Common wisdom calls Haydn the “father of the string quartet”; and although common wisdom can often be accused of oversimplifying or distorting the facts, in this case it seems to be right on target. In fact, while many composers were writing four-part compositions for string instruments in the mid-18th century, no one did as much to develop the string quartet as we know it today as Franz Joseph Haydn. At any rate, the earliest works included in the complete edition of Haydn”s quartets are not yet real quartets in the later sense of the word. These twelve “quartets” were published, without Haydn's knowledge, as “Op. 1” and “Op. 2”; three of them are arrangements, probably not even by the composer, of works in other genres:  one was originally a symphony, and two others were sextets for two horns and strings. The rest were written for a nobleman named Karl Joseph Fürnberg who lived near Melk (the site of the famous abbey); he had regular quartet sessions at his estate, where Haydn himself played the viola.

The quartets of Op. 1 and 2 do not follow the four-movement format of the later works. They are in five movements, with two minuets in second and fourth place, respectively. In other words, they are really divertimentos (which is what the manuscripts often call them). These works show the young Haydn in perfect command of his compositional technique and even contain interesting asymmetries in the phrase structure that are characteristic of later Haydn. The movements are short and concise, with a few surprising exceptions such as the central Adagio of the first quartet, and expansive aria for first violin framed by a delicate introduction and epilogue.