String Quartet No. 2 in C major,
Op. 36, by English composer
Benjamin Britten
Edward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten (22 November 1913 – 4 December 1976, aged 63) was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was a central figure of 20th-century British music, with a range of works including opera, other ...
, was written in 1945. It was composed in
Snape, Suffolk
Snape is a small village in the English county of Suffolk, on the River Alde close to Aldeburgh. At the 2011 census the population was 611. In Anglo-Saxon England, Snape was the site of an Anglo-Saxon ship burial. Snape is now best known for ...
and London, and completed on 14 October. The first performance was by the
Zorian Quartet in the
Wigmore Hall
Wigmore Hall is a concert hall located at 36 Wigmore Street, London. Originally called Bechstein Hall, it specialises in performances of chamber music, early music, vocal music and song recitals. It is widely regarded as one of the world's leadi ...
, London on 21 November 1945, in a concert to mark the exact 250th anniversary of the death of English composer
Henry Purcell
Henry Purcell (, rare: September 1659 – 21 November 1695) was an English composer.
Purcell's style of Baroque music was uniquely English, although it incorporated Italian and French elements. Generally considered among the greatest En ...
(165995). The work was commissioned by and is dedicated to Mary ("Mrs J. L.") Behrend, a patron of the arts; Britten donated most of his fee towards famine relief in India.
The Zorian Quartet made the first recording of the work, in October 1946. It occupies seven sides of a four-disc
78rpm album. On the eighth side is Purcell's ''
Fantasia upon One Note'' Z.745, with Britten playing the sustained middle C
drone
Drone most commonly refers to:
* Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg
* Unmanned aerial vehicle
* Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft
* Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone
Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to:
...
on second
viola
; german: Bratsche
, alt=Viola shown from the front and the side
, image=Bratsche.jpg
, caption=
, background=string
, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
, range=
, related=
*Violin family ...
; the only recording on which he played viola, his favourite string instrument.
Broadcaster and classical music critic
John Amis
John Preston Amis (17 June 1922 – 1 August 2013) was a British broadcaster, classical music critic, music administrator, and writer. He was a frequent contributor for ''The Guardian'' and to BBC radio and television music programming.
Life ...
(19222013), husband of Olive Zorian 194855, recalled of the first rehearsals:
Structure
The
quartet
In music, a quartet or quartette (, , , , ) is an ensemble of four singers or instrumental performers; or a musical composition for four voices and instruments.
Classical String quartet
In classical music, one of the most common combinations ...
is in three
movements:
# "''Allegro calmo, senza rigore''"
# "''Vivace''"
# "
Chacony: ''sostenuto''"
The first movement is in a kind of
sonata form
Sonata form (also ''sonata-allegro form'' or ''first movement form'') is a musical structure generally consisting of three main sections: an exposition, a development, and a recapitulation. It has been used widely since the middle of the 18th c ...
, unusual in that the first and second subjects (
themes) give rise to a third subject, all involving the interval of a
tenth.
The second movement has been described as "night music", but is very different in character to that of the
night music of
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as Hun ...
. All four instruments play with
mutes.
The third movement is longer than the other two movements combined. Its title "Chacony" refers back to Purcell, who used that name for the musical form more often called chaconne or passacaglia. It consists of a theme (a nine-bar unit) and 21 variations, divided into four sections by solo
cadenza
In music, a cadenza (from it, cadenza, link=no , meaning cadence; plural, ''cadenze'' ) is, generically, an improvised or written-out ornamental passage played or sung by a soloist or soloists, usually in a "free" rhythmic style, and ofte ...
s for the cello, viola and first violin. In a programme note for the premiere, Britten wrote: "The sections may be said to review the theme from (a) harmonic, (b) rhythmic, (c) melodic, and (d) formal aspects".
A typical performance takes about 2832 minutes.
Recordings
* 1946
Zorian Quartet,
His Master's Voice
His Master's Voice (HMV) was the name of a major British record label created in 1901 by The Gramophone Co. Ltd. The phrase was coined in the late 1890s from the title of a painting by English artist Francis Barraud, which depicted a Jack Russ ...
78rpm
C.3539
* 1963
Amadeus Quartet,
Argo ZRG 5372
* 1965
Fidelio Quartet,
Pye Golden Guinea Records LP
GSGC I4025
* 1971
Janáček Quartet,
Supraphon
Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, oriented mainly towards publishing classical music and popular music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers.
History
The Supraphon name was first registered as a trademark in 1932. ...
SUA ST 50960
* 1972
Allegri Quartet,
Decca LP
SXL 6564
* 1978
Amadeus Quartet, Decca LP
SXL 6893;
remastered 1990
London Records
London Recordings (or London Records and London Music Stream) is a British record label that marketed records in the United States, Canada, and Latin America for Decca Records from 1947 to 1980 before becoming semi-independent. The London nam ...
CD
425 715-2
* 1981
Alberni Quartet,
CRD Records LP
CRD 1095; rereleased 1989, CRD Records CD
CRD 3395
* 1984
Sequoia Quartet, Music & Arts CD
CD-740 SKU: 017685074028
* 1986
Endellion Quartet, His Master's Voice LP
E 2705021/31/41* 1990
Britten Quartet
* 1992
Wihan Quartet, Clara CD
57 013-2 / Popron
57 013-2
* 1998
Maggini Quartet,
Naxos
Naxos (; el, Νάξος, ) is a Greek island and the largest of the Cyclades. It was the centre of archaic Cycladic culture. The island is famous as a source of emery, a rock rich in corundum, which until modern times was one of the best ...
CD
8.553883
* 1998
Sorrel Quartet,
Chandos CD
CHAN 9664
* 2002
Brodsky Quartet,
Challenge
Challenge may refer to:
* Voter challenging or caging, a method of challenging the registration status of voters
* Euphemism for disability
* Peremptory challenge, a dismissal of potential jurors from jury duty
Places
Geography
*Challenge, C ...
CD
CC 72099
* 2005
Belcea Quartet,
EMI Classics
EMI Classics was a record label founded by Thorn EMI in 1990 to reduce the need to create country-specific packaging and catalogues for internationally distributed European classical music, classical music releases. After Thorn EMI demerged ...
CD
7243 5 57968 2 0
* 2010 - Elias String Quartet, Sonimage SON 10903 - String Quartets Nos 2 & 3; Three Divertimenti for string quartet
* 2013
Takács Quartet,
Hyperion
Hyperion may refer to:
Greek mythology
* Hyperion (Titan), one of the twelve Titans
* ''Hyperion'', a byname of the Sun, Helios
* Hyperion of Troy or Yperion, son of King Priam
Science
* Hyperion (moon), a moon of the planet Saturn
* ''Hyp ...
CD
CDA68004
* 2017
Emerson String Quartet
The Emerson String Quartet, also known as the Emerson Quartet, is an American string quartet that was initially formed as a student group at the Juilliard School in 1976. It was named for American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and beg ...
,
Decca CD
B0026509-02
References
External links
* . A
musicological lecture by
Roger Parker
Roger Parker (born London United Kingdom, 2 August 1951) is an English musicologist and, since January 2007, has been Thurston Dart Professor of Music at King's College London.
His work has centred on opera. Between 2006 and 2010, while Profess ...
followed by a performance by the
Badke Quartet
The Badke Quartet is a British string quartet. Founded in 2002 at London's Royal Academy of Music, it regularly performs at leading venues throughout the UK, Ireland and the rest of Europe.
In 2014, the quartet was appointed quartet in residence ...
, at
Gresham College
Gresham College is an institution of higher learning located at Barnard's Inn Hall off Holborn in Central London, England. It does not enroll students or award degrees. It was founded in 1596 under the will of Sir Thomas Gresham, and hosts ...
, London in 2013
{{Authority control
1945 compositions
1945
1945 marked the end of World War II and the fall of Nazi Germany and the Empire of Japan. It is also the only year in which nuclear weapons have been used in combat.
Events
Below, the events of World War II have the "WWII" prefix.
Januar ...
String quartet Britten 2