h; a light piece used for entertainment. Franz Joseph Haydn is widely viewed as the "father of the string quartet", and during the mid to late 18th century established arguably one of the most durable chamber music formats of the next two centuries. In relation to individuality, and Classical composers' striving for it, this was certainly a very unique achievement. It began with one of Haydn's early patrons, Baron von Fürnberg (a cellist), commissioning music for his three friends two of who played the violin and one the viola, and from this:
             "Haydn's earliest divertimento-like works (violin-dominated, the other instruments providing simple accompaniment) soon circulated around the continent, forging his early reputation"
             Haydn also established the string quartet's four-movement form. The first movement usually in sonata form played fast, the second slow, the third would have been a minuet and evolved into the scherzo, and the fourth would be rapid and concluding. These movements would often be in rounded binary form with the first section modulating from the tonic to the dominant, the second section remaining in the dominant and the third comprising of essentially a return to the first section material in the tonic. Haydn consciously employed the galant style which was light and elegant, and emphasized melody, and it is his use of melody which really expresses his individuality as a composer in the Classical period. Music by previous composers such as Bach and Handel tended to give equal importance t
             ...