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String quartet
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players
two violin players
, a viola player and a cellist or a piece written to be performed by such a grou
p. The string quartet is one of the most prominent chamber ensembles in classica
l music, with most major composers, from the mid to late 18th century onwards, w
riting string quartets.
The string quartet was developed into its current form by the Austrian composer
Joseph Haydn, with his works in the 1750s establishing the genre. Ever since Hay
dn's day the string quartet has been considered a prestigious form and represent
s one of the true tests of the composer's art. With four parts to play with, a c
omposer working in anything like the classical key system has enough lines to fa
shion a full argument, but none to spare for padding. The closely related charac
ters of the four instruments, moreover, while they cover in combination an ample
compass of pitch, do not lend themselves to indulgence in purely colouristic ef
fects. Thus, where the composer of symphonies commands the means for textural en
richment beyond the call of his harmonic discourse, and where the concerto mediu
m offers the further resource of personal characterization and drama in the indi
vidual-pitted-against-the-mass vein, the writer of string quartets must perforce
concentrate on the bare bones of musical logic. Thus, in many ways the string q
uartet is pre-eminently the dialectical form of instrumental music, the one most
naturally suited to the activity of logical disputation and philosophical enqui
ry.
Quartet composition flourished in the Classical era, with Mozart, Beethoven and
Schubert following Haydn in each writing a number of quartets. A slight slackeni
ng in the pace of quartet composition occurred in the later 19th century, in par
t due to a movement away from classical forms by composers such as Liszt, Wagner
and Richard Strauss, though it received a resurgence in the 20th with the Secon
d Viennese School, Bartk, Shostakovich and Elliot Carter producing highly regarde
d examples of the genre. In the 21st century it remains an important and refined
musical form.
The standard structure for a string quartet is four movements, with the 1st move
ment in Sonata form, Allegro, in the tonic key; 2nd movement is a slow movement,
in the subdominant key; 3rd movement is a Minuet and Trio, in the tonic key; an
d the 4th movement is often in Rondo form or Sonata rondo form, in the tonic key
.
Some quartets play together for many years in ensembles which may be named after
the first violinist (e.g. the Takcs Quartet), a composer (e.g. the Borodin Quart
et) or a location (e.g. the Budapest Quartet). Well-known string quartets can be
found in the list of string quartet ensembles.
A string quartet in performance. From left to right - violin 1, violin 2, viola,
cello
String quartet score (quartal harmony from Schoenberg's String Quartet No. 1). A
bout this sound Play (helpinfo)
A string quartet in performance. From left to right - violin 1, violin 2, cello,
viola
Contents [hide]

1 History and Development

2 String quartet traditional form
3 Variations of string quartet
4 Notable string quartets
5 String quartets (ensembles)
6 Footnotes
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links
History and Development[edit]
If the notion of Joseph Haydn as the "Father of the Symphony" needs serious qual
ification, his status as the father of the string quartet remains unchallenged,[
citation needed] and the early history of the string quartet is in many ways the
history of Haydn's journey with the genre. Not that he composed the first quart
et of all: before Haydn alighted on the genre there had been several spasmodic e
xamples of divertimenti for two solo violins, viola and cello by Viennese compos
ers such as Georg Christoph Wagenseil and Holzbauer; and there had long been a t
radition of performing orchestral works with one instrument to a part. Wyn Jones
cites the widespread practice of playing works written for string orchestra, su
ch as divertimenti and serenades, with just four players, one to a part, there b
eing no separate (fifth) contabasso part in string scoring before the 19th centu
ry.[1] However, these composers showed no interest in exploring the development
of the string quartet as a medium.
The origins of the string quartet can be further traced back to the Baroque trio
sonata, in which two solo instruments performed with a continuo section consist
ing of a bass instrument (such as the cello) and keyboard. A very early example
is a four-part sonata for string ensemble by Gregorio Allegri (1582 1652) that mig
ht be considered an important prototype string quartet.[citation needed] By the
early 18th century, composers were often adding a third soloist; and moreover it
became common to omit the keyboard part, letting the cello support the bass lin
e alone. Thus when Alessandro Scarlatti wrote a set of six works entitled "Sonat
a Quattro per due Violini, Violetta [viola], e Violoncello senza Cembalo" (Sonat
a for four instruments: two violins, viola, and cello without harpsichord), this
was a natural evolution from the existing tradition.[2]
The string quartet in its now accepted form came about with Haydn.[3] If the com
bination of two violins, viola and cello was not unknown before Haydn, when it o
ccurred in chamber music it was more likely through circumstance than conscious
design; certainly the sting quartet enjoyed no recognized status as an ensemble
in the way that two violins with basso continuo - the so-called 'trio sonata' had for more than a hundred years. Even the composition of Haydn's earliest stri
ng quartets owed more to chance than artistic imperative.[4] During the 1750s, w
hen the young composer was still working mainly as a teacher and violinist in Vi
enna, he would occasionally be invited to spend time at the nearby castle of one
Baron Carl von Joseph Edler von Frnberg. There he would play chamber music in an
ad hoc ensemble consisting of Frnberg's steward, a priest and a local cellist, a
nd when the Baron asked for some new music for the group to play, Haydn's first
string quartets were born. It is not clear whether any of these works ended up i
n the two sets published in the mid-1760s and known as Haydn's Opp.1 and 2 ('Op.
0' is a quartet included in some early editions of Op.1, and only rediscovered i
n the 1930s), but it seems reasonable to assume that they were similar in charac
ter.
Haydn's early biographer Georg August Griesinger tells the story thus:
The following purely chance circumstance had led him to try his luck at the comp
osition of quartets. A Baron Frnberg had a place in Weinzierl, several stages fro
m Vienna, and he invited from time to time his pastor, his manager, Haydn, and A
lbrechtsberger (a brother of the celebrated contrapuntist Albrechtsberger) in or

der to have a little music. Frnberg requested Haydn to compose something that cou
ld be performed by these four amateurs. Haydn, then eighteen years old,[5] took
up this proposal, and so originated his first quartet which, immediately it appe
ared, received such general approval that Haydn took courage to work further in
this form.[6]
Haydn went on to write nine other quartets around this time. These works were pu
blished as his Op. 1 and Op. 2; one quartet went unpublished, and some of the ea
rly "quartets" are actually symphonies missing their wind parts. They have five
movements and take the form: fast movement, minuet and trio I, slow movement, mi
nuet and trio II, and fast finale. As Finscher notes, they draw stylistically on
the Austrian divertimento tradition.[4]
After these early efforts Haydn did not return to the string quartet for several
years, but when he did so, it was to make a significant step in the genre's dev
elopment. The intervening years saw Haydn begin his lifelong employment as Kapel
lmeister to the Esterhazy princes, for who he was required to compose numerous s
ymphonies and dozens of trios for violin, viola and the curious bass instrument
called the baryton (played by Prince Nikolaus Esterhazy himself). The opportunit
ies for experiment which both these genres offered Haydn perhaps helped him in t
he pursuit of the more advanced quartet style found in the eighteen worked publi
shed in the early 1770s as Opp.9, 17 and 20. These are written in a form that be
came established as standard both for Haydn and for other composers. Clearly com
posed as sets, these quartets feature a four-movement layout with more broadly c
onceived, moderately paced first movements and, in increasing measure, a democra
tic and conversational interplay of parts, close-knit thematic development, and
skilful though often self-effacing use of counterpoint. The convincing realizati
ons of the progressive aims of the Op.20 set, in particular, makes them the firs
t major peak in the history of the string quartet.[7] Certainly they offered to
their own time state-of-the art models to follow for the best part of a decade;
the teenage Mozart, in his early quartets, was among the composers moved to imit
ate many of their characteristics, right down to the vital fugues with which Hay
dn sought to bring greater architectural weight to the finales of nos. 2, 5 and
6.
After Op.20 it becomes harder to point to similar major jumps in the string quar
tet's development in Haydn's hands, though not due to any lack of invention or a
pplication on the composer's part. As Donald Tovey put it: "with Op.20 the histo
rical development of Haydn's quartets reaches its goal; and further progress is
not progress in any historical sense, but simply the difference between one mast
erpiece and the next."[8]
Ever since Haydn's day the string quartet has been prestigious and considered on
e of the true tests of a composer's art. This may be partly because the palette
of sound is more restricted than with orchestral music, forcing the music to sta
nd more on its own rather than relying on tonal color; or from the inherently co
ntrapuntal tendency in music written for four equal instruments.
Quartet composition flourished in the Classical era, with Mozart, Beethoven and
Schubert each writing a number of quartets to set alongside Haydn's. Beethoven i
n particular is credited with developing the genre in an experimental and dynami
c fashion, especially in his later series of quartets written in the 1820s up un
til his death. Their forms and ideas inspired and continue to inspire musicians
and composers, such as Richard Wagner and Bla Bartok. Schubert's last musical wis
h was to hear Beethoven's Op.131 in C? minor quartet, which he did on 14 Novembe
r 1828, just five days before his death. Upon listening to an earlier performanc
e of this quartet, Schubert had remarked, "After this, what is left for us to wr
ite?" Wagner, when reflecting on Op. 131's first movement, said that it "reveals
the most melancholy sentiment expressed in music". Of the late quartets, Beetho
ven cited his own favorite as Op. 131, which he saw as his most perfect single w

ork.
A slight slackening in the pace of quartet composition occurred in the 19th cent
ury; here, composers often wrote only one quartet, perhaps to show that they cou
ld fully command this hallowed genre, although Antonn Dvork wrote a series of 14.
With the onset of the Modern era of classical music, the quartet returned to ful
l popularity among composers, and played a key role in the development of Arnold
Schoenberg, Bla Bartk, and Dmitri Shostakovich especially. After the Second World
War, some composers, such as Pierre Boulez and Olivier Messiaen questioned the
relevance of the string quartet and avoided writing them. However, from the 1960
s onwards, many composers have shown a renewed interest in the genre. During his
tenure as Master of the Queen's Music, Peter Maxwell Davies produced a set of t
en entitled the Naxos Quartets (to a commission from Naxos Records) from 2001-20
07.
String quartet traditional form[edit]
A composition for four players of stringed instruments may be in any form. Quart
ets written in the classical period usually have four movements with a large-sca
le structure similar to that of a symphony[citation needed]:
1st movement: Sonata form, Allegro, in the tonic key;
2nd movement: Slow, in the subdominant key;
3rd movement: Minuet and Trio, in the tonic key;
4th movement: Rondo form or Sonata rondo form, in the tonic key.
Substantial modifications to the typical structure were already achieved in Beet
hoven's later quartets, and despite some notable examples to the contrary, compo
sers writing in the twentieth century increasingly abandoned this structure.[cit
ation needed]
Variations of string quartet[edit]
Many other chamber groups can be seen as modifications of the string quartet: th
e string quintet is a string quartet with an extra[clarification needed] viola,
cello or double bass. Mozart's string quintets used an additional viola, while S
chubert's string quintet in C major (D.956, 1828) utilized two cellos. Boccherin
i wrote a few quintets for string quartet with a double bass included as the fif
th instrument. The string trio has one violin, a viola, and a cello; the piano q
uintet is a string quartet with an added piano; the piano quartet is a string qu
artet with one of the violins replaced by a piano; and the clarinet quintet is a
string quartet with an added clarinet, such as those by Mozart and Brahms. Brah
ms also wrote a pair of String sextets. Further expansions have also been produc
ed such as the String octet by Mendelssohn.
Notable string quartets[edit]
Some of the most popular or widely acclaimed works for string quartet include:
Joseph Haydn's 68 string quartets, in particular op. 20, op. 33, op. 76 and op.
64, No. 5 ("The Lark").[9]
Luigi Boccherini's more than 90 string quartets [10]
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's 23 string quartets, in particular K. 465 ("Dissonance"
)[9]
Ludwig van Beethoven's 18 string quartets, in particular the five "middle" quart
ets op. 59 nos 1-3, op. 74 and op. 95 as well as the five late quartets,[11] op.
127 in E flat major, op. 130 in B flat major, op. 131 in C sharp minor (in seve
n movements), op 135 in F major and the Grosse Fuge in B flat major op. 133, the
original final movement of op. 130.
Franz Schubert's 15 string quartets, notably his String Quartet No. 12 in C mino
r ("Quartettsatz"), String Quartet No. 13 in A minor ("Rosamunde"), String Quart
et No. 14 in D minor ("Death and the Maiden"), and String Quartet No. 15 in G ma
jor.
Felix Mendelssohn's String Quartet No. 2 (early example of cyclic form)[12]

Johannes Brahms' three string quartets, op. 51 No. 1 (in C minor), op. 51 No. 2
(in A minor) and op. 67 (in B flat major)
Bedrich Smetana's String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, "From my Life", considered th
e first piece of chamber programme music[13]
Antonn Dvork's String Quartets No. 9-14, particularly String Quartet No. 12 in F m
ajor, "American";[9] also No. 3 is an exceptionally long quartet (lasting 56 min
utes)[14]
Claude Debussy String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 (1893)
Jean Sibelius's String Quartet in D minor, op. 56, "Voces intimae"[15]
Maurice Ravel's String Quartet in F major
Leo Jancek's two string quartets, String Quartet No. 1, "Kreutzer Sonata" (1923),
inspired by Leo Tolstoy's novel The Kreutzer Sonata,[16] itself named after Beet
hoven's Kreutzer Sonata; and his second string quartet, Intimate Letters (1928)
Arnold Schoenberg's four string quartets - No. 1 op. 7 (1904 05) No. 2 op. 10 (190
7-08, noteworthy for its first ever inclusion of the human voice in a string qua
rtet), No. 3 op. 30 (1927) and No. 4 op. 37 (1936)
Bla Bartk's six string quartets[16] (1909, 1915-17, 1926, 1927, 1934, 1939)
Alban Berg's String Quartet, op. 3 and Lyric Suite, later adapted for string orc
hestra[16]
Anton Webern's 6 Bagatelles for string quartet op. 9 and his String Quartet op.
28
Sergei Prokofiev's two string quartets
Dmitri Shostakovich's 15 string quartets, in particular the String Quartet No. 8
in C minor, op. 110 (1960), and No. 15 op. 144 (1974) in six Adagio movements[1
7]
Benjamin Britten's 3 string quartets
Charles Ives's two string quartets, no. 1 (1896) but more importantly the comple
x no. 2 (1911-13)
Elliott Carter's five string quartets
Henri Dutilleux's string quartet Ainsi la nuit (1973-76)
Gyrgy Ligeti's two string quartets, especially his Second String Quartet (1968)
Morton Feldman's String Quartet No. 2 (1983), exceptionally long quartet (four a
nd a half to over five hours depending on performance, although in some performa
nces the audience is not expected to stay for its entirety)[18]
Karlheinz Stockhausen's Helikopter-Streichquartett (1992 93), to be played by the
four musicians in four helicopters[19]
Helmut Lachenmann's three string quartets, Gran Torso (1971/76/88), Reigen selig
er Geister (1989) and Grido (2001)
Brian Ferneyhough's six string quartets
Salvatore Sciarrino's 9 string quartets
Alfred Schnittke's four string quartets
Other composers of string quartets can be found at List of string quartet compos
ers.
String quartets (ensembles)[edit]
Whereas individual string players often group together to make ad hoc string qua
rtets, others continue to play together for many years in ensembles which may be
named after the first violinist (e.g. the Takcs Quartet), a composer (e.g. the B
orodin Quartet) or a location (e.g. the Budapest Quartet). Established quartets
may undergo changes in membership whilst retaining their original name. Well-kno
wn string quartets can be found in the list of string quartet ensembles.
Footnotes[edit]
Jump up ^ Wyn Jones (2003, 179).
Jump up ^ Wyn Jones (2003, 178).
Jump up ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jg8zt.
^ Jump up to: a b Finscher (2000, 398)
Jump up ^ This would put the date earlier, around 1750; Finscher as well as Webs
ter and Feder judge that Griesinger erred here.
Jump up ^ Griesinger (1810/1963, 13)

Jump up ^ Lindsay Kemp: Joseph Haydn: The String Quartets, Decca 200.
Jump up ^ Donald Tovey: Essays in Musical Analysis.
^ Jump up to: a b c "Famous String quartets", SapphireQuartet.co.uk.
Jump up ^ http://www.quartets.de/articles/origins.html
Jump up ^ Morris, Edmund, Beethoven: The Universal Composer. New York: Atlas Boo
ks / HarperCollins, 2005. ISBN 0-06-075974-7
Jump up ^ For a complete analysis of this quartet, see Griffiths, Paul (1985). T
he String Quartet: a History. Thames and Hudson. ISBN 0-500-27383-9.
Jump up ^ http://forgottenstringquartets.com/site/1850-1900/smetana-string-quart
et-no-2/
Jump up ^ Quartetto III Re Maggiore, Editio Supraphon. Page xii
Jump up ^ Griffiths (2001), 6
^ Jump up to: a b c Griffiths (2001), 7
Jump up ^ Griffiths (2001), 8
Jump up ^ Ducibella, Jim (April 13, 2011). "The FLUX String Quartet to perform s
ix-hour Feldman piece on April 21", WM.edu.
Jump up ^ http://forgottenstringquartets.com/site/1975-2000/most-bizarre-stringquartet/
References[edit]
Finscher, Ludwig (2000) Joseph Haydn und seine Zeit. Laaber, Germany: Laaber.
Griesinger, Georg August (1810/1963) Biographical Notes Concerning Joseph Haydn.
Leipzig: Breitkopf und Hrtel. English translation by Vernon Gotwals, in Haydn: T
wo Contemporary Portraits. Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin Press.
Griffiths, Paul (2001), "String quartet", article in The New Grove Dictionary of
Music and Musicians (New York: Grove, 2001).
Webster, James, and Georg Feder (2001), "Joseph Haydn", article in The New Grove
Dictionary of Music and Musicians (New York: Grove, 2001). Published separately
as a book: The New Grove Haydn (New York: Macmillan 2002, ISBN 0-19-516904-2).
Wyn Jones, David (2003) "The origins of the quartet. in Robin Stowell, ed., The
Cambridge companion to the string quartet. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-52
1-00042-4.
Further reading[edit]
Francis Vuibert (2009). Rpertoire universel du quatuor cordes, ProQuartet-CEMC. I
SBN 978-2-9531544-0-5
David Blum (1986). The Art of Quartet Playing: The Guarneri Quartet in Conversat
ion with David Blum, New York: Alfred A. Knopf Inc. ISBN 0-394-53985-0,
Arnold Steinhardt (1998).Indivisible by four, Farrar, Straus Giroux. ISBN 0-37452700-8
Edith Eisler (2000). 21st-Century String Quartets, String Letter Publishing. ISB
N 1-890490-15-6
Paul Griffiths (1983). The String Quartet: A History, New York: Thames and Hudso
n. ISBN 0-500-01311-X
David Rounds (1999), The Four & the One: In Praise of String Quartets, Fort Brag
g, CA: Lost Coast Press. ISBN 1-882897-26-9.
Robin Stowell, ed (2003) The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet, Cambridg
e: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-00042-4. A general guide to the histor
y of string quartet ensembles, their repertory, and performance.
Charles Rosen (1971). The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Faber & Fab
er. ISBN 0-571-10234-4 (soft covers): ISBN 0-571-09118-0 (hardback).
Reginald Barrett-Ayres (1974). Joseph Haydn and the String Quartet, Schirmer Boo
ks. ISBN 0-02-870400-2.
Hans Keller (1986). The Great HAYDN Quartets - Their Interpretation, J M Dent. I
SBN 0-460-86107-7.
Robert Winter, ed (1996) The Beethoven Quartet Companion, University of Californ
ia Press; New Ed edition (21 Mar 1996)
External links[edit]
Greg Sandow - Introducing String Quartets at the Wayback Machine (archived July
18, 2011)
A brief history of the development of the String Quartet up to Beethoven
Beethoven's string quartets

Art of the States: string quartet works for string quartet by American composers
String Quartet Sound-bites from lesser known composers E.G. Onslow, Viotti, Rhei
nberger, Gretchaninov, A.Taneyev, Kiel, Busoni & many more.
European archive String quartet recordings on copyright free Lp's at the Europea
n Archive (for non-American users only).
Shostakovich: the string quartets
String quartet compositions and performers since about 1914 and the connections
between them
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