String Quartets, Op. 3 (attributed to Haydn)

The String Quartets, Op. 3 are a set of six string quartets published under Joseph Haydn's name by the French music publisher Bailleux in 1777 and subsequently reprinted in 1801 by Maison Pleyel as part of a series of the complete Haydn string quartets.[1]

Long held to be by Haydn, the works had troubled musicologists as they seemed out of place in the developmental sequence of string quartets composed by Haydn.[2] The lack, however, of surviving manuscripts made confirming that these works were by Haydn or another composer difficult, compounded by the fact that Haydn had included them in his 1805 catalog of works.[1]: 2 

In 1964, musicologists Alan Tyson and H. C. Robbins Landon, proposed from their research that Bailleux had substituted Haydn's name for that of Romanus Hoffstetter, a minor composer later known for his admiration of Haydn, a move clearly intended by the publisher to increase sales.[1]: 2-3 [3]

In the 1980s, Scott Fruehwald claimed to "show conclusively" that the quartets were not by Haydn, based on stylistic analysis.[4] The study also asserted that only the first two quartets were by Hoffstetter.


  1. ^ a b c Badley, Alan (2002). Haydn (attrib. to Romanus Hoffstetter): String Quartets Op. 3, Nos. 3-6 (CD). Naxos Records. 8.555704.
  2. ^ Grave, Floyd; Grave, Margaret G (2006). The String Quartets of Joseph Haydn. Oxford University Press. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-19-517357-4.
  3. ^ Wigmore, Richard (2009). Pocket Guide: Haydn. London: Faber & Faber Limited. p. 179. ISBN 978-0-571-23412-7.
  4. ^ Fruehwald, Scott (1988). Authenticity Problem's in Joseph Haydn's Early Instrumental Works: A Stylistic Investigation. New York: Pendragon Press.