Expert: David Froom - 2/11/2007

Question

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The text above is a follow-up to ...Music link.
You may find it also at towerrecords.com, or barnes and noble.com
Thanks,
Chris

-----Question-----
The sound track for "Flags of our Fathers" has a piece from Haydn titled: "string quartet opus#6 second movement".
The problem is, I try to find this under Haydn works elsewhere, he has no string quartets listed under opus 6.
Is the CD listing the wrong composer?
As a matter of fact I find it hard to find any string quartets listed under opus#6.
Please help!  
Thanks
-----Answer-----
You are right.  There are no Haydn Opus 6 string quartets.  

I didn't see the movie.  I tried finding a link to the music to listen to a sample of it.  Unfortunately, all I could find, at the Amazon site, an excerpt from Mozart Symphony 40, 3rd movement (also supposedly in the movie) -- but the Mozart movement arranged for string quartet.

If you can find a place where I can hear an excerpt, I likely can help you.  Please write back if you find such a link.

David Froom

Answer
Well, they messed up a couple of times.  At the Tower Records site, the thing identified as Mozart is Haydn, and vice versa.  At the Amazon site, the thing called Mozart is missing, and the thing called Haydn is really Mozart.

Anyway, the Mozart, as I mentioned in a previous email, is indeed the third movement from the g minor symphony (symphony #40) -- but arranged for string quartet.  You need to hear this in the original.  It is a fabulous work, much better than the recording on the sound track would make you think.

The Haydn music is, of course, not Opus 6.  It is Opus 1.  In those days, a composer would write a set of complete works and publish them under a single opus number.  Haydn's Opus 1 is a set of six string quartets.  The sixth string quartet is, therefore, Opus 1, #6.  I can see how they got it wrong:  String Quartet #6 in C major, Opus 1, #6.  Just the thing that would get past a proofreader who didn't know anything about classical music.

You should also hear a good recording of this.  The excerpts of both of these pieces I heard on the Tower Records site sound as if four pretty good players got together and sightread the pieces.  You need to hear a good recording.  The Kodaly Quartet has recorded this on Naxos.

As for the Mozart, there are dozens, maybe hundreds of recordings of Symphony #40 in g minor.  It is one of his most famous symphonies.  Your local library probably has at least a few recordings of this work on CD for you to check out.

Happy listening -- and I'm happy to clear this mystery up.

David Froom