Week 34: Classical Music - String Quartet Music

1. Stuff done this week

Trying to rekindle my music studies, folks.

A lot happenend these past months, that had a profound impact on my life. I sold my appartment in Utrecht, struggled with dysthemia en heavy asthma, sold our appartment in Rijswijk, moved to Voorburg, committed to a building project in The Hague, left the band Crimson Inc., became a father, got married.
And as a family, we had to deal with the terrifying event of Bernice's cancer which was discovered in week 37 of the pregnancy...

 I feel lucky and I'm just very grateful we pulled through.

 But my academic work has suffered a lot. It is hard to get back on track, but I am trying. This is one attempt of many. But I just love music, even though it has been silent in my head and heart for a while.
I spent the last few days reviewing my old blogposts, building up to just do something.

Aurelius said: "Don't contemplate being a good man, be one". So, here we are...

2. Listening done these weeks

So sad to learn that Aretha Franklin has left us.

Call me sentimental, but this performance made me think how powerful music really is, if it is able to move the powerful like it does here. Maybe it is able to  move my arse to get some studying done!





3. What I have learned

The Classical Era was a time of enlightenment in the arts, as well as politically and socially. The Barroque orchestra was a small body of 30 players, which expanded to 50-60 players during the Classical period. In chamber music Joseph Haydn developed the String Quartet, which became the new standard ensemble. The pianoforte was superseded quickly by the development of the fortepiano, which allowed for a greater range of expression.

 I thought the string quartet interesting, so I decided to research it some more. below I present my notes.

The Classical String Quartet

A string quartet is both a chamber musical ensemble consisting of 4 string players: 2 violins, 1 viola and 1 cellist and also a musical composition written to be performed by such a group. The latter was developed into its current form in the late 1750's by Austrian composer Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809) (Griffiths, 2001; Burkholder et al., 2014; Wade-Matthews, 2010).

 Particularly in concertane quartets all parts where of equal importance (Burkholder et al., 2014), and each player exchanges motives as if in musical conversation. It is that sense of equality that is the halmark of a good string quartet and aims to contribute to the enjoyment of performers and their companions (Burkholder et al., 2014; Wade-Matthews, 2010).

 The standard structure of a string quartet consists of 4 movements (Griffiths, 2001):

  1. Allegro Sonata in the tonic key
  2. Slow movement in a related key
  3. Minuet and Trio in tonic key and finally
  4. Rondo or Sonata Rondo in the tonic key.
Below I included Joseph Haydn's String Quartet Op. 76, No. 2 'Quinten':


A string quartet has potentially enormous tonal range (7 octaves), but suffers from a lack of colour contrast because of the homogenous character of the instruments (Griffiths, 2001; Wade-Matthews, 2010). It was therefore regarded as a prestigious form; a true test of a composer's art. Most major composers from mid 18th century wrote string quartets: Haydn (83), Mozart (26), Boccherini (91) and Beethoven (16).


 The limitations of the instruments can be overcome by the way they were played: by bowing (coll 'arco) or plucking (pizzicato). Violin players may play notes on the G-string, for a warmer sound. Contrast in sound is achieved by resting instruments before bringing them in for a crescendo. Sound might also be thickened by playing double-stops (Wade-Matthews, 2010).

 The form died out in the 19th century, but was revived in the 20th century by Bartók and Shostakovich.

 4. Sources

 BURKHOLDER, J, GROUT, D. and PALISCA, C. (2014) A history of western music, 9th edition, New York: W.W. Norton.

 WADE-MATTHEWS, M. (2010) Music An Illustrated History. London: Hermes House.

 GRIFFITHS, P. (2001) String Quartet, in: The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.

 Bartje Bartmans (2015) Joseph Haydn - String Quartet Op. 76, No. 2 'Quinten' , Youtube, viewed 22nd of August 2018,<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C10-45oHfvc>.


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