String Quartet in G minor (Grieg)
The String Quartet in G minor, Op. 27, is the only completed and preserved string quartet by Edvard Grieg .
Origin and structure
The work was written in 1877 and 1878, when Grieg retired to compose in a rural area near Bergen . He saw himself in a creative crisis, because he had set himself the task of combining his recourse to folkloric music motifs from his homeland with demanding, classical forms of music such as the string quartet, which he said was very difficult at first. After completion, Grieg was satisfied with his work. He later wrote: "I like the feeling that there is passion in this work, of which the future will hopefully see more than just drops." The string quartet was premiered on October 29, 1878 in Cologne , a short time later in the Gewandhaus in Leipzig, the city of his musical education. The sentence names are:
- Un poco andante - Allegro molto ed agitato
- Romance: Andantino - Allegro agitato
- Intermezzo: Allegro molto marcato - Più vivo e scherzando
- Finale: Lento - Presto al saltarello
reception
The work was an international hit, while the response from contemporary experts was divided. Some critics considered the music to be too harsh, experimental and “non-quartet-like”, praise came from composer Franz Liszt , among others . In the Lexicon The Music Past and Present , it is highlighted as one of the most remarkable compositions of chamber music of the 19th century. In terms of music history, it is also seen today as a link between Romanticism and Impressionism . Various references are made to the work's influence on Claude Debussy , who composed his string quartet from 1893 in the same key.
Further string quartets by Grieg
In 1861, as a student, Grieg composed a string quartet in D minor , which he - although it was commented on with benevolence during the performance - withdrew a short time later because it did not seem good enough to him. The string quartet is lost today. Grieg's string quartet in F major , which he began in 1891, but was not able to complete until his death , remained unfinished . Several times in letters Grieg mentioned the "cursed string quartet, which lies there unfinished like an old Norwegian cheese." The two completed movements were and are performed and recorded on various occasions, mostly together with the completed quartet.
literature
Finn Benestad, Dag Schjelderup-Ebbe: Edvard Grieg. Man and Artist , Leipzig 1993
Individual evidence
- ↑ Benestad / Schjelderup-Ebbe: Edvard Grieg. Mensch und Künstler , Leipzig 1993, p. 175
- ↑ Klaus Henning Oelmann: Edvard Grieg's string quartet op. 27 - reflections on tradition, composition and reception. Engers Colloquia Castle on Chamber Music, Vol. 4, Villa Musica Foundation, Neuwied, 2007, pp. 387–405
- ↑ Benestad / Schjelderup-Ebbe: Edvard Grieg. Chamber music , Oslo 1993, p. 159