The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet
The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet
This survey of the string quartet by ten chamber music specialists focuses on four main areas: social and musical background to the genre's development; celebrated ensembles and their significance; and string quartet playing. It reviews aspects of contemporary and historical practice, including "mixed ensembles." Informative appendixes and a full chronology of the mainstream repertory complete this compact guide.
- Was the first book to provide such a comprehensive view of the string quartet
- Considers the repertory for string quartet as well as practical aspects of performance
- Edited by the best-selling Cambridge editor of companions to the violin and cello
Reviews & endorsements
"Indeed the Companion's readability, together with its broad and timely coverage of topics and its fascinating selection of iconography (notably early photos of string quartets), entice the reader to further explore this music of friends." Notes
Product details
December 2003Hardback
9780521801942
390 pages
255 × 180 × 28 mm
0.823kg
25 b/w illus. 14 music examples
Available
Table of Contents
- Part I. Social Changes and Organological Developments:
- 1. The string quartet and society Christina Bashford
- 2. Developments in instruments, bows and accessories Robin Stowell
- Part II. Celebrated Ensembles:
- 3. From chamber to concert hall Tully Potter
- 4. The concert explosion and the age of recording Tully Potter
- Part III. Playing String Quartets:
- 5. Playing quartets: a view from the inside David Waterman
- 6. Historical awareness in quartet performance Simon Standage
- 7. Extending the technical and expressive frontiers Robin Stowell
- Part IV. The String Quartet Repertory:
- 8. The origins of the quartet David Wyn Jones
- 9. The Classical style: Haydn, Mozart and their contemporaries W. Dean Sutcliffe
- 10. Beethoven and the Viennese legacy David Wyn Jones
- 11. The Austro-Germanic quartet tradition in the nineteenth century Stephen E. Hefling
- 12. Traditional and progressive nineteenth-century trends: France, Italy, Great Britain and America Robin Stowell
- 13. Nineteenth-century national traditions and the string quartet Jan Smaczny
- 14. The string quartet in the twentieth century Kenneth Gloag
- 15. The string quartet as a foundation for larger ensembles Colin Lawson.
