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String Quartet vinyl LP records

We have 100s of superb 1950s-70s string quartet, quintet, etc, records available for sale on Decca, EMI, Deutsche Grammophon, Philips and other top labels.  To see a list of these records click:

String Quartet Records

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For more information about the string quartets read on.

 The links below open Wikipedia pages. Use your browser back button to come back to this page. There are translations available for the text below - see the foreign language links near the end of this text. 

 

 
The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963
The resident string quartet of the Library of Congress in 1963

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string instruments—usually two violins, a viola and cello—or a piece written to be performed by such a group. The string quartet is one of the most prominent chamber ensembles in Western classical music.

 Background

Although any combination of four string instruments can literally be called a "string quartet", in practice the term refers to a group consisting of two violins (the "first", which usually plays the melody line in the higher register of notes, and the "second" violin, which plays lower notes in harmony), one viola and one cello. Should a composer create music for four other string instruments — for instance, three violins and a bass, or violin, viola, cello and guitar — the instrumentation is indicated specifically. The standard string quartet is widely seen as one of the most important forms in chamber music, with most major composers, from the late 18th century onwards, writing string quartets.

A composition for four players of stringed instruments may be in any form, but if it is simply a String Quartet (with or without a subtitle) it is usually in four movements, with a large-scale structure similar to that of a symphony. The outer movements are typically fast, the inner movements in classical quartet form are a slow movement and a dance movement of some sort (e.g., minuet, scherzo, furiant), in either order.

Many other chamber groups can be seen as modifications of the string quartet, such as the piano quintet, which is a string quartet with an added piano; the string quintet, which is a string quartet with an extra viola, cello or double bass; the string trio, which contains one violin, a viola, and a cello; and the piano quartet, a string quartet with one of the violins replaced by a piano.

 History

Violin and viola
Violin and viola

The form first came to be used after the middle of the 18th century. Joseph Haydn's first works for string quartet have five movements and resemble the divertimento (a title which they carried in some editions) or serenade, but the opus 9 quartets of 1769–70 are in the form which was to become standard both for Haydn and for other composers: four movements, a fast movement, a slow movement, a minuet and trio and a fast finale. Because his example helped codify a form that originated in the Baroque suite, Haydn is often referred to as "the father of the string quartet." Haydn occasionally played his quartets on social occasions in an impromptu quartet ensemble of which Mozart was also a member.

Ever since Haydn's day, the string quartet has been prestigious, and considered a true test of the classical composer's art. This may be partly due to the fact that the palette of sound is more restricted than with orchestral music, forcing the music to stand more on its own rather than relying on tonal color; or from the inherently contrapuntal tendency in music written for four equal instruments.

Quartet composition flourished in the Classical era, with both Mozart and Beethoven writing famous series of quartets to set alongside Haydn's. A slight slackening in the pace of quartet composition occurred in the 19th century; here, a curious phenomenon was seen in composers who wrote only one quartet, perhaps to show that they could fully command this hallowed genre. With the onset of the Modern era of classical music, the quartet returned to full popularity among composers, and played a key role in the development of Arnold Schoenberg, Bela Bartok, and Dmitri Shostakovich especially. Most recently, the quartets of Elliot Carter, which span the length of his long and illustrious career, have been highly admired; Peter Maxwell Davies is currently working on a series of ten quartets for the Naxos label.

 Important string quartets

Some of the most popular or widely acclaimed works for string quartet written between the 18th century and the 1980s, include:

 String quartets (ensembles)

For the purposes of performance, groups of string players sometimes group together to make ad hoc string quartets. Other groups continue playing together for many years, sometimes changing their members but retaining their name. Well known string quartets can be found on the List of string quartets.

 See also

 Further reading

 External links

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/String_quartet"
 
 
 
 
Montage of LP labels