Airs and graces

by | 4 Oct 2025 | blog

National identity is a very topical subject, to put it mildly. The three works in DSQ’s autumn programme have overt affinities with particular nationalities while not being excessively nationalistic about it. How we have somehow avoided programming Haydn’s ‘Emperor’ quartet Op 76 No 3 up to now is a bit baffling. It is one of Haydn’s most celebrated works, with a slow movement that has probably the best known and most played tune that he ever wrote. Haydn was very impressed when visiting London twice between 1791 and 1795, with the role of the British national anthem “God save the King” in unifying and motivating people in a sense of national identity. Very aware of the imminent threat of the Austro-Hungarian empire being invaded by the French, under Napoleon, he and others felt that there was a need for an Austrian national anthem to help rally the nation. The result was “Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser”, with words by Lorenz Leopold Haschka and music by Joseph Haydn.  This tune (requisitioned years later for use as the German national anthem as we know it), Haydn thought to place at the heart of his Op 76 No 3 string quartet, written in the same year as the anthem. Haydn treats the tune to a set of variations, all four quartet members having a chance to play the theme accompanied by the others. It is gentle and dignified throughout, and utterly devoid of bombast, as if Haydn is suggesting that in grace and sensitivity there is strength.   Frank Bridge’s composition teacher at the Royal College of Music, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford,...