AMONG Schubert's greatest pleasures, at one period, was spending some months in summer at the Hungarian estate of his patrons and friends, the Esterhazys.
This Quartet was probably written during such a visit, in 1824. Its Finale shows the influenco of the folk-tunes that the Composer used to onjoy picking up from servants and peasants in the district.
There are four Movements, full of sunny melody. The theme of the Second (Slow) Movement will be familiar to many listeners, for Schubert used it also in his Incidental Music for the play Rosamunde (written the winter before the visit mentioned above), and again in one of his Impromptus.