Der Tod und das Mädchen

Two string quartets before lunch. Haydn's G minor, op. 74 no. 3, has its nickname from the galloping figure that drives it along; Schubert's D 810 takes its own from one of his songs, whose tune he pulls apart into variations for the slow movement. He wrote it knowing how ill he was, and the piece does not need that explained to it. Played by musicians of the Staatskapelle Weimar in the theatre's foyer.