Mainly famous as an opera composer, Donizetti is also the most important Italian representative of the string quartet genre. If the first quartets can be regarded as experiments of the young composer with a strictly classical form, the intermediate and later pieces are unmistakable expressions of a mature musical mind. The String Quartets Nos. 1-6 complete the two volumes already published (Nos. 7–12, 13–18); for the first time, the editions present a complete, critically edited musical text.