What is a string quartet?

​Chamber music

1. development and early maturation linked to the Classical Era (c.1750-1800)

2. Standard instrumentation is 2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello

3. No basso continuo​

4. Sometimes labelled Divertimento 4tets appeared in the 1760s in Germany, Austria and Bohemia.​

Basso continuo was a baroque practice of doubling the bass line with an instrument capable of playing chords, like harpsichord/organ

​Early composers and structure

1. Dittersdorf, Wanhal, V. X. Richter and Joseph Haydn

2. By about 1780, the string 4tet had settled into a 4 mov. structure:

   1. Fast movement (allegro) in sonata form

   2. Slow movement (andante/adagio) in a contrasting key, in a number of possible forms like sonata, large-scale ternary, theme and variations

   3. ​Minuet and Trio usually in the tonic, typically a pair of 3/4 dances in binary, with the minuet repeated after the trio

   4. ​Finale (allegro/vivace/presto) in the tonic, usually sonata/sonata-rondo form

3. The work associated with setting the standard for this structure is the 6 4tets Op.33 by Joseph Haydn​

Background of the 4tet

• Sophisticated background music suited to the age of Enlightenment

• upper class often paid for and performed in them

• intimate, private form of entertainment for the wealthy

• allowed for greater subtleties of expression as compared to a symphony

• ​audiences of string 4tets enjoyed a high level of musical literacy and understood the conventions of the form, which meant composers could manipulate these conventions to surprise and delight these audiences, appealing to both the intellect and emotions

It was thought during the Enlightenment that human reasoning could discover truths about the world, religion, and politics and could be used to improve the lives of humankind. Skepticism about received wisdom was another important idea; everything was to be subjected to testing and rational analysis. Religious tolerance and the idea that individuals should be free from coercion in their personal lives and consciences were also Enlightenment ideas.

K387

• Key of G Major

• First of a set of 6 4tets composed in Vienna between 1782 and 1785

• Published as Op.10

• Dedicated to Haydn (hence the 6 4tets are often called the Haydn Quartets)

• ​Composed in response to Haydn's Op.33 set of 6 4tets that Mozart studied and hoped to emulate

• Haydn heard the 4tets in 1785 and praised them highly.​