Composed 1781; 18 minutes

When Haydn published his six Op. 33 string quartets in April 1782, they caused an immediate stir among a public eager for new music. He hadn’t written a quartet in nearly a decade, and these were the first he is known to have composed specifically for publication. In a now-famous phrase, Haydn described them as being “in an entirely new and special manner.” Mozart was among those impressed by their clarity, formal balance, and democratic handling of all four instruments—a quality in step with Enlightenment ideals. These six quartets also deepen the interplay among all four instruments—not just in the development sections, but throughout. Viola and cello step out of their traditional supporting roles, and Haydn shows how small motivic fragments can serve as seeds for rich development.

The Op. 33 quartets became so popular that multiple nicknames followed their publication. An early German edition featured an allegorical female figure on its cover, leading to the name Jungfernquartette or ‘Maiden’ Quartets. In English-speaking countries, they’re often called the ‘Russian’ Quartets, since one was performed at the Vienna Hofburg in December 1781 for Grand Duke Paul, the future Czar of Russia. In these works, Haydn’s “entirely new and special manner” is especially evident in the slow movements, which are more richly textured than in his earlier quartets. Elements of folk music often animate the finales.

Another nickname, ‘Gli Scherzi’, points to Haydn’s innovation of replacing the stately minuet with the livelier, more folk-like scherzo (Italian for ‘joke’). This spirit of good-natured humor pervades all four movements of the Quartet in D major, Op. 33 No. 6—the most easy-going of the set. Its scherzo features offbeat accents and a rustic charm, while the cello’s wandering line shows Haydn’s skill in blending lightness with expressive depth. The finale brings these contrasts together in a double variation in which a lilting major-key theme is paired with a somber minor one. The effect is both satisfying and forward-looking—Haydn would return to this structure in many later finales.