The String Quartet 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 and ...

, JS 183, is a four-

movement 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 co ...

chamber piece for two violins, viola, and cello written in 1889 by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It is the second of Sibelius's four string quartets. The initial finale was the Fugue (JS 85) that Sibelius had written as an academic exercise at the

Helsinki Music Institute The Sibelius Academy (, ) is part of the University of the Arts Helsinki and a university-level music school which operates in Helsinki and Kuopio, Finland. It also has an adult education centre in Järvenpää and a training centre in Seinäjok ...

under the direction of his teacher,

Martin Wegelius Martin Wegelius (10 November 1846 – 22 March 1906) was a Finnish composer and musicologist, primarily remembered as the founder, in 1882, of the Helsinki Music Institute, now known as the Sibelius Academy. Wegelius studied in Leipzig, Vien ...

. The A minor Quartet received its premiere in Helsinki on 29 May 1889 at the

(now the Sibelius Academy); the performers were (violin), Wilhelm Santé (violin), (viola), and Wilhelm Renck (cello).

Structure

The A minor Quartet is in four movements, as follows: The piece was published posthumously in 1991 by .

Movement I

The first movement begins with an ''Andante'' in

time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

before switching to for the ''Allegro''. It has a duration of about nine minutes.

Movement II

The second movement, marked ''Adagio ma non tanto'', is in time; it has a duration of about seven minutes.

Movement III

The third movement, marked ''Vivace'', is in time; it has a duration of about five minutes.

Movement IV

The fourth movement, marked ''Allegro'', is in time; it has a duration of about seven minutes.

Discography

The Sibelius Academy Quartet made the world premiere studio recording of the A minor Quartet for

Finlandia ''Finlandia'', Op. 26, is a tone poem by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius. It was written in 1899 and revised in 1900. The piece was composed for the Press Celebrations of 1899, a covert protest against increasing censorship from the R ...

in 1985. The sortable table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

Notes, references, and sources

; ; ; * * {{Authority control String quartets by Jean Sibelius 1889 compositions Compositions in A minor