Carl Nielsen's String Quartet No. 4 in F major or Quartet for Two Violins, Viola and Cello in F major, Opus 44, was composed between February and July 1906. The last of Nielsen's four string quartets in the official series, its first public performance took place on 30 November 1907 in Copenhagen.
The Fourth String Quartet was composed between two of Nielsen's major dramatic works, the comic opera Maskarade and his music for Holger Drachmann's melodrama Hr. Oluf, han rider -. The first two movements were written in February and March and the last two in June and July 1906. [1]
It was first performed privately at the home of Nielsen's friends, Viggo and Bodil Neergaard, Fuglsang on the island of Lolland. In August 1906, Nielsen wrote to his friend Henrik Knudsen: "Today we played my new quartet and it sounds as I had expected. I am beginning to discover the true nature of string instruments."
The quartet was originally entitled Piacevolezza after the first movement which was marked Allegro piacevolo ed indolente (agreeably and lazily). In the revised 1919 edition, the movement was renamed Allegro non tanto e comodo and the title was dropped. The work remained in manuscript form until 1923 when it was published by Peters of Leipzig. [2]
Its first public performance by the Copenhagen String Quartet on 30 November 1907 in the Odd Fellows Mansion, Copenhagen was however less well received, no doubt as a result of its progressive style. Charles Kjerulf of Politiken stated: "If what the four gentlemen with the strings sat there playing last night in all earnestness is to be considered beautiful and good music... then sciatica is a musical treat, for it too is very disagreeable." But Robert Henriques writing in Vort Land was more positive: "In the first movement of the new quartet one immediately admires the polyphonic dexterity with which the composer expresses himself and the merry bird-twittering sound that gives the piece its own tone. Unlike this fresh approach, the Andante is a piece of cathedral music in the pure Johannes Jørgensen vein, often atmospheric but a little elaborate. It is succeeded by a graceful Allegretto, which wittily cheats the listeners out of anything obvious, yet still does not depart from what is possible to grasp. And then the final movement ends the piece in full harmony with an overall impression that leaves one wanting to renew one’s acquaintance with the interesting work, whose satisfying performance is due to Messrs. Ludvig Holm, Schiørring, Sandby and Ernst Høeberg." [1]
Robert Wilfred Levick Simpson was an English composer, as well as a long-serving BBC producer and broadcaster.
The String Quartet No. 6 in B-flat major, Op. 18, No. 6, was written between 1798 and 1800 by Ludwig van Beethoven and published in 1801, and dedicated to Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz.
The String Quartet No. 9 in C major, Op. 59, No. 3, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven and published in 1808. This work is the third of three of his "Razumovsky" cycle of string quartets, and is a product of his "middle" period. It consists of four movements:
Franz Schubert's final chamber work, the String Quintet in C major is sometimes called the "Cello Quintet" because it is scored for a standard string quartet plus an extra cello instead of the extra viola which is more usual in conventional string quintets. It was composed in 1828 and completed just two months before the composer's death. The first public performance of the piece did not occur until 1850, and publication occurred three years later in 1853. Schubert's only full-fledged string quintet, it has been praised as "sublime" or "extraordinary" and as possessing "bottomless pathos," and is generally regarded as Schubert's finest chamber work as well as one of the greatest compositions in all chamber music.
The Octet in F major, D. 803 was composed by Franz Schubert in March 1824. It was commissioned by the renowned clarinetist Ferdinand Troyer and came from the same period as two of Schubert's other major chamber works, the 'Rosamunde' and 'Death and the Maiden' string quartets.
The Divertimento in E♭ major, K. 563, is a string trio, written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1788, the year in which he completed his last three symphonies and his "Coronation" Piano Concerto. It is his last divertimento and different from his other divertimenti not only in its instrumentation but also in its compositorial ambition and scope.
The String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, nicknamed "Dissonance" on account of its unusual slow introduction, is perhaps the most famous of his quartets.
The String Quintet No. 4 in G minor, K. 516, written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, is like all of Mozart's string quintets a "viola quintet" in that it is scored for string quartet and an extra viola . The mood of the piece is dark and melancholic, typical of Mozart's G minor works.
The String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13, was composed by Felix Mendelssohn in 1827. Written when he was 18 years old, it was, despite its official number, Mendelssohn's first mature string quartet. One of Mendelssohn's most passionate works, the A minor Quartet is one of the earliest and most significant examples of cyclic form in music.
The Serenade in D major for Violin, Viola and Cello, Op. 8, is a string trio composition by Ludwig van Beethoven. It was written from 1796–97, and published in 1797 by Artaria in Vienna.
The six string quartets Op. 20 by Joseph Haydn are among the works that earned Haydn the sobriquet "the father of the string quartet". The quartets are considered a milestone in the history of composition; in them, Haydn develops compositional techniques that were to define the medium for the next 200 years.
Carl Nielsen's String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Opus 13, was first performed privately on 18 December 1889 in Copenhagen. It was the first of Nielsen's four string quartets in the official series.
Carl Nielsen's String Quartet No. 3 in E-flat major or Quartet for Two Violins, Viola and Cello in E-flat major, Opus 14, was composed in 1897 and 1898. The third of Nielsen's four string quartets in the official series, it was first performed privately in Vor Forening on 1 May 1899 with Anton Svendsen, Ludvig Holm, Frederik Marke and Ejler Jensen as performers.
Carl Nielsen's String Quartet No. 2 in F minor or Quartet for Two Violins, Viola and Cello in F minor, Opus 5, was composed in 1890, partly in Denmark but mostly in Germany where the composer was travelling on a stipend. The second of Nielsen's four string quartets in the official series, it was first performed privately for Joseph Joachim on 18 November 1890 at the Hochschule für Ausübende Tonkunst in Berlin.
Potpourri No. 4 in B major, Op. 24, by Louis Spohr, was completed in 1808. The work was one of several compositions that Spohr, a noted violinist, wrote to provide a virtuoso encore when performing more serious chamber works such as Beethoven's Opus 18 string quartets. Written for a virtuoso first violin, with accompanying string trio, like many similar works of this period, was based on themes from popular operas, in this case Mozart's Die Entführung aus dem Serail and Don Giovanni.
The three String Trios, Op. 9 were composed by Ludwig van Beethoven in 1797–98. He published them in Vienna in 1799, with a dedication to his patron Count Johann Georg von Browne (1767–1827). They were first performed by the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh with two colleagues from his string quartet. According to the violinist and conductor Angus Watson, these were probably Franz Weiss on viola and either Nikolaus Kraft or his father Anton on cello. Each of the trios consists of four movements:
The String Quartets, Op. 50, were composed by Joseph Haydn in 1787. The set of six quartets was dedicated to King Frederick William II of Prussia. For this reason the set is commonly known as the Prussian Quartets. Haydn sold the set to the Viennese firm Artaria and, without Artaria's knowledge, to the English publisher William Forster. Forster published it as Haydn's Opus 44. Haydn's autograph manuscripts for Nos. 3 to 6 of the set were discovered in Melbourne, Australia, in 1982.
The String Quartet in D minor, Voces intimae, Op. 56, is a five-movement chamber piece for two violins, viola, and cello written in 1909 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It is the only major work for string quartet of his mature period.
The Hungarian composer György Ligeti published three string quartets: two string quartets proper and a student piece from 1950 published toward the end of his life. The first two quartets represent his early period, inspired by Béla Bartók, and middle period, which was largely micropolyphonic.
