The String Quartet
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The String Quartet, 1750–1797
The second half of the eighteenth century witnessed a flourishing of the string quartet, often represented as a smooth and logical progression from first violin-dominated homophony to a more equal conversation between the four voices. Yet this progression was neither as smooth nor as linear as previously thought, as Mara Parker illustrates in her examination of the string quartet during this period. Looking at a wide variety of string quartets by composers such as Pleyel, Distler and Filtz, in addition to Haydn and Mozart, the book proposes a new way of describing the relationships between the four instruments in different works. Broadly speaking, these relationships follow one of four patterns: the 'lecture', the 'polite conversation', the 'debate', and the 'conversation'. In focusing on these musical discourses, it becomes apparent that each work is the product of its composer's stylistic choices, location, intended performers and intended audience. Instead of evolving in a strict and universal sequence, the string quartet in the latter half of the eighteenth century was a complex genre with composers mixing and matching musical discourses as circumstances and their own creative impulses required.
The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet
Author: Robin Stowell
language: en
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Release Date: 2003-11-13
This Companion offers a concise and authoritative survey of the string quartet by eleven chamber music specialists. Its fifteen carefully structured chapters provide coverage of a stimulating range of perspectives previously unavailable in one volume. It focuses on four main areas: the social and musical background to the quartet's development; the most celebrated ensembles; string quartet playing, including aspects of contemporary and historical performing practice; and the mainstream repertory, including significant 'mixed ensemble' compositions involving string quartet. Various musical and pictorial illustrations and informative appendixes, including a chronology of the most significant works, complete this indispensable guide. Written for all string quartet enthusiasts, this Companion will enrich readers' understanding of the history of the genre, the context and significance of quartets as cultural phenomena, and the musical, technical and interpretative problems of chamber music performance. It will also enhance their experience of listening to quartets in performance and on recordings.
The String Quartet
Have you ever thought about how you as a human being are part of a species that makes the fate of all other living things entirely subservient to its own needs and uses its fellow inhabitants purely to meet those needs? What would happen if that were to change? What would happen if people chose to exchange that which makes them human for something else? That's what seems to be happening in "The String Quartet". A string of seemingly inexplicable events gradually reveals how our anthropocentric way of life is about to be fundamentally and irrevocably changed. Classical string quartet music plays a central role in these events. How do these situations arise, and what is the driving force behind the sometimes irrational choices people make – or seem to make – of their own free will? The events described in The String Quartet and the resulting choices people make invite you as a reader to reflect on your own situation and how you lead your life. What choices have you made, and what choices will you make in the future? And how sure are you that those choices are yours?