The Great Haydn Quarters by Hans Keller While Hans Keller was always a prolific writer of scholarly articles, The Great Haydn Quartets is his only book-length treatise to demonstrate his method of "functional analysis", that is, his attempt to identify and isolate the single unifying ideas (thematic, harmonic, rhythmic, structural) from which a work is derived. using this method, he traces the implementation of these themes throughout the course of the composition. For Keller, Haydn emerges as the founder of the quartet form and remains its greatest exponent. By Keller's estimate, about 45 of Haydn's quartets -- those discussed here -- are "absolutely flawless, consistently original master quartets, each a violent, multi-dimensional contrast to any of the others." This book is a significant achievement in Haydn studies. CL, ISBN: 0807611670 $22.50 (Can: $34.00)