Name: String Quartet in E minor, RT VIII/8: String Duo & Ensemble, Quartet, Parts only
Brand: Alfred Music
SKU: 36-M282591
Price: 14.95 USD
Availability: OutOfStock

String Quartet in E minor, RT VIII/8: String Duo & Ensemble, Quartet, Parts only

$14.95 USD

String Quartet in E minor, RT VIII/8: String Duo & Ensemble, Quartet, Parts only

By Frederick Delius

Item: 36-M282591

$14.95

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Frederick Delius (1862-1934) composed the original three-movement version of his String Quartet in E minor, RT VIII/8 between April and June 1916, during the First World War, completing it after returning to his home at Grez-sur-Loing following a period in Scandinavia; although Delius did not explicitly associate the quartet with the war, its reflective character (particularly the haunting slow movement, Late Swallows) has often invited interpretation against that troubled historical background. The original version received its premiere on November 17, 1916, at Aeolian Hall in London by the London String Quartet, with Albert Sammons and H. Wynn Reeves, violins, Harry Waldo Warner, viola, and Charles Warwick Evans, cello. And although The Musical Times called it a "serious contribution to musical art," Delius remained dissatisfied and substantially revised the work during 1917. He reworked the outer movements, added a scherzo drawing upon material from an abandoned string quartet of about 1888, and extensively recomposed Late Swallows, producing the familiar four-movement form: 1. With animation; 2. Quick and lightly; 3. Late Swallows - Slow and wistfully; 4. Very quick and vigorously. The revised version was first performed, again by the London String Quartet, in London on February 1, 1919, and was published in 1922. Today, String Quartet in E minor, RT VIII/8 is regarded as Delius's principal contribution to the string-quartet literature and one of his most important chamber works; although encountered less frequently than the canonical quartets of his contemporaries, it maintains a respected place in twentieth-century British chamber repertoire, with Late Swallows particularly admired for its wistful lyricism and characteristic Delian evocation of nature, transience, and nostalgia. Reprint edition of the final four-movement version.