The String Quartet No. 3 in
E minor
E minor is a minor scale based on E, consisting of the pitches E, F, G, A, B, C, and D. Its key signature has one sharp. Its relative major is G major and its parallel major is E major.
The E natural minor scale is:
:
Changes needed ...
,
Op. 30, by
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most pop ...
, was composed in 1876, and is the last of his three
string quartets. It was written as a memorial for
Ferdinand Laub
Ferdinand Laub (January 19, 1832March 17, 1875) was a Czech violinist and composer.
Life and career
Laub was born in Prague from a German Bohemian family which had assimilated into the ethnic Czech community. His father Erasmus (1794–1865) arr ...
.
(The date upon the manuscript is early February 1876.
)
The quartet was performed for the first time at a party at
Nikolai Rubinstein
Nikolai Grigoryevich Rubinstein (russian: Николай Григорьевич Рубинштейн; – ) was a Russian pianist, conductor, and composer. He was the younger brother of Anton Rubinstein and a close friend of Pyotr Ilyich Tc ...
's apartment on March 2, 1876. The first public performance was at a concert on 30 March (new style/March 18 (old style), the performers being:
Jan Hřímalý and
Adolph Brodsky
Adolph Davidovich Brodsky (russian: Адольф Давидович Бродский, ''Adolf Davidovič Brodskij''; – 22 January 1929) was a Russian violinist.
He enjoyed a long and illustrious career as a performer and teacher, starting ear ...
, violins; Yuly Gerber, viola; and
Wilhelm Fitzenhagen, cello.
Once, while Tchaikovsky was staying with some friends, they surprised him by bringing in a string quartet who performed this quartet for him. When they finished playing, Tchaikovsky remarked, "At first I didn't much like the Finale, but now I see that it is quite good."
Recently, it was featured in the
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''Left Behind'' for the 2013
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''
The Last of Us
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''.
Structure
The work is in four movements and is approximately 37 minutes long.
The Andante funebre was originally intended to be the second movement, with the Allegretto vivo e scherzando as the third, but Tchaikovsky later decided to switch them.
References
External links
*
Tchaikovsky Research
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String Quartet No. 3
Compositions in E-flat minor
1876 compositions