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When it came to the genre of the string quartet, Beethoven was a relative latecomer. He was already 28 years old when he obtained the contract for the composition of the Quartets opp. 18 from Prince Lobkowitz, and 30 when he completed them. These are mature works that clearly distinguish themselves in their technical demands from, say, those of Mozart's quartets; yet on the other hand, they orient themselves musically on Mozartian practice. The A major Quartet K. 464 obviously served as a model for Op. 18 no. 5. Be that as it may, Beethoven's six Quartets op. 18 are completely autonomous works that are on a par with many of the major contributions to this genre.
In the 1980s, scribal copies – in which Beethoven had presented the quartets to his patron Prince Lobkowitz – once again became accessible. They represent a stage prior to the final version, having richer dynamics and articulation marks that make them interesting from a performance practice point of view. As the autographs of the Six Quartets op. 18 are no longer extant, these manuscripts assume a singular importance. This Henle Urtext edition is the first to take these manuscripts into consideration.
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Franz Schubert composed the song “Death and the Maiden” in 1817, and in 1824 used that melody in the theme-and-variations second movement of his String Quartet in D minor D. 810. The song's popularity in the second half of the 19th century was responsible for the string quartet becoming known by the title “Death and the Maiden.” Like all of Schubert's mature chamber music works, it captivates with its technical perfection and high intellectual demands. Very prominent here is Schubert's desire to motivically link the movements together. Oddly enough, the work was neither performed nor published during his lifetime; the incomplete autograph score and the posthumous first edition of 1831 have thus served as the sources for our edition.
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The E-flat Major String Quartet, Op. 127, is a key work not only in Beethoven's Oeuvre but in the entire history of the genre. The first of the late quartets, it “transfers the formal and symbolic aspects of his two major works for chorus and orchestra [the Missa solemnis and the Ninth Symphony] to the more intimate domain of chamber music” (William Kinderman). For years, music lovers have been waiting for a new edition based on the scholarly text from the new Beethoven Gesamtausgabe. The wait has paid off! The highly complex source situation was examined for the first time and thus Beethoven's “final intentions” are now available in an urtext edition. The set of parts (HN 740) and the score (HN 9740) both come with a detailed preface and editorial notes.
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The name Mahler is so closely associated with the symphony and Lied genres that it is little known how intensively he applied himself to chamber music during his studies. Of his numerous attempts in this field only one piano quartet composed between 1876 and 1878 has survived - and of this merely the first movement in its entirety. The latter was only rediscovered in the 1960s and first published in 1973. Even if Brahms is unmistakably his model, the quartet movement contains enough individual and also unconventional elements - such as the almost symphonic treatment of the piano - for Henle to incorporate it into their Urtext ranks. In addition, they have included an appendix “for study purposes” with Mahler's fragmentary sketch for a further movement, a scherzo for the same instrumentation.
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Although Schumann's first attempts at composing for this supreme form of chamber music in 1838-1839 were only fragments, the three String Quartets Op. 41 in A minor, F Major and A Major were written in one go in June/July 1842. At the first private performances the audience was enthusiastic and it was Mendelssohn's praise in particular that occasioned Schumann to dedicate the new works to him. The composer wrote to his publisher in an appropriately confident manner: “Be assured, I have spared no pains in creating something very decent, indeed I sometimes think it is my best”. As is generally known, today Schumann's Opus 41 forms part of the core repertoire for quartet players.
“All three quartets are outstanding in their Romantic fervor and virtuosity...This immaculate urtext edition will be welcomed by quartet players as their text of choice.”--Strings magazine
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Each of these four-movement works is a real jewel. Mozart worked hard on these six string quartets, and dedicated them to none other than the “inventor” of the genre himself: Joseph Haydn. They were first published in 1785, and have since then been reprinted innumerable times. Wolf-Dieter Seiffert, the editor of this new Henle Urtext edition, already penned the Critical Report for these Haydn Quartets in the New Mozart Edition, 25 years ago. He is now presenting this core repertoire in an edition of its own. This Urtext edition clarifies numerous inaccuracies in other editions, especially with regard to dynamics and articulation, and even corrects a few wrong notes that had gone unnoticed up to now. Special attention has here been paid to making the music as easy-to-read as possible, with ideally placed page turns.
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This study edition complements the parts of the String Quartets op. 20 that have already been published in Henle Urtext (HN 208); a new preface by Christin Heitmann provides illuminating background information. Haydn did not assign the nickname “Sun Quartets”: it alludes to an edition of the time, in which the title page was decorated with a rising sun. The Quartets op. 20 are the last series in a group of earlier string quartets, but are clearly ahead of their time. The demanding fugues which close three of the six quartets are a particular structural feature.
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Mishima String Quartet (String Quartet No.3) originally appeared as parts of the film score for Mishima by film maker Paul Schrader. The film follows a complex narrative structure which divides the life of this famous contemporary Japanese novelist into 3 parts – his childhood, his mature years and the last day of his life. These subjects were intercut to produce a shifting kaleidoscopic vision of Mishima's life. The scenes of his childhood were filmed in black and white and scored for string quartet. An excellent contemporary string quartet by the innovative Philip Glass.
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My 3rd String Quartet is in six contrasted movements. Certain musical figures recur across the work, but there are few themes as such. The main emphasis is on contrast of mood, texture, harmony, pacing and timing. Unlike many of my works this quartet had no extra-musical inspiration, and in principle should have no subtitle. Certain features already present in my music became more prominent in this new work: modes (limited collections of pitches) have always helped me to focus musical character, but here a sense of key note for each mode became much more pronounced, as did the difference between modes for each section of the work. A sort of hybrid key-system emerged (even with equivalents of major and minor) which is not normal tonality, nor does it aim to imitate it. Unlike tonality this key-system includes noises, extended performance techniques and intervals outside Western tuning as available resources. What I hope it does is to focus the listening experience onto different musical areas, to encourage a sense of both modulation from one area to another and to give the music a sense of goal. No conscious knowledge of this is needed when listening: the music should communicate directly on its own. Here, then, is this collection of six musical colours, related and unrelated, different yet belonging together, variable yet in a set order. Hence the subtitle, chosen both for both its sound and its sense: 'hana no hanataba' meaning, in Japanese, 'bouquet of flowers'. A brief description: 1) Moderately fast. Short droplets of sounds gather increasing momentum. 2) Very fast. Canons and bells at different speeds. 3) Very slow - fast - very slow - very fast - very slow. The main slow movement and its main scherzo. An emphasis on non-tempered tunings and on inhaling and exhaling waves of sound. The slow sections feature florid melodic writing. In the exuberant scherzo competing duos and trios create imaginary folk music. 4) Extremely fast/extremely slow. Open strings and harmonics fuse into a single string instrument - like a sort of large resonating Medieval tromba marina. 5) Very fast. A variation on movement 2). Variation, Schoenberg told Cage, is just a sort of repetition 'with some things changed and others not.' 6) Slow - Very Fast - Fast - Slow. The opening calm harmonies and florid melodies evoke movement 3) in different music. The fast part features one overt theme: a fanfare-like call to attention which is subject to extensive development. There is much use of non-Western tuning. At its climax the music freezes into a frieze - a wall of sound standing in front of the audience with increasing obstinacy and certainty as the work grinds towards its cadence.
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Haydn allowed about ten years to pass before composing a new cycle of string quartets after opus 20: the so-called “Russian Quartets.” This is the first series of quartets that we know he wrote with publication in mind. “They are in a completely new and special manner,” he wrote in several letters, and he was certainly not just referring to the fact that “Scherzi” replaced the minuets for the first time. Music lovers particularly appreciate the melodic ideas; thus the rich ornamentation of the main motif of op. 33,3, gave the quartet its nickname “Bird Quartet.”
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Debussy's new string quartet received a very cool reception at its première in Paris in December 1893, performed by the famous Quatuor Ysaÿe. The critics were upset by its unusual harmonies and orchestral sounds, and the musicians who were later presented with it considered it “unplayable.” Nevertheless the work was able to establish itself in the years that followed and today belongs to the core chamber music repertoire. The work was published in 1894 as “1er Quatuor”; showing that the composer was at least toying with the idea of writing another such work at this time – yet he neever did fulfill this promise.
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After the success of his Slavonic Dances in 1878, Dvorák received a request for a string quartet in “Slavonic style.” In this piece, each of the four movements is informed by melodies and rhythms in the style of Czech folk dances and songs. Besides the first editions of the score and parts, all surviving autograph sources were consulted for this Henle Urtext edition.
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The Quartet in A minor is one of the chamber music works with which Schubert wanted to “pave the way to the great symphony” in spring 1824. At the same time he was paving his way to a wider audience, as the “Rosamunde” Quartet was the first and only string quartet that was not only publicly performed in Schubert's lifetime but also published in parts. It is fortunate for us that this was the case because the autograph of this much-loved quartet is missing today and the only source for the work is the first edition. And this is precisely where the challenge lies, as the parts exhibit some inaccuracies regarding the articulation and dynamics. They have had to be carefully resolved, something which our new Urtext edition has done in an exemplary fashion. Its name can be traced back to Schubert's incidental music to the play Rosamunde, which can be heard at the beginning of the Andante. Quite a few people might, however, be reminded of the Impromptu in B flat major op. post. 142 no. 3, in which Schubert later once again took up the beautiful melody.
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This extraordinary collection of wedding favorites is the perfect solution for wedding planners looking for just the right music for that upcoming wedding ceremony. The arrangements are appropriate for the string quartet of for strong orchestra. The optional contrabass part provides additional flexibility. Selections include: Aria (Handel); Bridal Chorus (Wagner); Wedding March (Mendelssohn); Trumpet Voluntary (Clarke); Largo from “Winter” (Vivaldi); Rigaudon (Campra); Theme from 1st Symphony (Brahms); March (Mozart); Trumpet Tune (Purcell); Canon (Pachelbel); Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring (Bach); Allegro from “Winter” (Vivaldi).
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HPS 1168
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The music of small forms was to become the focus of the French composer Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924). In 1874, after many years spent in the 'provinces', the teacher of Camille Saint-Saëns took the position of organist in Paris; later he not only worked as a church musician but also as a teacher. In the summer of 1887 Fauré wrote his Pavane Op. 50, originally intended for a concert providing light entertainment, which soon gained wide popularity as an orchestral setting with and without the chorus added by Fauré. The romantic, slightly melancholic melody is a catchy tune which, thanks to the present arrangement, can now also be performed by a string quartet.
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We have now come full circle – this edition concludes the Henle Urtext series of the complete Beethoven string quartets. The ending of this highly expressive work, at whose centre is the famous “Cavatina,” was originally the “Grand Fugue.” Yet a contemporary critic felt that this was “unintelligible, like Chinese.” At the urging of the publisher Beethoven replaced it with a newly composed finale and published the “Grand Fugue” with a new opus number. Ever since, it has often been performed separately. In order to respect the desire of modern ensembles to be able to perform the Quartet op. 130 in Beethoven's original version, we have included the “Grand Fugue” in this edition.
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