September 13, 2025 

A Rose by Any Other Name

Franz Joseph Haydn is widely known as the “father of the string quartet,” but some works originally attributed to Haydn were in fact written by someone else. La Speranza performs one such work, a string quartet by Benedictine monk and devoted Haydn admirer, Roman Hofstetter. Audiences can compare and contrast Hofstetter’s work with one of Haydn’s own, a charming quartet in G major nicknamed “How do you do?” Spanish composer Juan Cristosomo de Arriaga’s amiable Variations for String Quartet belies traditional string quartet form and complements Haydn and Hofstetter’s familiar voices.

• Juan Cristóstomo de Arriaga: Tema variado en cuarteto (1820) 

•  Roman Hoffstetter: String Quartet in F major, Hob.III:17 (1772) 

• Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in G major, op. 33 no 5 (1781)

November 15, 2025

Creative Combinations

Most composers wouldn’t dare write a work for a horn, a violin, one cello, and TWO violas; fortunately for us, Mozart is not “most composers!” Natural hornist Elisabeth Axtell joins La Speranza for Mozart’s Quintet for Horn and Strings in E flat major, juxtaposed thematically with Mozart’s “Hunt” quartet. A string quartet written by Antonio Rosetti, Mozart contemporary and double bassist, rounds out the program. 

• W. A. Mozart: Quintet for Horn and Strings in E flat major, K 407

• Antonio Rosetti: String Quartet in c minor, Op. 6 no. 4 

• W. A. Mozart: String Quartet No. 17 in B flat major, K 458 “The Hunt”

February 7, 2026

A Time and Place

In “A Time and Place,” La Speranza challenges the presupposition that modern-day Austria and Germany were the only game in town when it came to chamber music composition and publication in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. By pairing works written and published elsewhere – the whimsical String Quartet in A major by George Onslow, a wealthy contemporary of Beethoven who published in Paris, France, with John Frederick Peter’s jovial String Quintet in D major, written in 1789 in Salem, North Carolina – we shine a light into forgotten corners of musical composition, honoring the history of music in the United States for its semiquincentennial in the process. Haydn’s sparkling String Quartet in A major, Op. 20, No. 6, completes the program. 

• George Onslow: String Quartet in A major, Op. 8 no. 3 

• John Frederick Peter: Quintet no. 1 for Strings in D major 

• Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in A major, Op. 20 no. 6

April 25, 2026

Finely Aged Firsts

In their season finale, La Speranza revisits the first string quartets – Nos. 1 – of Beethoven and Mendelssohn. First, that is, according to their catalog numbers. As is often the case, the chronology of works can be more complicated than the numbers attached to them. In truth, these quartets were written subsequent to each composer completing his actual first string quartet. Mendelssohn's first quartets followed on the heels of Beethoven’s last, demonstrating that one need not be revolutionary to produce works of exquisite beauty and depth.

• Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 18 no. 1

• Felix Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 12