The String Quartet No. 13 in

A minor A minor is a minor scale based on A, B, C, D, E, F, and G. Its key signature has no flats or sharps. Its relative major is C major and its parallel major is A major. The A natural minor scale is: Changes needed for the melodic ...

(the ''Rosamunde'' Quartet), D 804, Op. 29, was written by

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

between February and March 1824. It dates roughly to the same time as his monumental ''

Death and the Maiden Quartet The String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D 810, known as ''Death and the Maiden'', is a piece by Franz Schubert that has been called "one of the pillars of the chamber music repertoire". It was composed in 1824, after the composer suffered f ...

'', emerging around three years after his previous attempt to write for the

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

genre, the Quartettsatz, D 703, that he never finished.

History

Starting in 1824, Schubert largely turned away from the composition of songs to concentrate on instrumental chamber music. In addition to the A-minor String Quartet, the Quartet in D minor, the

Octet Octet may refer to: Music * Octet (music), ensemble consisting of eight instruments or voices, or composition written for such an ensemble ** String octet, a piece of music written for eight string instruments *** Octet (Mendelssohn), 1825 compo ...

, the Grand Duo and ''Divertissement a la Hongroise'' (both for piano duet), and the Sonata for Arpeggione and Piano all date from that year. With the exception of the Grand Duo, all of these works display cyclic elements—that is, two or more movements in each work are deliberately related in some way to enhance the sense of unity. In the case of the A-minor Quartet, a motive from the third-movement Minuet becomes the most important melodic figure for the following finale. Schubert dedicated the work to

Schuppanzigh Ignaz Schuppanzigh (20 July 1776 – 2 March 1830) was an Austrian violinist and friend of Beethoven, and leader of Count Razumovsky's private string quartet. Schuppanzigh and his quartet premiered many of Beethoven's string quartets, and in part ...

, who served as the first

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

ist of the string quartet appointed by Beethoven. Schuppanzigh himself played in the premiere performance which took place on 14 March 1824.

Structure

The quartet consists of four

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

which last around 30 minutes in total.

References

Sources * * * * * * *

* Atanasovski, Srđan. 2011. "Schubert's 'Original Voice' in Quartets for Schuppanzigh: On Learned Style and New Sonic Qualities". ''Musicologica Austriaca: Jahresschrift der Österreichischen Gesellschaft für Musikwissenschaft'' 30:43–56. * Bockholdt, Rudolf. 1998. "Die Kunst, heim zu finden: Über Schlüsse und Anschlüsse in Schuberts Instrumentalmusik". ''Musiktheorie'' 13, no. 2 (Franz Schubert: Jenseits des Jubiläums): 145–156. * Brown, Maurice J. E. 1958. ''Schubert: A Critical Biography''. London: Macmillan & Co. Ltd.; New York: St. Martin's Press. * Cullen, Adam. 2008. "Schubert's Chamber Music as a Road Towards the Symphony". ''Maynooth Musicology'' 1:99–120. * Cullen, Adam. 2009. "Dialectic Process and Sonata Form in Schubert's A Minor String Quartet, D 804". ''Maynooth Musicology'' 2:40–70. * Gingerich, John Michael. 1996. ''Schubert's Beethoven Project: The Chamber Music, 1824–1828''. PhD diss. New Haven: Yale University. * Hopkins, Robert G. 2013. "Multifunctional Codas in Sonata-Form Movements by Schubert". In ''Musical Implications: Essays in Honor of Eugene Narmour'', edited and with an introduction by Lawrence F. Bernstein and Alexander Rozin, 191–223.

Festschrift In academia, a ''Festschrift'' (; plural, ''Festschriften'' ) is a book honoring a respected person, especially an academic, and presented during their lifetime. It generally takes the form of an edited volume, containing contributions from the h ...

Series 25. Hillsdale, New York: Pendragon Press. . * ** ** * Waidelich, Till Gerrit. 1997. "Weitere Dokumente aus 1828 und 1833: Ein unkorrigierter früher Abzug der 'Einladung' zu Schuberts Privatkonzert und Berichte über die Berliner Ur- und Erstaufführungen der Streichquartette in a-Moll D 804 und d-Moll D 810". ''Schubert durch die Brille: Internationales Franz Schubert Institut—Mitteilungen'', no. 19:57–64.

External links

* * * ,

Melos Quartet The Melos Quartet was a much-recorded, Stuttgart-based string quartet active from 1965 until 2005, when its first violinist died. It also went by the name Melos-Quartett-Stuttgart, partly to distinguish itself from the equally prominent chamber gr ...

{{Authority control String Quartet No. 13 1824 compositions Compositions in A minor Music dedicated to ensembles or performers

History

Structure

References

Further reading

External links