Like Reicha's and Kuhlau's quartets, this is one of the best early nineteenth-century works for four flutes. As in Haydn's Emperor Quartet, it contains variations on the theme 'Gott! Erhalte Franz den Kaiser'. This edition is the first to include a score. Only recently was it discovered that the quartet is not by Fürstenau but by Sigismund Neukomm. The discovery does not detract from the music.
