String Quartet Flashcards
1780s
More people began to perform string quartets than any other instrumentation
The term ‘string quartet’ grows out of practices from 17th and 18th centuries
Early 1760s
Established a structure of 4-movement quartet
Fast, slow, minuet, fast
The string quartet shares a common audience, serving a niche market
Gelbart 2022
Pre-history of the string quartet
1650- Allegri: Sinfonia for Strings
Trio sonata
Concerto Grosso (Italy)
What does ‘chamber’ mean in chamber music?
Social music making, casual
Certain setting- not domestic, but salon
1700s- almost exclusively playing new music
No canon idea yet
Composers using quartet as a showcase for their talents
Joseph Bologne
Virtuoso violinist
1st violin and cello have prominent roles
Emphasises counterpoint and fugue, dialogue
Composes ‘quatuour concertant’
Quartets written by and for virtuosi
Quatuour concertant
Joseph Bologne
A type of string quartet in the mid 1770s where each instrument would take turns to have the main leading role
Luigi Boccherini
Cellist
90+ quartets
Boccherini, Quartet in C major
Virtuosic
High pitched cello cadenza- past expected role whilst everyone stops
Embarrassment, silent and astonished in a conversation
How the quartet continues to function without 1st violin
Joseph Haydn
Mid 18th century- worked at Esterhazy court, court entertainment in A-H empire, interactions with famous performers
Composed sets of quartets, in series of keys for variety in collections that were purchased for playing (marketable genre)
10 year break, returned to quartets in 1781- not just pleasing the court, but wrote for himself
Large output with range of forms and topics
Stabilisation of the SQ as a genre and ideas
Haydn Op. 33 quartets (1761)
6 quartets published in 1761
Changed how we consider the order and usage of movement types
Replaced Scherzo with Minuet and Trio
Begins to use Rondo (more fashionable) instead of fugue in last movement
Haydn, Op. 33 no. 2 in Eb major (1st movement)
A model quartet texture
Motivically tight-knit, triadic melodies, opening focuses on 4ths
1st violin has melodic interest vs inner parts’ chugging bass line
Haydn, Op. 33 no. 2 in Eb major (2nd movement)
Scherzo- light hearted, ideas of rustic dance in triple time
Trio- 1st violin uses exaggerated slides, comedic, tipsy, 18th century topic formation
Would have used portamento more as the chinrest was not invented yet
Haydn, Op. 33 no. 2 in Eb major (Finale- Joke)
Later on in 19th century- idea of thematic unity becomes important
Audience expectations and wit
A sense of the quartet playing to themselves- ending
‘One hears four intelligent people conversing among themselves’
Goethe 1829
‘Multiple agency’ in string quartets
‘Theatrical script’
‘Artful conversation’
Klorman 2016
4 people as ideal for a conversation, 5 will split into groups
The Social Brain: The Psychology of Successful Groups 2023
Charles Ives, String Quartet no. 2
Conversations as music- 1st movement ‘Discussions’, 2nd ‘Arguments’
A modernist, dramatic discourse rather than a genteel conversation
Haydn, Op. 22 no. 3 in G minor
Inventive and varied textures- not typical of Haydn to be this intertwined
No one is a defined ‘leader’, feeling impulses together
1st violin guided by middle parts
Beethoven (1770-1827)
16 quartets in mature compositional career
Late Beethoven questions the meaning of saying something musically - metalevel of what a phrase, articulation or even note means
Beethoven, ‘Serioso’ quartet in F minor (1810)
More compact in comparison to his later quartets
Deliberate way of treating form and motif, hence the title, switching quickly between particular parts becoming more important in the texture
Original manuscript- ‘unison’ in 1st bar for 2nd violin- more communication in the violins specifically, even if they are playing the same thing?
Beethoven, Quartet in Eb major, op. 127
All moving together as chords in the beginning, but when looking at the score, barlines are in unexpected places
The sf in bar 2 feels more like a syncopation than a downbeat
Schubert (1797-1828)
Unlike Beethoven, some of his 15 quartets were single movements or fragmentary
Most famous quartets from the 1820s
Life enclosed within Beethoven’s- composed at the same time, played by similar people
Schuppanzig- also involved in many of Beethoven’s premieres
Kurtag (Hungarian, b. 1926)
Instead of quartet numbers, composers now use poetic titles- different aesthetic
III. Capriccio- lines between instruments in Kurtag’s score, meticulously marked performance directions which the quartet has to coordinate
Concert practice in 19th century quartets
19th century- attitudes towards history and performance shifted
1818- Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
Salons- mixture of public and private, many types of people in audience
‘Semi-private’ home concerts- small and select groups of invitees, no critics or ticketing
Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde
1818
Created to hear new and growing talents, cultivate musical taste, inspire people to train as composers
Vienna developing as a musical centre
First programmes included equal representation of Haydn and Mozart
Mayseder and Spohr played as much as Beethoven, unlike now
Mayseder (1789-1863)
One of the most performed composers in 1820s Vienna, large 1820s quartet output
As Beethoven went deaf, he communicated with Beethoven via notebooks, talked about performing Beethoven’s new quartets
Quartets would learn from Beethoven’s new music, consider new interpretations
Schuppanzigh and the ‘Classical Concerts’
Schuppanzigh wanted to promote classical music in Vienna
Programmed Haydn, Mozart and some new Beethoven as ‘Classical Concerts’
However, ‘untrained’ and ‘unsocialised’ audience, clapping and exclaiming at certain passages/movements (Gingerich)
Beethoven had connoisseurs in mind as an audience- eg op. 131 meant to run continuously, but could be interrupted with applause- less integrity and irreverent?
Pierre Baillot (1771-1842)
French violinist and composer
Baillot’s group regularly played Boccherini, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven
Each of their concerts usually featured one work by each of them
Quartet in France
Johnson (1995)- traces Beethoven’s music having ‘more than mere admiration’ in Paris- ‘delirium’
Significant- in France, the ‘quartet’ or ‘musique de quatuours’ could also mean string trio, quintet, sextet (definition was important)
Schumann (1810-1856)
NZFM- professionalisation of critical discourse in music, wrote extensively about chamber music
Completed his own set of quartets in 1842
‘The quartet has come to a standstill’
‘Who does not know the quartets of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven, and who would wish to say anything against them?’
Schumann 1842 (c19 canon formation)
Fanny Hensel (1805-1847), Quartet in Eb major (1834)
Not published until 1988- father said music was only an ‘ornament’ for her
Beethovenian influence- similarities between opening and Beethoven ‘Harp’ quartet opening- same key and contour (allusion?)
Final part of 1st movement ends with a quotation to Beethoven’s theme
Hensel Quartet in Eb major, 1st movement
‘clear logic’ in her ‘goal-oriented, tonal conception’
Instead of starting in Eb, she starts in C, beginning a harmonic descent in 3rds
Creating a ‘free, formally diffuse movement’, ‘fantasia’
Todd 2009
Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Co-dependent composer with Fanny- similarities in contour and rhythm between Felix’s ‘Sonate eccosaise’ and Hensel’s 4th movement
Benedict Taylor (2024)- Hensel transposed ‘Sonate eccosaise’, ‘elaborates’ by extending the dominant harmony at the beginning from 2 to 6 bars
Music genres and gender
Hensel’s quartet not published/performed in her lifetime
Mendelssohn criticised it harshly for its in-‘definite’ form in 1835 letters, especially in modulations
When she replied, she said Lieder suited her best- ‘merely a pretty idea without potential for development’ (1835)
However, her Lieder engage deeply with text, more harmonically adventurous than Felix’s
Quartet as more masculine, serious and public as it was increasingly heard on the 19th century concert stage
Joachim (1831-1907)
Joachim Quartet- 1869-1907
Later in his life- renowned proponent of the quartet
Put on series of concerts only with Mozart, Haydn and Beethoven quartets- completist attitude towards music coming into play
His quartet performed in a square with the audience around them- intimacy in public concert
Joachim, Grosse Fuge
Composed by Beethoven in 1820s
Joachim performed all Beethoven’s quartets except GF as he thought it was unplayable
Only entered the concert repertoire in 20th century
1906- Nora Clench (Joachim’s student)’s all-female quartet performed the GF
Reviewer called them ‘courageous’ and ‘skilful’, but also that it was better left to students than on the public stage, if Joachim couldn’t play it
Beethoven as exhausting/dull- ‘three-fourths masterpiece, one-fourth monstrosity’
1926 journal
100 years after the Grosse Fuge’s composition in the 1930s, Beethoven has now been ‘justified’, Grew’s students in Birmingham Uni are starting to see value in the complex score
Grew 1931
Lener Quartet, early 1930s recording of Grosse Fuge
The first recording of Grosse Fuge
No editing technology- playing captured in the moment
Recording companies put out complete works of composers- canonised the quartet repertoire
Beethoven started to gain greater recognition when people could hear recordings repeatedly
Present programming- Wigmore Hall, November 2024
Beethoven features a lot
Some Mendelssohn
Less 20th century
Performers from different countries, but playing common composers
Dvorak (1841-1904), ‘American’ Quartet (1895)
Finale inspired by Dvorak’s love for trains, but also shows how travelling and geographical reach had changed by mid-19th century
Pentatonicism is the central harmonic language
Dvorak ‘American’, 2nd movement (Lento)
May have used melodies which Dvorak heard whilst visiting Spillville, large Czech community and Czech speakers
Dvorak ‘American’, 3rd movement
McKone (2021)- debates which bird species inspired 3rd movement- scarlet tanager or red-eyed vireo
If we know, we can say that Dvorak was ‘really there’
Being present in a real-world landscape- becomes part of the mythological aura a quartet provides
Dvorak, Quartet no. 10 ‘Bohemian’ (before ‘American’)
Written in Prague
Musical differences- emphasis on melody, embellishment, double stoping and rhythmic play
Is playing the ‘Bohemian’ in a particular ‘Czech’ or ‘historical’ way more authentic?
Dvorak, Quartet no. 10 ‘Bohemian’, 2nd movement, ‘Dumka (Elegie)’
Dumka of Ukrainian origin
Pizzicato in cello, repetitive and wistful violin melody, wandering fiddler iconography
Strong contrast in central fast section- repetition used to energise = here, dance > lyricism
Schumann, op. 41 no. 3 (1842)
Like other Central European composers, Schumann started to experiment with gypsy music, mix with Viennese urban music
Iconography of the wandering musician- exoticism/Otherness of travellers
Verbunkos, ‘a highly hybrid and multicultural mix’ (folk and Viennese)
Loya 2008
Features of Hungarian gypsy music (style hongrois)
‘pronounced syncopated rhythms, ‘fiery fourth-beat emphasis’, ‘pervasive dotted rhythms that evoke the verbunkos’, refrains in ascending registers (Brown 2013)
Schumann- style hongrois as ‘a pathway for experimentation’, but led to ‘Gypsy stereotypes common in Schumann’s day’
Brown 2013
Rise of conservatoires in 19th century, associated with particular teachers and places
Made to show young musicians how to ‘integrate their nations’ unique and “authentic” folk roots with international professional standards’ and vice versa (Gelbart 2021)
‘Too often national musics are considered “dialects” of a so-called German mainstream’
Beckerman 1986
Language politics and the quartet
Tense in the 19th century- AH empire saw German as the main language at this time
Only in 1880 was Czech recognised alongside German as an external administrative language
Czech language was used by composers- eg accenting the 1st beat, related to speech and folk song (Beckerman 1986)
However, non-Germans eg Berlioz, Chopin, Liszt are still ‘mainstream’ in 19th century canon
Sibelius, ‘Voces Intimae’ (1909)
Folkloric material, including:
Stark texture
Sectional nature of 1st movement
‘Un-quartet-like’ textures- 1910 diary entry stated he did not want a lighter texture
Inspired by Runic singers, unusual melodic contour
Ethel Smyth, String Quartet in E major (1902-1912)
Composed in Berlin to a London audience
Dedicated to fellow suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst
Discussed the quartet in letters to Pankhurst, wanting to be associated with the crowds advocating in the street
Performance of Smyth’s quartet in London, 1922
Played by the Bohemian Quartet, alongside Dvorak
Times critic gave a positive review but said Dvorak was better, as ‘they were at home, and spoke with authority’- essentialism
Heitor Villa-Lobos, Quartet no. 5 (1931)
20th century nationalism
1st movement- sectional with contrasting tempi and themes
Deliberate references to particular songs, eg ‘Animato’ uses a folk tune from Guia Pratico
Moves between tonality/modality very deliberately
Compare to how Sibelius uses Runic singers in ‘Voces Intimae’ and Dvorak’s Czech folk tunes in ‘Bohemian’
What does the quartet mean to a composer?
Turning towards the quartet in a moment of personal complexity/relationships, and often towards the end of their lives
Beethoven’s late string quartets
Turn towards the idea of the vocal entering the instrumental form, eg ‘Cavatina’ from Op. 130 and ‘Muss es sein?’ from Op. 135
Beethoven op. 130, ‘Cavatina’
‘Cavatina’- a short vocal work from an opera
Violin 1 is recitative/speech-like, marked ‘oppressed’
Tension between bursting forth and being restrained
Beethoven op. 135
Cello part sounds like speaking of ‘Muss es sein? Es muss sein!’
Beethoven wrote these words under the notes on the manuscript
Mendelssohn op. 13 in A minor
Slow introduction/returns at end- Beethovenian cyclic practice
Solo violin 1 writing marked ‘Recit’- reference to op. 130 ‘Cavatina’
Reference to Mendelssohn’s own songs about his unrequited love- ‘is it true?’ in 1st violin, originally in vocal part
This is unambiguous, marked ‘cantando’- singing style
Smetana, Quartet no. 1 ‘From my Life’ (1876)
Each movement has scenes from his life experiences, and thematic recall throughout, but 1877 letter described it as being ‘almost a private composition’, purposefully written for quartet
Finale- folkish dance interrupted by high E harmonic in 1st violin
Tinnitus- would not have exposed outside friends
This symbolises a move to the personal, can’t have the conversations with friends he once did
Janacek, ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata
Based on a novella by Tolstoy, story is a confession where two men meet on a train and one admits to killing his wife
Extra-musical emotional markings- ‘like in tears’, ‘desperate’, ‘like a lament’, as Janacek was thinking about a ‘beaten’ and ‘tormented’ woman
Janacek, ‘Intimate Letters’
The beloved woman here juxtaposes the ‘poor woman’ in ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata
Originally used viola d’amore to represent his love (from Janacek’s letters)- he probably associated it with female voices
Berg, Lyric Suite (1926)
6 movements with descriptive titles for audience reference
Admired for technical prowess, an outstanding modernist work in the interwar period
1977- manuscript with Berg’s annotations discovered, story of innocence > declaration of love > love scene > horror and pain > impossibility of love
Berg, Lyric Suite, ‘Trio estatico’
Very detailed articulation and expressive markings, eg muted but ‘as f as possible’- strain and stress
Quotes from other movements at bar 77- layers of meaning
The work is serially constructed but the personal message was only revealed 50 years after his death
How do we build an interpretation before and after this information?
Bacewicz (Polish female composer)
7 string quartets, long and successful career, she believed that women composers could ‘marry, have children, travel, have adventures’
Bacewicz, Quartet no. 4
1951- won a new music festival
Use of folklore and folk idioms avoided censure in the Soviet regime- traditional (Ambache 2022)
Inspired by Shostakovich’s quartets, but 1960 letter said that he was ‘behind the times’ and ‘not a good example’
Shows modernist composers framing themselves with respect to other composers
Shostakovich, Quartet no. 6 (1956)
Personal investment- codes and cyphers
End of 1st movement- DSCH embedded in the chords
End of every movement- cadential motif of 2 short-2 long
This helps unify the disparate melodic material throughout the piece
Shostakovich, Quartet no. 8 (1960)
‘In memory of the victims of fascism and war’
Sharing of material between movements (eg prominent Eb, and jump start rhythms of 4th and 5th- McCreless)
DSCH (common in his middle quartets)
Shostakovich Quartet no. 8 as ‘a musical parody full of false pathos and prophecy’ vs other scholars saying his music was ‘a paean of praise to the State and the system’
Berlinsky 2015 (worked with Shostakovich on the performance of his quartets)
Shostakovich, Quartet no. 12
McCreless (2009)- not just a ‘triumph… of major over minor’, but ‘tonality over dodecaphony’, ‘Russian art over the decadent Western avant-garde’, ‘health over sickness’ (crucial for Shostakovich’s last 15 years)
20th century, modernism
Composers can think of themselves as ‘modernist’ or challenging ‘modernism’
Modernism- motifs, pitch structures, form, timbre, rhythm- all reflected in 20th century quartet
‘multifarious nature of modernism’, the 20th century quartet as a ‘medium conducive to experimentation and formal innovation’, but also ‘positive re-engagement with tradition’
Gloag 2003
Rosé Quartet
Founded in 1882 by Arnold Rose, brother in law of Schoenberg
Programmed Debussy- Quartet in G minor, Zemlinsky- Quartet no. 7
A mix of French, German and Austrian schools in the same programme- challenging the idea that lines of thought were dependent on national boundaries
Debussy, Quartet in G minor (1893)
Concentrates on sonorities- a reflection of the Neo-Japanese paintings in Montmartre
Impressionism- relationship between materialism and abstraction
Jufferath (1894)- ‘one does not know how to take hold of [the ‘assemblage of sonorities’]’
Beethovenian thematic recall
However, also unifies the movements using timbre (2nd, 3rd, 4th) identified by Wheeldon
This means sound is no longer a sensual decoration subordinate to form
Schoenberg
Kralik (Wiener Abendpost 1918)- ‘the ideal measure of absolute music’ and experimentation, guiding light for the quartet, testing harmony’s capabilities
4 quartets
No. 1 in D minor- tonal
1908- no. 2, move into 3rd and 4th movement seen as the first step into atonality
1920s/30s- no. 3 and 4, work in serial and 12 tone techniques
His quartets chart his evolution in musical style
Schoenberg, Quartet no. 4 (1926)
Explains how although Schoenberg’s way of organising pitches is dependent on 12 tone structures, he manipulates forms to make it comprehensible, as ‘if comprehensibility is hindered on one side, it must be simplified on the other’
Therefore, he uses a ‘familiar sequence of events’ to balance
Julian Carrillo (1875-1965)
13 quartets between 1905-1964
Madrid (2015)- Carrillo is a Modernist composer, but no “teleological” progression like other Modernist artists- his atonal style is ‘not a transitional stage between tonality and microtonality’, like it was for Schoenberg between tonality and 12-tone
His 1950s quartets ‘in a tone’ are only now being recorded
Pierre Boulez (1925-2016)
French composer, wrote quartets in the late 1940s
Serial procedures not limited to tones- parameters eg pitch, dynamic, rhythm
The ‘avant-garde’ quartet after WW2
Toop 2014- ‘renunciation of traditional genres’, instrumentations and titles
However, the quartet was an ‘exception, almost from the start’, because of its ‘prestige’ given by late Beethoven and the SVS
Quartet often seen as untouchable, absolute, purely instrumental, few programmatic and representational touchstones
Quartet and politics
State-scale vs individual identity politics, race politics, sex politics, public vs private/domestic, amateur vs professional
Think about when the professional quartet becomes something elite, breaking out of domestic music-making
