Carl Goldmark, Jewish composer of Hungaro-Austrian descent, hardly received any comprehensive musical training in his youth, which may be why he only gained public attention as a composer at the age of 30, around the year 1860, with his string quartet Op.8.

Two years later, Goldmark's string quintet Op.9 premiered, but it was thought of as too bold for the taste of the audience, so its performance was refused by Ferdinand David, concert master of the Gewandhaus Orchestra in Leipzig, who had had some unpleasant experiences with the string sextet by Brahms.

The Haydn Quartet, for more than 20 years 'quartet in residence' in Esterhazy Palace in Eisenstadt, is being supported by the outstanding cellist and professor Rudolph Leopold.