Two Quartets of Joseph Haydn for the Duke of Alba

Abstract

It is widely known, that Haydn was in contact also with the Spanish nobility. He even established a contract with the Countess-Duchess of Benavente, in which he promised to send her each year about twelve new compositions. Although we don’t know if he fulfi lled this requirement every year, he probably sent some works to Spain, which remain still unknown or unidentified. For instance, according to a letter of Carlos Alejandro de Lelis, who was representing the Countess in Vienna, two quartets destined to the Duke of Alba have been sent to the Countess of Benavente at the end of 1784 or at the beginning of 1785. In order to shed some light on the problem of identification of these quartets, different interpretations of this and other contemporary letters are brought into discussion.