The String Quartet. From the Private to the Public Sphere View larger

The String Quartet. From the Private to the Public Sphere

Editor Christian Speck
Series Brepols – Speculum musicae
Nr. 27
Size 21×26, pp. XXX+388
Year 2016
ISBN 9782503568003

Price 130,00 €

The volume explores the historical, historiographical and biographical facets of the genre’s increasing dominance and ultimate supremacy. Various geographical regions of string-quartet production are encompassed, including Austria, Spain, Italy and Great Britain. Specific issues raised by individual contributions include the concepts of ‘late style’; notions of sophistication, comprehensibility and popularity; repertoires and the dissemination of manuscript parts and editions; theoretical writing on the string quartet and concert programming. Several contributions include analytical studies of string quartets by ‘classical’ composers, such as Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert; others approach equivalent works by less canonical composers, including Luigi Boccherini, Gregorio Ballabene, Samuel Wesley and Feliks Janiewicz.