, 2) slow, 3) brisk triple meter (minuet), and 4) still faster. The thing that differentiates the two genres—apart from the obvious fact that the full orchestra plays a symphony—is something we might call "tone," in particular, a more familiar, personal tone. In string quartets equal relations pervade the four instruments (two violins, viola, and cello), and an unusual degree of integration prevails amongst the parts. Goethe compared this to "four intelligent friends holding witty conversation."Haydn's wittiness in this slow movement from the op. 76, no. 3 quartet, involves his use of a tune that he had written earlier in 1797 in honor of the birthday celebrated by the Austrian Emperor Franz II. Known as the "Emperor's theme," this tune has had a long life. Eventually adopted as the Austrian national anthem, it later became a) a hymn (under the name Austria) and still appears in the Episcopal hymnal, b) the Nazi's theme song with the text "Deutschland, Deutschland, über alles," and c) finally as none other than the Sewanee hymn (yes, you've heard it at Convocations). Haydn lets us see every angle of his tune as explores it in the time-honored form of theme and variations.

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