"Tales and Legends on four strings"

Joseph Haydn (1799) : String Quartet Op.77 N.1 (23’) 
Piotr Illytch Tchaïkovsky (1876) : String Quartet Op.30 (35’)

Franz Schubert (1876) : String Quartett N.14 «Death and the Maiden» (40’)

This programme highlights the folk dimension of so-called "learned" classical music. From Haydn, who sought to include Gypsy folklore in his music for the court, we then discover Tchaïkovsky, who wanted to give a voice to the passionate and rich traditional folk songs of his people in a context of national affirmation. Schubert, meanwhile, repeatedly evokes the tales and legends of his country, and names his famous fourteenth quartet after the title of a forgotten legend...