String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18, No. 1 Ludwig van Beethoven(1770-1827)
I Allegro con brio (F major)
II Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato (D minor)
III Scherzo: Allegro molto (F major)
IV Allegro (F major)
“Our Love” for String Quartet Antonín Dvořák, (1841-1904)
String Quartet No. 1 in D major Op. 11 Peter Ilyich Tchaikowsky(1840-1893)
I Moderato e semplice (D major)
II Andante cantabile (B♭ major)
III Scherzo. Allegro non tanto e con fuoco – Trio (D minor)
IV Finale. Allegro giusto – Allegro vivace (D major)
String Quartet No. 1 in F major
Beethoven arrived in Vienna at the age of 21 with the intention of studying with Mozart, unaware Mozart had just died. He ended up studying with Haydn, and by the end of his first four years in Vienna he had established himself as a pianist of major importance, an improviser extraordinaire, and a composer of promise. At that time, Haydn, finding himself newly inspired by Mozart's last quartets, had returned from England to take up residence in Vienna, where he wrote his final quartets. Their great success and the importance of making one’s mark in the medium of string quartet were not lost on Beethoven. His sketchbooks show that from 1794 until 1799 he was working with great care on his first set of six quartets. During this time he was a regular at the Friday night soirees where the Schuppanzigh Quartet read works by Mozart, Haydn, and the leading composers of the day. It would be difficult to overestimate the importance of Beethoven's association with this quartet, who gave him valuable advice throughout his career, and premiered most of his quartets. Beethoven was not an effortless creator, transcribing masterpieces fully formed from his head to the paper. Sketches for countless compositions betray the struggles he underwent to arrive at a work’s final form. In the case of Beethoven’s F Major Quartet, opus 18 #1, not only are there copious sketches, but also an entire, completed first version, which the composer sent to his friend, the violinist Karl Amenda. However, within weeks, Beethoven changed his mind and asked Amenda to destroy the manuscript, for in the meantime he said he had ¨truly learned how to write a string quartet.¨ A highly demanding work, Beethoven was inspired to write it after seeing a performance of Shakespeare´s Romeo and Juliet. The famous second movement, marked Adagio affetuoso ed appassionato, depicts the tomb scene, and through its sheer drama and passion, changed the course of music history.
“Our Love” for String Quartet
The String Quartet movements bearing the title Cypresses are String Quartet versions of 12 of Dvořák´s 18 love songs he composed throughout his lifetime. These arrangements date from 1887 but were not published until after his death. We think that “Our Love¨, number four in the group, is one of the loveliest, and wanted to include it for Valentine´s Day.
String Quartet No. 1 in D major Op. 11
Tchaikowsky´s String Quartet in D Major Opus 11 was the first of his three published string quartets, and is by far the most popular. Composed in1871 it is a cornerstone of the romantic string quartet literature.The second movement, which has become famous in its own right, was based on a folk song the composer heard at his sister's house at Kamenka, whistled by a house painter. Tchaikowsky later arranged it for solo violin or solo cello with string orchestra. The composer recalled in his memoirs that during a performance “…Tolstoy, the author was sitting next to me and listening to the Andante of my First Quartet, burst into tears". More recently, when the Zoellner Quartet, at her request, performed the second movement for Helen Keller, she rested her fingertips on the various instruments to sense the vibrations, and she, too, reacted strongly. The melody from second theme of the Andante cantabile, in D♭ major, was also used as the basis for the popular song "On the Isle of May", popularized by Connee Boswell in 1940.
