String_Quartet_in_A_minor_(Sibelius)

String Quartet in A minor (Sibelius)

String Quartet in A minor (Sibelius)

String quartet by Jean Sibelius (1889)

The String Quartet in A major, JS 183, is a four-movement chamber piece for two violins, viola, and cello[2] 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 under the direction of his teacher, Martin Wegelius.[3]

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The A minor Quartet received its premiere in Helsinki on 29 May 1889 at the Helsinki Music Institute (now the Sibelius Academy); the performers were Herman Csillag [de] (violin), Wilhelm Santé (violin), Karl Wasenius [fi] (viola), and Wilhelm Renck (cello).[1]

Structure

A 29 May 1889 ad promoting the premiere of Sibelius's A minor Quartet

The A minor Quartet is in four movements, as follows:

  1. Andante – Allegro
  2. Adagio ma non tanto
  3. Vivace
  4. Allegro

The piece was published posthumously in 1991 by Fazer Music [fi].[4]

Movement I

The first movement begins with an Andante in 6
4 time before switching to 4
4 for the Allegro. It has a duration of about nine minutes.[5]

Movement II

The second movement, marked Adagio ma non tanto, is in 9
8 time; it has a duration of about seven minutes.[5]

Movement III

The third movement, marked Vivace, is in 3
4 time; it has a duration of about five minutes.[5]

Movement IV

The fourth movement, marked Allegro, is in 4
4 time; it has a duration of about seven minutes.[1]

Discography

The Sibelius Academy Quartet made the world premiere studio recording of the A minor Quartet for Finlandia in 1985.[1] The sortable table below lists this and other commercially available recordings:

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Notes, references, and sources

Notes
  1. All runtimes are official, as printed on CD or LP liner notes.
  2. Refers to the year in which the performers recorded the work; this may not be the same as the year in which the recording was first released to the general public.
  3. Sibelius Academy–Finlandia (4509–95851–2) 1992
  4. Sophisticated Ladies–BIS (CD–463) 1989
  5. Jean Sibelius–Ondine (ODE 773-2) 1991
  6. Tempera–BIS (CD–1476) 2006
  7. Flinders—ABC Classics (ABC 481 1982) 2015
  8. Leipzig—MDG (MDG 307 1957-2) 2016
References
  1. [1]
    Dahlström 2003, p. 615.
  2. [2]
    Dahlström 2003, pp. 614–615.
  3. [3]
    Barnett 2007, pp. 47–48, 51.
  4. [4]
    Dahlström 2003, p. 617.
  5. [5]
    Dahlström 2003, p. 614.
Sources
  • Barnett, Andrew (2007). Sibelius. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-11159-0.
  • Dahlström, Fabian [in Swedish] (2003). Jean Sibelius: Thematisch-bibliographisches Verzeichnis seiner Werke [Jean Sibelius: A Thematic Bibliographic Index of His Works] (in German). Wiesbaden: Breitkopf & Härtel. ISBN 3-7651-0333-0.
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