J. Haydn. First edition of the six String Quartets op.33, [H.III.37-42], Vienna, Artaria, [c.1783]

HAYDN, JOSEPH

Six Quatuors [op.33] Pour deux Violons, alto, et Basse, composes par Ioseph Haydn, Maitre de Chapelle de S.A. Monseigneur le Prince Esterhazy &c. Oeuvre XXXIII [H.III/37-42], Vienna: Artaria Comp, [c.1783]

first edition, second issue, large 4to (c.34 x 26cm), 4 engraved playing parts, each with an elaborate decorative title within a wreath, priced at "f4. x 30", "Cum Priv. S.C.M." on titles, 2 blank pages after each title, engraved music, plate no.26, manuscript price, some browning and bookseller's label to first violin part

RARE: We can trace no auction record for any copy of Artaria's first edition of Haydn's op.33 string quartets. This important set was singled out by Charles Rosen in his book The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven (1971), as establishing the essential features and musical grammar of late eighteenth-century Classical Music. 

LITERATURE:

Hoboken (1957) volume 1, page 396; Hoboken Collection (volume 7) 558; cf Hirsch, iii 286; RISM H 3476