List of string quartet composers
Encyclopedia
This is a list of string quartet composers, chronologically sorted by date of birth and then by surname. The list is by no means complete. String quartet
s are written for four string instrumentsusually two violin
s, viola
and cello
unless otherwise stated.
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
s are written for four string instrumentsusually two violin
Violin
The violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
s, viola
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
and cello
Cello
The cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
unless otherwise stated.
Born in the 1700s
- Giovanni Battista SammartiniGiovanni Battista SammartiniGiovanni Battista Sammartini was an Italian composer, organist, choirmaster and teacher. He counted Gluck among his students, and was highly regarded by younger composers including Johann Christian Bach...
(c. 1700–1775): Wrote several quartets though as with many early works for the medium some of these could be played equally by a small string orchestra. - Franz Xaver RichterFranz Xaver RichterFranz Xaver Richter, known as François Xavier Richter in France was an Austro-Moravian singer, violinist, composer, conductor and music theoretician who spent most of his life first in Austria and later in Mannheim and in Strasbourg, where he was music director of the cathedral...
(1709–1789): Wrote string quartets, Op. 5 numbers 1–6 (1757).
Born in the 1720s
- Florian Leopold GassmannFlorian Leopold GassmannFlorian Leopold Gassmann was a German-speaking Bohemian opera composer of the transitional period between the baroque and classical eras. He was one of the principal composers of dramma giocoso immediately before Mozart....
(1729–1774): He is thought to have composed 37 string quartets, including six quartetti published c. 1768 as Op. 1 (H431–6); a set published as Op. 2 (H441–2, 435, 444–6); and a further six published in 1804 (H451–6).
Born in the 1730s
- Christian CannabichChristian CannabichJohann Christian Innocenz Bonaventura Cannabich , was a German violinist, composer, and Kapellmeister of the Classical era...
(1731–1798): six string quartets Op. 5 (about 1780). - Joseph HaydnJoseph HaydnFranz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...
(1732–1809): wrote sixty-eight string quartets (some of which he called Divertimenti), the last incomplete, plus Die Sieben letzten Worte unseres Erlösers am Kreuze (The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross), a sequence of eight slow movements plus a brief, rapid, finale (originally written for orchestraOrchestraAn orchestra is a sizable instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
, but probably better known in its version for string quartet). - François Joseph GossecFrançois Joseph GossecFrançois-Joseph Gossec was a French composer of operas, string quartets, symphonies, and choral works.-Life and work:...
(1734–1829): twelve string quartets: Op. 14 (1770) and Op. 15 (1772) http://www.mdt.co.uk/MDTSite/product//ALPHA025.htm - Jan Křtitel VaňhalJohann Baptist VanhalJohann Baptist Vanhal also spelled Wanhal, Waṅhall or Wanhall was an important classical music composer born in Nechanice, Bohemia to a Czech family.- Biography :...
/ Johann Baptist Vanhal (1739–1813): over seventy string quartets. (http://haydn.dk/mhc_vanhal.php)
Born in the 1740s
- Ernst EichnerErnst EichnerErnst Dietrich Adolph Eichner was a German composer.-Biography:Eichner was born to Johann Andreas Eichner , a court musician to the court of Waldeck. His father provided him his primary musical education. He became widely known as a virtuoso bassoonist throughout Europe as a result...
(1740–1777): in addition to flute quartets he wrote a set of six string quartets, Sechs Quartette Op. 12 (published 1776–77) - Václav PichlWenzel PichlWenzel Pichl was a classical Czech composer of the 18th Century. He was also a violinist, music director and writer....
(1741–1805): wrote over thirty quartets; he was one of the founders of the Vienna Violin School. - Roman HoffstetterRoman HoffstetterRoman Hoffstetter was a classical composer and Benedictine monk who also admired Joseph Haydn almost to the point of imitation...
(1742–1815): an Austrian monk and composer, now supposed to have composed the six string quartets known as Haydn's Op. 3, including the well-known 'Serenade Quartet'. - Luigi BoccheriniLuigi BoccheriniLuigi Rodolfo Boccherini was an Italian classical era composer and cellist whose music retained a courtly and galante style while he matured somewhat apart from the major European musical centers. Boccherini is most widely known for one particular minuet from his String Quintet in E, Op. 11, No...
(1743–1805): A prolific composer in most chamber music genres, Boccherini wrote ninety-one string quartets — he also wrote many string quintetString quintetA string quintet is a musical composition for a standard string quartet supplemented by a fifth string instrument, usually a second viola or a second cello , but occasionally a double bass. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who favoured addition of a viola, is considered a pioneer of the form...
s. - Giuseppe CambiniGiuseppe CambiniGiuseppe Maria Gioacchino Cambini was an Italian composer and violinist.Born in Livorno, it is likely that Cambini studied violin with Filippo Manfredi; the only evidence for this is however Cambini's own unreliable account, which also claims inaccurately that he worked with Luigi Boccherini and...
(1746–1825): wrote 149 string quartets and 30 quartets d'airs variés (http://www.lexnet.dk/quartets/c-quarte.htm) (many of which exist also in versions with winds. Alfred Einstein suggests that Mozart's fourth flute quartet, in his opinion a satirical work, may have been in part a comment on their popularity.)
Born in the 1750s
- Bartolomeo CampagnoliBartolomeo CampagnoliBartolomeo Campagnoli was an Italian violinist and composer. Campagnoli was born at Cento and died at Neustrelitz....
(1751–1827): wrote six string quartets. - Franz Anton HoffmeisterFranz Anton HoffmeisterFranz Anton Hoffmeister was a German composer and music publisher.Born in Rottenburg am Neckar, he went to Vienna at the age of fourteen to study law...
(1754–1812): fifty string quartets (plus seven for vn, 2va, vc) (source: Grove online). - Giovanni Battista ViottiGiovanni Battista ViottiGiovanni Battista Viotti was an Italian violinist whose virtuosity was famed and whose work as a composer featured a prominent violin and an appealing lyrical tunefulness...
(1755–1824): seventeen string quartets. - Franz Grill (1756?–1792): nine string quartets.
- Wolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus MozartWolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...
(1756–1791): wrote twenty-three string quartets, including the six so-called Haydn QuartetsHaydn Quartets (Mozart)The "Haydn" Quartets by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are a set of six string quartets published in 1785 in Vienna, dedicated to the composer Joseph Haydn. They are considered to be the pinnacle of Classical string quartet writing, containing some of Mozart's most memorable melodic writing and refined...
(1782–1785), generally reckoned to be his best. - Joseph Martin KrausJoseph Martin KrausJoseph Martin Kraus , was a composer in the classical era who was born in Miltenberg am Main, Germany. He moved to Sweden at age 21, and died at the age of 36 in Stockholm...
(1756–1792): wrote altogether 16 string quartets (6 Goetingen quartets are lost). See also his Flute quintet in D major. - Paul WranitzkyPaul WranitzkyPavel Vranický was a Moravian classical composer. His brother, Antonín, was also a composer.-Life:...
(1756–1808): wrote seventy-three string quartets which, at their best (the six quartets of Op. 16, the three of Op. 23), are second only to Haydn and the mature Mozart in quality. - Alessandro RollaAlessandro RollaAlessandro Rolla was widely acknowledged in his time as a violin and, especially, viola virtuoso, composer and teacher. His contribution to technique, repertoire and history of music is greatly underestimated...
(1757–1841): ten string quartets: three as Op. 2, three as Op. 5, and four others (source: Grove). - Franz KrommerFranz KrommerFranz Krommer was a Czech composer of classical music, whose seventy-year life began the year of the death of George Frideric Handel and ended a few years after that of Ludwig van Beethoven.-Life:The main events of his life were somewhat as follows:* From 1773 to 1776,...
/ František Kramář (1759–1831): wrote approximately 100 string quartets, many of which were very popular in early 19th century Vienna, and were compared positively to Beethoven's quartets.
Born in the 1760s
- Luigi CherubiniLuigi CherubiniLuigi Cherubini was an Italian composer who spent most of his working life in France. His most significant compositions are operas and sacred music. Beethoven regarded Cherubini as the greatest of his contemporaries....
(1760–1842): wrote six string quartets (1814–1837). - Antonín VranickýAntonín VranickýAntonín Vranický , was a famous Czech violinist and composer of the 18th century. He was the brother of Pavel Wranitzky....
/ Anton Wranitzky (1761–1820): wrote 30 quartets. A founder of the Vienna "violin school" and major virtuoso, he was the teacher of Ignaz SchuppanzighIgnaz SchuppanzighIgnaz Schuppanzigh November 20, 1776 – March 2, 1830, was a violinist, friend and teacher of Beethoven, and leader of Count Razumovsky's private string quartet. Schuppanzigh and his quartet premiered many of Beethoven's string quartets, and in particular, the late string quartets. The Razumovsky...
and leader of the Lobkowitz Orchestra. - Adalbert GyrowetzAdalbert GyrowetzVojtěch Matyáš Jírovec was a Bohemian composer.- Biography :...
/ Vojtěch Matyáš Jírovec (1763–1850): friend of Mozart, wrote at least forty-two string quartets (Grove), possibly more than fifty (Hyperion CD notes). - Joseph Leopold EyblerJoseph Leopold EyblerJoseph Leopold Eybler was an Austrian composer known today perhaps more for his friendship with Mozart than for his own music.-Life:...
(1765–1846): friend of Mozart, pupil of Albrechtsberger (who declared him to be the greatest musical genius in Vienna apart from Mozart) and a protégé of Josef Haydn. Three string quartets, Op. 1, available on CD, written at the age of 22 in 1787 (published in 1794.) - Samuel WesleySamuel WesleySamuel Wesley was an English organist and composer in the late Georgian period. Wesley was a contemporary of Mozart and was called by some "the English Mozart."-Personal life:...
(1766–1837): at least one quartet (in E, written around 1810. http://www.musicweb-international.com/Redcliffe/wesley.htm) - Bernhard RombergBernhard RombergBernhard Heinrich Romberg , was a German cellist and composer.-Life:Romberg was born at Dinklage. His father, Anton Romberg, played the bassoon and cello and gave Bernhard his first cello lessons. He first performed in public at the age of seven...
(1767–1841): wrote 11 complete string quartets, two sets of three quartets each Op. 1 & 25, and single quartets Opp. 12, 37, 39, 59, 60. - Andreas RombergAndreas RombergAndreas Jakob Romberg was a German violinist and composer. Romberg learned the violin from his musician father Gerhard Heinrich Romberg and first performed in public at the age of six. In addition to touring Europe, Romberg also joined the Münster Court Orchestra...
(1767–1821): wrote 29 complete string quartets, three quartets each in Opp. 1, 2, 5, 7, 16, 30, 53, 59 and 76, a single quartet, Op. 40, including a "quatuor brilliant", Op. 11. He also wrote three rondos for string quartet, Op. 34.
Born in the 1770s
- Ludwig van BeethovenLudwig van BeethovenLudwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...
(1770–1827): wrote sixteen quartets widely regarded as among the finest quartets by any composer. The Große FugeGroße FugeThe Große Fuge , Op. 133, is a single-movement composition for string quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven. A massive double fugue, it originally served as the final movement of his Quartet No. 13 in B major but he replaced it with a new finale and published it separately in 1827 as Op...
was originally composed as the last movement of Op. 130, but was subsequently published as a separate work. - Johan Hoffmann (1770–1815): two quartets (in D major and F major). (http://www.lexnet.dk/quartets/h-quarte.htm, this link also for Hoffmann).
- Peter HänselPeter HänselPeter Hänsel was a German-Austrian violinist and classical composer of almost exclusively chamber music...
(1770–1831): wrote at least ten quartets. - Anton ReichaAnton ReichaAnton Reicha was a Czech-born, later naturalized French composer. A contemporary and lifelong friend of Beethoven, Reicha is now best remembered for his substantial early contribution to the wind quintet literature and his role as a teacher – his pupils included Franz Liszt and Hector Berlioz...
(1770–1836): wrote at least thirty-seven string quartets (14 of them newly-discovered), of which the ten Vienna quartets (1801-6) are the most important. Though largely ignored since Reicha's lifetime, they were highly influential works. Groups in Europe have begun programming Reicha's quartets, and first modern editions and first recordings are now in the works. 1 - Ján Josef Rösler (1771–1813): Three String Quartets, Op. 6
- Antal György Csermák (c.1774–1822): wrote a quartet Die drohende Gefahr.
- Hyacinthe JadinHyacinthe JadinHyacinthe Jadin was a French composer who came from a distinguished musical family. His uncle Georges Jadin was a composer in Versailles and Paris, along with his father Jean Jadin, who had also played bassoon for the French Royal Orchestra...
(1776–1800): twelve string quartets in four opera, Opp. 1, 2, 3, 4, all in four movements except Op. 4, No. 1. Modeled on Haydn & Mozart; pre-romantic. - Joseph KüffnerJoseph KüffnerJoseph Küffner was a German musician and composer, a contemporary of Beethoven.-Life:...
(1776–1856): at least five string quartets (Op. 41 nos. 1-3, Op. 52, Op. 178) - Johann Nepomuk HummelJohann Nepomuk HummelJohann Nepomuk Hummel or Jan Nepomuk Hummel was an Austrian composer and virtuoso pianist. His music reflects the transition from the Classical to the Romantic musical era.- Life :...
(1778–1837): wrote three string quartets, Op. 30, No. 1 in C major; Op. 30, No. 2 in G major and Op. 30, No. 3 in E major (all ca.1808).
Born in the 1780s
- Niccolò PaganiniNiccolò PaganiniNiccolò Paganini was an Italian violinist, violist, guitarist, and composer. He was one of the most celebrated violin virtuosi of his time, and left his mark as one of the pillars of modern violin technique...
(1782–1840): fifteen string quartets for violin, viola, guitar and cello, as well as three traditional string quartets. - George Onslow (1784–1853): thirty-six quartets written between 1810 and 1845.
- Louis SpohrLouis SpohrLouis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludewig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name. Described by Dorothy Mayer as "The Forgotten Master", Spohr was once as famous as Beethoven. As a violinist, his virtuoso playing was admired by Queen Victoria...
(1784–1859): known as Ludwig in his native Germany, Spohr wrote thirty-six string quartets and four double quartets (for two string quartets). - Alexander AlyabyevAlexander AlyabyevAlexander Aleksandrovich Alyabyev, also rendered as Alabiev or Alabieff was a Russian composer. He wrote seven operas, twenty musical comedies, more than 200 songs, and many other pieces. His most famous work is The Nightingale, a song based on a poem by Anton Delvig. It was composed while...
(1787–1851): wrote at least two string quartets, plus one incomplete (see this concert notice)
Born in the 1790s
- Anselm HüttenbrennerAnselm HüttenbrennerAnselm Hüttenbrenner , was an Austrian composer. He was on friendly terms with both Ludwig van Beethovenhe was one of only two people present at his deathand Franz Schubert, his recollections of whom constitute an interesting but probably unreliable document in Schubertian biographical...
(1794–1868): wrote two string quartets (E major 1816, C minor 1847) - Franz BerwaldFranz BerwaldFranz Adolf Berwald was a Swedish Romantic composer who was generally ignored during his lifetime. He made his living as an orthopedic surgeon and later as the manager of a saw mill and glass factory....
(1796–1868): Swedish composer, wrote three string quartets, No. 1 in G minor (1818), No. 2 in A minor (1849), and No. 3 in E major (1849). - Gaetano DonizettiGaetano DonizettiDomenico Gaetano Maria Donizetti was an Italian composer from Bergamo, Lombardy. His best-known works are the operas L'elisir d'amore , Lucia di Lammermoor , and Don Pasquale , all in Italian, and the French operas La favorite and La fille du régiment...
(1797–1848): Much better known for his operas, Donizetti also wrote eighteen string quartets, the first sixteen between 1817 and 1821 (mostly 'scholastic works', though the fifth is his most performed), the seventeenth in 1825 and the last in 1836. - Franz SchubertFranz SchubertFranz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...
(1797–1828): traditionally reckoned to have written fifteen string quartets. The Death and the Maiden and Rosamunde quartets are particularly well known.
Born in the 1800s
- Johannes Bernardus van BreeJohannes Bernardus van BreeJohannes Bernardus van Bree was a Dutch composer, violinist and conductor. He was a pupil of Jan George Bertelman.From 1829 to the year of his death he directed the Felix Meritis Society...
(1801–1857): three string quartets - Jan KalivodaJan KalivodaJan Křtitel Václav Kalivoda , was a composer, conductor and violinist of Bohemian birth.-Life:...
(1801–1866): three string quartets - John Lodge EllertonJohn Lodge EllertonJohn Lodge Ellerton was an English composer of classical music.Ellerton was born in Cheshire with the name of John Lodge. According to the Dictionary of National Biography of 1889, he attended Rugby School and graduated with an MA from Brasenose College Oxford University in 1828...
(1801–1873): some 100 string quartets (many unpublished) - Bernhard Molique (1802–1869): eight string quartets
- Franz LachnerFranz LachnerFranz Paul Lachner was a German composer and conductor.Lachner was born in Rain am Lech to a musical family . He studied music with Simon Sechter and Maximilian, the Abbé Stadler. He conducted at the Theater am Kärntnertor in Vienna. In 1834, he became Kapellmeister at Mannheim...
(1803–1890): at least six quartets (No. 1 in B minor, Op. 75, No. 2 in A major, Op. 76, No. 4 in D minor, Op. 120, No. 5 in G major, Op. 169, No. 6 in E minor, Op. 173) - Mikhail GlinkaMikhail GlinkaMikhail Ivanovich Glinka , was the first Russian composer to gain wide recognition within his own country, and is often regarded as the father of Russian classical music...
(1804–1857): After attempting to compose a quartet in 1824 (a work that remained incomplete), Glinka wrote his only finished string quartet in 1830 While this piece is now seldom performed, it and its incomplete predecessor are notable as among the first attempts by a native Russian composer to work in this genre. **String Quartet in F major" - 1830 - Fanny MendelssohnFanny MendelssohnFanny Cäcilie Mendelssohn , later Fanny Hensel, was a German pianist and composer, the sister of the composer Felix Mendelssohn and granddaughter of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn...
(1805–1847): A string quartet in E -1834 - Johan Peter Emilius HartmannJohan Peter Emilius HartmannJohan Peter Emilius Hartmann was a Danish composer.-Biography:Hartmann came from a musical family of German descent. Although he received his music lessons initially from his father, he taught himself as much as possible...
(1805–1900): three string quartets (http://www.lexnet.dk/quartets/h-quarte.htm) - Juan Crisóstomo ArriagaJuan Crisóstomo ArriagaJuan Crisóstomo Jacobo Antonio de Arriaga y Balzola was a Spanish composer. He was nicknamed the "Spanish Mozart" after he died, because, like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, he was also a child prodigy and an accomplished composer who died young...
(1806–1826): Early 19th century SpanishSpainSpain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
composer, born on Mozart's 50th birthday. Wrote three brilliant quartets (ca.1824) before his abrupt death at age 19; No. 1 in D minor; No. 2 in A major; No. 3 in E major - Václav Jindřich VeitVáclav Jindrich VeitVáclav Jindřich Veit known in German as Wenzel Heinrich Veit Czech composer, copyist, pianist and lawyer....
(1806–1864): Early Romantic Czech composer, a major influence on Smetana, wrote four string quartets and five string quintets. - Ignaz LachnerIgnaz LachnerIgnaz Lachner , was a German composer and conductor.Ignaz Lachner was born into a musical family at Rain am Lech. He was the second of the three famous Lachner brothers. Lachner's brothers Franz and Vinzenz, were also composers...
(1807–1895): wrote eight quartets (http://www.recordsinternational.com/RICatalogFeb98.html- Op. 43 in F; Op. 54 in C; Op. 74 in A; Op. 104 in G; Op. 105 in A minor; Op. 106 in C for 3 violins and viola; Op. 107 in G for four violins; in B Op. posth.) - Felix MendelssohnFelix MendelssohnJakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
(1809–1847): wrote six numbered string quartets: Op. 12 (1829), Op. 13 (1827), Op. 44 (three quartets, 1838), and Op. 80 (1847); an early unnumbered string quartet in E major (1823); Four Pieces ("Andante", Scherzo, Capriccio, Fugue) for string quartet, Op. 81 (1847); a set of 15 fugues for string quartet, written when Mendelssohn was twelve (!); and another fugue (in E major) for string quartet, written at age eighteen.
Born in the 1810s
- Norbert BurgmüllerNorbert BurgmüllerNorbert Burgmüller was a German composer.-Life:Burgmüller was born in Düsseldorf, the youngest son in a musical family. His father, August Burgmüller, was the director of a theatre. His mother, Therese von Zandt, was a singer and piano teacher. He had two brothers, Franz and Friedrich, who was...
(1810–1836): four elegant string quartets: Op. 4 in D minor, Op. 7 in D minor, Op. 9 in A major, and Op. 14 in A minor. - Robert SchumannRobert SchumannRobert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....
(1810–1856): wrote three string quartets (Op. 41), not among his better known works - Wilhelm TaubertWilhelm TaubertCarl Gottfried Wilhelm Taubert was a German pianist, composer, and conductor.Taubert studied under Ludwig Berger and Bernhard Klein . In 1831 he became assistant conductor and accompanist for Berlin court concerts...
(1811–1891): at least four string quartets (1848? to 1872?) - Giuseppe VerdiGiuseppe VerdiGiuseppe Fortunino Francesco Verdi was an Italian Romantic composer, mainly of opera. He was one of the most influential composers of the 19th century...
(1813–1901): one string quartet, in E minor -1873 - Robert VolkmannRobert VolkmannFriedrich Robert Volkmann was a German composer.-Life:He was born in Lommatzsch, Saxony, Germany. His father was a music director for a church, so he trained his son in music to prepare him as a successor...
(1815–1883): six string quartets - Salvatore PappalardoSalvatore Pappalardo (composer)Salvatore Pappalardo was an Italian composer and conductor.Born in Catania, Pappalardo began his studies in his home city before entering the Palermo Conservatory where he studied under Pietro Raimondi...
(1817–1884): 4 published quartets and several in manuscript - Niels Gade (1817–1890) : one published quartet (D major, Op. 63) and suppressed quartets in F major, F minor and E minor
- Stanislaw MoniuszkoStanislaw MoniuszkoStanisław Moniuszko was a Polish composer, conductor and teacher. His output includes many songs and operas, and his musical style is filled with patriotic folk themes of the peoples of the former Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth...
(1819–1872) : two string quartets (D minor, F major)
Born in the 1820s
- Henri VieuxtempsHenri VieuxtempsHenri François Joseph Vieuxtemps was a Belgian composer and violinist. He occupies an important place in the history of the violin as a prominent exponent of the Franco-Belgian violin school during the mid-19th century....
(1820–1881): three string quartets (in E minor, Op. 44, in C major, Op. 51, in B, Op. 52 — the latter two published posthumously) - Emilie MayerEmilie MayerEmilie Mayer was a German composer of Romantic music. She was a pupil of Carl Loewe....
(1821–1883): a string quartet in G minor, Op. 14 and several in manuscript - Friedrich KielFriedrich KielFriedrich Kiel was a German composer and music teacher.Writing of the chamber music of Friedrich Kiel, the famous scholar and critic Wilhelm Altmann notes that it was Kiel’s extreme modesty which kept him and his exceptional works from receiving the consideration they deserved...
(1821–1885): two string quartets (Op. 53, in A minor and E) and waltzes Op.73 and Op. 78 - Joachim RaffJoachim RaffJoseph Joachim Raff was a German-Swiss composer, teacher and pianist.-Biography:Raff was born in Lachen in Switzerland. His father, a teacher, had fled there from Württemberg in 1810 to escape forced recruitment into the military of that southwestern German state that had to fight for Napoleon in...
(1822–1882): wrote eight string quartets (1855 to 1876) - César FranckCésar FranckCésar-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life....
(1822–1890): wrote one string quartet -1889 - Bedrich SmetanaBedrich SmetanaBedřich Smetana was a Czech composer who pioneered the development of a musical style which became closely identified with his country's aspirations to independent statehood. He is thus widely regarded in his homeland as the father of Czech music...
(1824–1884): two string quartets, No. 1 in E minor From my Life; and No. 2 in D minor, with the first being the better known - Anton BrucknerAnton BrucknerAnton Bruckner was an Austrian composer known for his symphonies, masses, and motets. The first are considered emblematic of the final stage of Austro-German Romanticism because of their rich harmonic language, complex polyphony, and considerable length...
(1824–1896): wrote one string quartet -1862 - Carl ReineckeCarl ReineckeCarl Heinrich Carsten Reinecke was a German composer, conductor, and pianist.-Biography:Reinecke was born in Altona, Hamburg, Germany; until 1864 the town was under Danish rule. He studied with his father, Johann Peter Rudolph Reinecke, a music teacher...
(1824–1910): wrote five string quartets (Op. 16 in E in 1842, Op. 30 in F around 1851, Op. 132 in C around 1874, Op. 211 in D, Op. 287 in G minor) - Edward Mollenhauer (1827–1914), United States violinist and composer born in Prussia: his best known compositions were quartets; he also wrote three operas
- Woldemar BargielWoldemar BargielWoldemar Bargiel was a German composer of classical music.-Life:Bargiel was born in Berlin, and was the half brother of Clara Schumann. Bargiel’s father Adolph was a well-known piano and voice teacher while his mother Mariane had been unhappily married to Clara’s father, Friedrich Wieck. Clara was...
(1828–1897): four string quartets (including No. 3, Op. 15b in A minor and No. 4, Op. 47 in D minor) - Anton RubinsteinAnton RubinsteinAnton Grigorevich Rubinstein was a Russian-Jewish pianist, composer and conductor. As a pianist he was regarded as a rival of Franz Liszt, and he ranks amongst the great keyboard virtuosos...
(1829–1894): ten string quartets spread throughout his life - Karl GoldmarkKarl GoldmarkKarl Goldmark, also known originally as Károly Goldmark and later sometimes as Carl Goldmark; May 18, 1830, Keszthely – January 2, 1915, Vienna) was a Hungarian composer.- Life and career :...
(1830–1915): Goldmark's only string quartet was his breakthrough work, his first composition to receive very positive reviews in contemporary Viennese musical journals. Long neglected, it was recorded several times in the 1990s as part of a general revival of interest in Goldmark's chamber music. **String Quartet in B major, Op.8 -1860
Born in the 1830s
- Alexander BorodinAlexander BorodinAlexander Porfiryevich Borodin was a Russian Romantic composer and chemist of Georgian–Russian parentage. He was a member of the group of composers called The Five , who were dedicated to producing a specifically Russian kind of art music...
(1833–1887): two string quartets: No. 1 in A -1879 and No. 2 in D (1881), of which the second is the better known, and whose second Scherzo and Notturno third movement have been borrowed for musicals (KismetKismet (musical)Kismet is a musical with lyrics and musical adaptation by Robert Wright and George Forrest, adapted from the music of Alexander Borodin, and a book by Charles Lederer and Luther Davis, based on Kismet, the 1911 play by Edward Knoblock...
) " - Johannes BrahmsJohannes BrahmsJohannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...
(1833–1897): wrote three string quartets, the first two in 1879 and the final one in 1881 - Felix DraesekeFelix DraesekeFelix August Bernhard Draeseke was a composer of the "New German School" admiring Liszt and Richard Wagner. He wrote compositions in most forms including eight operas and stage works, four symphonies, and much vocal and chamber music.-Life:Felix Draeseke was born in the Franconian ducal town of...
(1835–1913): wrote three string quartets between 1880 and 1895 - Camille Saint-SaënsCamille Saint-SaënsCharles-Camille Saint-Saëns was a French Late-Romantic composer, organist, conductor, and pianist. He is known especially for The Carnival of the Animals, Danse macabre, Samson and Delilah, Piano Concerto No. 2, Cello Concerto No. 1, Havanaise, Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso, and his Symphony...
(1835–1921): two string quartets: Op. 112 -1889 and Op. 153 -1918 - Józef WieniawskiJózef WieniawskiJózef Wieniawski was a Polish pianist, composer, conductor and pedagog. He was the younger brother of the famous Polish violinist Henryk Wieniawski...
(1837–1912): at least one quartet, in A minor, Op. 32 - Max BruchMax BruchMax Christian Friedrich Bruch , also known as Max Karl August Bruch, was a German Romantic composer and conductor who wrote over 200 works, including three violin concertos, the first of which has become a staple of the violin repertoire.-Life:Bruch was born in Cologne, Rhine Province, where he...
(1838–1920): two string quartets, from his student days or a little after, Op. 9 in C minor (1858/9) and Op. 10 in E major -1860 - Ernst Eduard TaubertErnst Eduard TaubertErnst Eduard Taubert was a Pomeranian composer, music critic, and music educator. He began his education in Bonn where he was first a student of theology and later a music pupil of Albert Dietrich. He then studied under Friedrich Kiel in Berlin...
(1838–1934): at least four string quartets (1877 to 1902) - Josef RheinbergerJosef RheinbergerJosef Gabriel Rheinberger was a German organist and composer, born in Liechtenstein.-Short biography:...
(1839–1901): two string quartets, in C minor, Op. 89 and F major, Op. 147 - Friedrich GernsheimFriedrich GernsheimFriedrich Gernsheim was a German composer, conductor and pianist.Gernsheim was born in Worms. He was given his first musical training at home under his mother's care, then starting from the age of seven under Worms' musical director, Louis Liebe, a former pupil of Louis Spohr...
(1839–1916): five string quartets (No. 1 in C minor, Op. 25 (ca. 1872); No. 2 in A minor, Op. 31 (1875); No. 3 in F major, Op. 51 (1886); No. 4 in E minor, Op. 66; No. 5 in A major, Op. 83 (ca. 1911))
Born in the 1840s
- Hermann GoetzHermann GoetzHermann Gustav Goetz was a German composer.After studying in Berlin, he moved to Switzerland in 1863. After ten years spent as a critic, pianist and conductor as well, he spent the last three years of his life composing...
(1840–1876): one string quartet in B (1865–66) - Pyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich TchaikovskyPyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (Russian: Пётр Ильи́ч Чайко́вский ; often "Peter Ilich Tchaikovsky" in English. His names are also transliterated "Piotr" or "Petr"; "Ilitsch", "Il'ich" or "Illyich"; and "Tschaikowski", "Tschaikowsky", "Chajkovskij"...
(1840–1893): three string quartets: No. 1 in D, Op. 11 (1871); No. 2 in F, Op. 22 (1873); and No. 3 in E minor, Op. 30 (1876), of which the first is the best-known, especially the Andante cantabile second movemment which has been recorded many times with full orchestra - Johan SvendsenJohan SvendsenJohan Severin Svendsen was a Norwegian composer, conductor and violinist. Born in Christiania , Norway, he lived most his life in Copenhagen, Denmark....
(1840–1911): one string quartet, his Op. 1 - Antonín DvořákAntonín DvorákAntonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
(1841–1904): wrote fourteen string quartets, out of which number twelve, the American, is the best known - Giovanni SgambatiGiovanni SgambatiGiovanni Sgambati was an Italian composer.Born to an Italian father and an English mother, Sgambati, who lost his father early, received his early education at Trevi, in Umbria, where he wrote some church music and obtained experience as a singer and conductor...
(1841–1914): wrote a string quartet in D major, his Op. 17 -1882 - Elfrida AndréeElfrida AndréeElfrida Andrée , was a Swedish organist, composer, and conductor.Andrée was born in Visby. She was the pupil of Ludvig Norman and Niels Wilhelm Gade. Her sister was the singer Fredrika Stenhammar. An activist in the Swedish women's movement, she was one of the first female organists to be...
(1841–1929): wrote one string quartet in D minor (http://www.camerata.art.pl/repertuar.en.html) and another in A major (published in 2000) - Heinrich von HerzogenbergHeinrich von HerzogenbergHeinrich Picot de Peccaduc, Freiherr von Herzogenberg was an Austrian composer and conductor descended from a French aristocratic family....
(1843–1900): wrote five string quartets (1876–1890) - Edvard GriegEdvard GriegEdvard Hagerup Grieg was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is best known for his Piano Concerto in A minor, for his incidental music to Henrik Ibsen's play Peer Gynt , and for his collection of piano miniatures Lyric Pieces.-Biography:Edvard Hagerup Grieg was born in...
(1843–1907): wrote two string quartets, the second being unfinished - Ján Levoslav BellaJán Levoslav BellaJán Levoslav Bella was a Slovak composer, conductor and music teacher, who wrote in the spirit of the Nationalist Romantic movement of the 19th century.- Life :Bella was raised in a Roman Catholic family...
(1843–1936): wrote three string quartets, in E minor (1871), C minor -1880 and B minor -1887 - Nikolai Rimsky-KorsakovNikolai Rimsky-KorsakovNikolai Andreyevich Rimsky-Korsakov was a Russian composer, and a member of the group of composers known as The Five.The Five, also known as The Mighty Handful or The Mighty Coterie, refers to a circle of composers who met in Saint Petersburg, Russia, in the years 1856–1870: Mily Balakirev , César...
(1844–1908): better known for his orchestral suites, he also wrote three complete string quartets, two single movements and three other pieces for string quartet - Gabriel FauréGabriel FauréGabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
(1845–1924): one string quartet, in E minor, Op. 121 -1924 - August KlughardtAugust KlughardtAugust Friedrich Martin Klughardt was a German composer and conductor.- Life :Klughardt, who was born in Köthen, took his first piano and music theory lessons at the age of 10. Soon, be began to compose his first pieces, which were performed by a music circle Klughardt had founded himself at...
(1847–1902): two string quartets (in F, Op. 42 and in D, Op. 61) - Robert FuchsRobert FuchsRobert Fuchs was an Austrian composer and music teacher.As Professor of music theory at the Vienna Conservatory, Fuchs taught many notable composers, while he was himself a highly regarded composer in his lifetime....
(1847–1927): four string quartets: No. 1 in E, Op. 58 (1895); No. 2 in A minor, Op. 62 (1899); No. 3 in C, Op. 71 (1903); No. 4 in A, Op. 106 -1916 (Austrian National Library claims to have a late 5th quartet) - Alexander Mackenzie (1847–1935): one string quartet in G -1868
- Hubert ParryHubert ParrySir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry, 1st Baronet was an English composer, teacher and historian of music.Parry's first major works appeared in 1880. As a composer he is best known for the choral song "Jerusalem", the coronation anthem "I was glad" and the hymn tune "Repton", which sets the words...
(1848–1918): 3 string quartets (unpublished during his lifetime)
Born in the 1850s
- Zdeněk FibichZdenek FibichZdeněk Fibich was a Czech composer of classical music. Among his compositions are chamber works , symphonic poems, three symphonies, at least seven operas , melodramas including the substantial trilogy Hippodamia,...
(1850–1900): wrote two string quartets (A major, 1874, G major, 1878) and a set of variations for quartet (B, 1883) according to Orfeo CD label - Alexander TaneyevAlexander TaneyevAlexander Sergeyevich Taneyev was a Russian composer of the late Romantic era, specifically of the nationalist school. Among his best works were three string quartets, believed to have been composed between 1898–1900....
(1850–1918): three string quartets: No. 1 in G major, Op. 25; No. 2 in C major, Op. 28; and No. 3 in A major, Op. 30 (source: Olympia CD notes) - Antonio ScontrinoAntonio ScontrinoAntonio Scontrino was an Italian composer.Scontrino studied at the Palermo Conservatory from 1861 and 1870 and later in Munich. He began performing as a double bassist in 1891. In 1898, he became a professor of composition at the Palermo Conservatory and also taught in Florence afterwards...
(1850–1922): wrote four string quartets (A minor, G minor, F major, C major) and a movement (prelude and fugue in E minor) for string quartet - Vincent d'IndyVincent d'IndyVincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...
(1851–1931): wrote three string quartets - Charles Villiers StanfordCharles Villiers StanfordSir Charles Villiers Stanford was an Irish composer who was particularly notable for his choral music. He was professor at the Royal College of Music and University of Cambridge.- Life :...
(1852–1924): wrote eight string quartets (1891–1919) - Leoš JanáčekLeoš JanácekLeoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...
(1854–1928): wrote two string quartets, known as The Kreutzer Sonata and Intimate Letters - Ernest ChaussonErnest ChaussonAmédée-Ernest Chausson was a French romantic composer who died just as his career was beginning to flourish.-Life:Ernest Chausson was born in Paris into a prosperous bourgeois family...
(1855–1899): wrote one string quartet in three movements; the third movement was completed by Vincent d'IndyVincent d'IndyVincent d'Indy was a French composer and teacher.-Life:Paul Marie Théodore Vincent d'Indy was born in Paris into an aristocratic family of royalist and Catholic persuasion. He had piano lessons from an early age from his paternal grandmother, who passed him on to Antoine François Marmontel and...
after Chausson's death in 1899 - Christian SindingChristian SindingChristian August Sinding was a Norwegian composer.-Personal life:He was born in Kongsberg as a son of mine superindendent Matthias Wilhelm Sinding and Cecilie Marie Mejdell . He was a brother of the painter Otto Sinding and the sculptor Stephan Sinding...
(1856–1941): wrote a string quartet, his Op. 70 - Sergei Ivanovich TaneyevSergei TaneyevSergei Ivanovich Taneyev , was a Russian composer, pianist, teacher of composition, music theorist and author.-Life:...
(1856–1915): nine complete string quartets, two partial (source: Grove Music Online) - Edward ElgarEdward ElgarSir Edward William Elgar, 1st Baronet OM, GCVO was an English composer, many of whose works have entered the British and international classical concert repertoire. Among his best-known compositions are orchestral works including the Enigma Variations, the Pomp and Circumstance Marches, concertos...
(1857–1934): one string quartet in E minorString Quartet (Elgar)The String Quartet in E minor, Op. 83, was one of three major chamber music works composed by Sir Edward Elgar in 1918. The others were the Violin Sonata in E minor, Op. 82, and the Piano Quintet in A minor, Op. 84. Along with the Cello Concerto in E minor, Op...
, Op. 83 -1918 - Sylvio LazzariSylvio LazzariSylvio Lazzari was a French composer of Austrian origin.-Life:...
(1857–1944): a string quartet in A minor, Op. 17 - Ethel SmythEthel SmythDame Ethel Mary Smyth, DBE was an English composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement.- Early career :...
(1858–1944): one published string quartet, in E minor (1902–1912) and one unpublished, dating from her student days in Leipzig, in C minor - Mikhail Ippolitov-IvanovMikhail Ippolitov-IvanovMikhail Mikhailovich Ippolitov-Ivanov was a Russian composer, conductor and teacher.- Biography :...
(1859–1935): at least one string quartet, Op. 13 in A minor - Josef Bohuslav FoersterJosef Bohuslav FoersterJosef Bohuslav Foerster was a Czech composer of classical music. He is often referred to as J. B. Foerster. The surname is sometimes spelled Förster.- Life :...
(1859–1951): five string quartets (1888–1951; the fifth incomplete at his death) - Nikolay Sokolov (1859–1922): wrote three string quartets (in F Op. 7, in A Op. 14 and in D minor, Op. 20, published 1890, 1892 and 1894) and contributed to projects of the BelyayevMitrofan BelyayevMitrofan Petrovich Belyayev was a Russian music publisher, outstanding philanthropist, and the owner of a large wood dealership enterprise in Russia. He was also the founder of the Belyayev circle, a society of musicians in Russia whose members included Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Glazunov...
circle with Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Glazunov, Alexander KopylovAlexander KopylovAlexander Alexandrovich Kopylov or Kopilov was a Russian composer and violinist....
and others (including a polka for Les Vendredis for string quartet and other works)
Born in the 1860s
- Emil von ReznicekEmil von ReznicekEmil Nikolaus Freiherr von Reznicek was an Austrian late Romantic composer of Czech ancestry.-Life:...
(1860–1945): four string quartets, including No. 1 in C minor (1921), also in D minor (http://www.hmt-leipzig.de/website/deu/aktuell/veranstaltungen/2002/okt.htm; pub. Bimbach, 1923, Berlin) and B major (pub. Bimbach, 1932), quartet in C minor (published by E.W. Fritzsch, Leipzig, 1883). - Hugo WolfHugo WolfHugo Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in...
(1860–1903): wrote one string quartet -1884 and a more famous Italian Serenade for string quartet (1892); also, an Intermezzo - Charles Martin LoefflerCharles Martin LoefflerCharles Martin Loeffler was a German-born American violinist and composer.- Birthplace :Throughout his career Loeffler claimed to have been born in Mulhouse, Alsace and almost all music encyclopedias give this fabricated information. In his lifetime articles were published dissecting his...
(1861–1935): two string quartets, in A minor (1889), and Music for Four Stringed Instruments -1917 - Claude DebussyClaude DebussyClaude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
(1862–1918): one string quartet, in G minor, Op. 10 -1893 - Frederick DeliusFrederick DeliusFrederick Theodore Albert Delius, CH was an English composer. Born in the north of England to a prosperous mercantile family of German extraction, he resisted attempts to recruit him to commerce...
(1862–1934): wrote three string quartets (1888, 1893 and 1916) - Emánuel MoórEmánuel MoórEmánuel Moór was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and inventor of musical instruments....
(1863–1931): two string quartets, op. 59 in A and op. 87, and other works for string quartet - Felix WeingartnerFelix WeingartnerPaul Felix von Weingartner, Edler von Münzberg was an Austrian conductor, composer and pianist.-Biography:...
(1863–1942): four string quartets (in D minor, Op. 24, in F minor, Op. 26, in F, Op. 34 and in D, Op. 62, pub. 1899, 1900, 1903 and 1918) - Eugen d'AlbertEugen d'AlbertEugen Francis Charles d'Albert was a Scottish-born German pianist and composer.Educated in Britain, d'Albert showed early musical talent and, at the age of seventeen, he won a scholarship to study in Austria...
(1864–1932): two string quartets (in A minor, Op. 7 and in E, Op. 11, 1887 and 1893) - Alexander GretchaninovAlexander GretchaninovAlexander Tikhonovich Gretchaninov was a Russian Romantic composer.-His life:Gretchaninov started his musical studies rather late because his father, a businessman, had expected the boy to take over the family firm...
(1864–1956): four string quartets: No. 1 in G major, Op. 2 (1894); No. 2 in D minor, Op. 70 (1913); No. 3 in C minor, Op. 75 (1915); No. 4 in F major, Op. 124 -1929 - Alberto NepomucenoAlberto NepomucenoAlberto Nepomuceno was a Brazilian composer and conductorAlberto Nepomuceno was born in city of Fortaleza, capital of the state of Ceará in northeastern Brazil. He was the son of Vitor Augusto Nepomuceno and Maria Virginia de Oliveira Paiva...
(1864–1920): wrote three string quartets - Guy Ropartz (1864–1955): six quartets (1893–1951)
- Richard StraussRichard StraussRichard Georg Strauss was a leading German composer of the late Romantic and early modern eras. He is known for his operas, which include Der Rosenkavalier and Salome; his Lieder, especially his Four Last Songs; and his tone poems and orchestral works, such as Death and Transfiguration, Till...
(1864–1949): wrote one string quartet - Alexander GlazunovAlexander GlazunovAlexander Konstantinovich Glazunov was a Russian composer of the late Russian Romantic period, music teacher and conductor...
(1865–1936): wrote seven string quartets, and numerous other compositions for string quartet (the Five Pieces of 1879–1881, the Five Novelettes Op. 15, the Finale of the B-la-F Quartet and the first movement Carol-singers of the Name-day Quartet, the Suite Op. 35, the Two Pieces of 1902, and the Elegy for BelyayevMitrofan BelyayevMitrofan Petrovich Belyayev was a Russian music publisher, outstanding philanthropist, and the owner of a large wood dealership enterprise in Russia. He was also the founder of the Belyayev circle, a society of musicians in Russia whose members included Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Alexander Glazunov...
Op. 105). The Third Quartet -1888 is often nicknamed the Slav Quartet, while the Seventh Quartet -1930 is subtitled Homage to the Past. - Gustav JennerGustav JennerGustav Uwe Jenner, , was a German composer, conductor and musical scholar whose chief claim to fame is that he was the only formal composition pupil of Johannes Brahms.Jenner was born in Keitum on the island of Sylt...
(1865–1920): wrote three string quartets (1907, 1910 and 1911 — http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2002/Sept02/Jenner_quartets.htm) - Albéric MagnardAlbéric MagnardLucien Denis Gabriel Albéric Magnard was a French composer, sometimes referred to as the "French Bruckner", though there are significant differences between the two composers...
(1865–1914): wrote one string quartet -1903 - Carl NielsenCarl NielsenCarl August Nielsen , , widely recognised as Denmark's greatest composer, was also a conductor and a violinist. Brought up by poor but musically talented parents on the island of Funen, he demonstrated his musical abilities at an early age...
(1865–1931): wrote four published string quartets, also an early quartet and quartet movements - Jean SibeliusJean SibeliusJean Sibelius was a Finnish composer of the later Romantic period whose music played an important role in the formation of the Finnish national identity. His mastery of the orchestra has been described as "prodigious."...
(1865–1957): wrote three youthful quartets (in E, 1885; in A minor, 1889; and in B, Op. 4, 1890) and his much better known quartet Voces Intimae, Op. 56 -1909 http://www.fimic.fi/fimic/fimic.nsf/mainframe?readform&C86644257A5B154142256B13003AB01A - Ferruccio BusoniFerruccio BusoniFerruccio Busoni was an Italian composer, pianist, editor, writer, piano and composition teacher, and conductor.-Biography:...
(1866–1924): two string quartets, Op. 19 in C minor -1884 and Op. 26 in D minor -1887 - Amy BeachAmy BeachAmy Marcy Cheney Beach was an American composer and pianist. She was the first successful American female composer of large-scale art music. Most of her compositions and performances were under the name Mrs. H.H.A. Beach.-Early years:Beach was born Amy Marcy Cheney in Henniker, New Hampshire into...
(1867–1944): wrote one quartet, String Quartet in One Movement, Op. 89 -1921 - Charles KoechlinCharles KoechlinCharles Louis Eugène Koechlin was a French composer, teacher and writer on music. He was a political radical all his life and a passionate enthusiast for such diverse things as medieval music, The Jungle Book of Rudyard Kipling, Johann Sebastian Bach, film stars , travelling, stereoscopic...
(1867–1950): three string quartets, in D Op. 51 (1911–13), Op. 57 (1911–16), Op. 72 in D (1917–21) - John Blackwood McEwenJohn Blackwood McEwenSir John Blackwood McEwen was a Scottish classical composer and educator.- Biography :John Blackwood McEwen was born in Hawick in 1868. After initial training in Glasgow, he studied with Ebenezer Prout, Corder and Tobias Matthay at the Royal Academy of Music in London...
(1868–1948): 17 string quartets written from 1898 to 1947 - Max von SchillingsMax von SchillingsMax von Schillings was a German conductor, composer and theatre director. He was chief conductor at the Berlin State Opera from 1919 to 1925....
(1868–1933): string quartet in E minor (about 1887) - Hans PfitznerHans PfitznerHans Erich Pfitzner was a German composer and self-described anti-modernist. His best known work is the post-Romantic opera Palestrina, loosely based on the life of the great sixteenth-century composer Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina.-Biography:Pfitzner was born in Moscow, Russia, where his...
(1869–1949): wrote four string quartets (in D minor, without Op. number, 1886; D major, Op. 13 1903, C minor, Op. 36 from 1925 - later arranged into a symphony, and C minor, Op. 50, 1942)
Born in the 1870s
- Alfred HillAlfred HillAlfred Francis Hill CMG OBE was an Australian/New Zealand composer, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Alfred Hill was born in Melbourne in 1869. His year of birth is shown in many sources as 1870, but this has now been disproven. He spent most of his early life in New Zealand...
(1870–1960): Australian composer, wrote seventeen string quartets. - Vítězslav NovákVítezslav NovákVítězslav Novák was one of the most well-respected Czech composers and pedagogues, almost singlehandedly founding a mid-century Czech school of composition...
(1870–1949): three quartets (1899–1938) - Joseph RyelandtJoseph RyelandtJoseph Ryelandt was a Belgian classical composer.-Life:Joseph Victor Marie Ryelandt was born in Bruges, into a wealthy bourgeois family, for whom culture, tradition, and the Roman Catholic religion mattered. So did music, which the family practiced a lot...
(1870–1965): Four string quartets (1897–1943) - Florent SchmittFlorent SchmittFlorent Schmitt was a French composer.-Early life:A Lorrainer, born in Meurthe-et-Moselle, Schmitt originally took music lessons in Nancy with the local composer Gustave Sandré. Subsequently he entered the Paris Conservatoire. There he studied with Gabriel Fauré, Jules Massenet, Théodore Dubois,...
(1870–1958): String Quartet in G, Op. 112 -1947 - Louis VierneLouis VierneLouis Victor Jules Vierne was a French organist and composer.-Life:Louis Vierne was born in Poitiers, Vienne, nearly blind due to congenital cataracts, but at an early age was discovered to have an unusual gift for music. Louis Victor Jules Vierne (8 October 1870 – 2 June 1937) was a French...
(1870–1937): One string quartet -1894 - Henry Kimball HadleyHenry Kimball HadleyHenry Kimball Hadley was an American composer and conductor.-Life:Hadley was born into a musical family in Somerville, Massachusetts...
(1871–1937): wrote two string quartets: No. 1 in A, Op. 24, and No. 2, Op. 132 -1932 - Wilhelm StenhammarWilhelm StenhammarCarl Wilhelm Eugen Stenhammar was a Swedish composer, conductor and pianist.-Biography:Stenhammar was born in Stockholm, where he received his first musical education. He then went to Berlin to further his studies in music. He became a glowing admirer of German music, particularly that of Richard...
(1871–1927): Swedish composer, wrote six string quartets - Alexander von ZemlinskyAlexander von ZemlinskyAlexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher.-Early life:...
(1871–1942) four string quartets and two movements for string quartet: No. 1 in A major, Op. 4 (1896); No. 2, Op. 15 (1913–15); No. 3, Op. 19 (1924); No. 4 (Suite), Op. 25 (1936); and two movements for string quartet -1927 - Ralph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
(1872–1958): two numbered string quartets: No. 1 in G minor (1908, rev. 1921) and No. 2 in A minor (1942/3). Also one student work in C minor (1897) - Reynaldo HahnReynaldo HahnReynaldo Hahn was a Venezuelan, naturalised French, composer, conductor, music critic and diarist. Best known as a composer of songs, he wrote in the French classical tradition of the mélodie....
(1874–1947): at least two string quartets (A minor from 1939, F major from 1943) - Charles IvesCharles IvesCharles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
(1874–1954): wrote two string quartets (1896 and 1913), the first entitled From the Salvation Army - Paul JuonPaul JuonPaul Juon was a Germanised Russian composerHe was born in Moscow, where his father was an insurance official. His mother was German, and he went to a German school in Moscow. He entered the Moscow Conservatory in 1889, where he studied violin with Jan Hřímalý and composition with Anton Arensky...
(1872–1940): four string quartets (a youthful Op. five and three acknowledged quartets Op. 11 in B minor, Op. 29 in A minor and Op. 67 in C) - Max RegerMax RegerJohann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger was a German composer, conductor, pianist, organist, and academic teacher.-Life:...
(1873–1916): wrote six string quartets (including an early posthumously-published work with an optional part for double bass) - Arnold SchoenbergArnold SchoenbergArnold Schoenberg was an Austrian composer, associated with the expressionist movement in German poetry and art, and leader of the Second Viennese School...
(1874–1951): wrote four numbered string quartetsString quartets (Schoenberg)The Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg published four string quartets, distributed over his lifetime. These were the String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7 , String Quartet No. 2 in F sharp minor, Op. 10 , String Quartet No. 3, Op. 30 , and the String Quartet No. 4, Op...
, the second of which includes a part for sopranoSopranoA soprano is a voice type with a vocal range from approximately middle C to "high A" in choral music, or to "soprano C" or higher in operatic music. In four-part chorale style harmony, the soprano takes the highest part, which usually encompasses the melody...
. Also composed an early, unnumbered, string quartet - Franz SchmidtFranz SchmidtFranz Schmidt was an Austrian composer, cellist and pianist of Hungarian descent and origin.- Life :Schmidt was born in Pozsony , in the Hungarian part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire . His father was half Hungarian and his mother entirely Hungarian...
(1874–1939): quartet 1 in A (1925), quartet 2 in G -1929 - Josef SukJosef Suk (composer)Josef Suk was a Czech composer and violinist.- Life :Suk was born in Křečovice. He studied at Prague Conservatory from 1885 to 1892, where he was a pupil of Antonín Dvořák and Antonín Bennewitz. In 1898, he married Dvořák's eldest daughter, Otilie Dvořáková , affectionately known as Otilka...
(1874–1935): two string quartets — in B, Op. 11 from 1896, and Op. 31 in one movement from 1911, tonal but from G minor -> D. Also the Meditation on the Old Czech Chorale St. Wenceslas, Op. 35a, 1914 - Franco AlfanoFranco AlfanoFranco Alfano was an Italian composer and pianist. Best known today for his opera Risurrezione and above all for having completed Puccini's opera Turandot in 1926. He had considerable success with several of his own works during his lifetime.- Biography :He was born in Posillipo, Naples...
(1875–1954): wrote three string quartets - Reinhold GlièreReinhold GlièreReinhold Moritzevich Glière was a Russian and Soviet composer of German–Polish descent.- Biography :Glière was born in Kiev, Ukraine...
(1875–1956): wrote four string quartets: in A major, Op. 2 (1899), in G minor, Op. 20 (1905), in D minor, Op. 67 (1927), in F minor, Op. 83 -1943 - Fritz KreislerFritz KreislerFriedrich "Fritz" Kreisler was an Austrian-born violinist and composer. One of the most famous violin masters of his or any other day, he was known for his sweet tone and expressive phrasing. Like many great violinists of his generation, he produced a characteristic sound which was immediately...
(1875–1962): wrote a string quartet in A minor -1919 - Erkki MelartinErkki MelartinErkki Melartin was a Finnish composer and pupil of Martin Wegelius from 1892-99 in Helsinki, and Robert Fuchs from 1899-1901 in Vienna. He shares identical birth and death years with the composer Maurice Ravel....
(1875–1937): wrote four quartets, in E minor (1896), G minor (1900), Emajor -1902 and in F -1910 (http://www.fimic.fi/fimic/fimic.nsf/0/6974ee061c4ad603c2256e6700454bcf?OpenDocument) - Maurice RavelMaurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
(1875–1937): one string quartet, in F major -1903 - Richard WetzRichard WetzRichard Wetz was a German late Romantic composer best known for his three symphonies. In these works, he "seems to have aimed to be an immediate continuation of Bruckner, as a result of which he actually ended up on the margin of music history".-1875-1906: Youth:Richard Wetz was born to a merchant...
(1875–1935): wrote two string quartets: in F minor, Op. 43, in E minor, Op. 49 - Erno DohnányiErno DohnányiErnő Dohnányi was a Hungarian conductor, composer, and pianist. He used the German form of his name Ernst von Dohnányi for most of his published compositions....
(1877–1960): wrote three string quartets (1899, 1906, 1926) - Lucien DurosoirLucien DurosoirLucien Durosoir was a French composer and violinist whose works were rediscovered thanks to manuscripts found by his son Luc....
(1878–1955): wrote three string quartets (1920, 1922, 1933–34) - Joseph HolbrookeJoseph HolbrookeJoseph Charles Holbrooke was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He was sometimes referred to as "the cockney Wagner".-Family:...
(1878–1958): wrote two string quartets (1905, 1915) - Frank BridgeFrank BridgeFrank Bridge was an English composer and violist.-Life:Bridge was born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903 under Charles Villiers Stanford and others...
(1879–1941): five string quartets: B(1901); No. 1 in E minor ('Bologna') (1906); No. 2 in G minor (1915); No. 3 (1926); No. 4 (1937), plus a host of other, shorter pieces - Jean CrasJean CrasJean Émile Paul Cras was a 20th century French composer and career naval officer. His musical compositions were inspired by his native Brittany, his travels to Africa, and most of all, by his sea voyages...
(1879–1932): one string quartet -1909 http://www.cello.org/Newsletter/Articles/cras/crasv2.htm - John IrelandJohn Ireland (composer)John Nicholson Ireland was an English composer.- Life :John Ireland was born in Bowdon, near Altrincham, Manchester, into a family of Scottish descent and some cultural distinction. His father, Alexander Ireland, a publisher and newspaper proprietor, was aged 70 at John's birth...
(1879–1962): two string quartets - Ottorino RespighiOttorino RespighiOttorino Respighi was an Italian composer, musicologist and conductor. He is best known for his orchestral "Roman trilogy": Fountains of Rome ; Pines of Rome ; and Roman Festivals...
(1879–1936): three string quartets: D major (1907), D minor -1909 and Quartetto Dorico -1924
Born in the 1880s
- Ernest BlochErnest BlochErnest Bloch was a Swiss-born American composer.-Life:Bloch was born in Geneva and began playing the violin at age 9. He began composing soon afterwards. He studied music at the conservatory in Brussels, where his teachers included the celebrated Belgian violinist Eugène Ysaÿe...
(1880–1959): wrote five string quartets - Ermend Bonnal (1880–1944): two string quartets (1927? and 1934) http://www.bonnal.org/html/musique_chambre.html
- Ildebrando PizzettiIldebrando PizzettiIldebrando Pizzetti was an Italian composer of classical music.- Biography :Pizzetti was born in Parma in 1880. He was part of the "Generation of 1880" along with Ottorino Respighi and Gian Francesco Malipiero. They were among the first Italian composers in some time whose primary contributions...
(1880–1968): two string quartets in A major -1906 and D major (1932-3) - Béla BartókBéla BartókBéla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...
(1881–1945): wrote six string quartets widely regarded as being the finest quartets of the first half of the 20th century - George EnescuGeorge EnescuGeorge Enescu was a Romanian composer, violinist, pianist, conductor and teacher.-Biography:Enescu was born in the village of Liveni , Dorohoi County at the time, today Botoşani County. He showed musical talent from early in his childhood. A child prodigy, Enescu created his first musical...
(1881–1955): wrote two string quartets (No. 1 in Eand No. 2 in G, Op. 22 nos. 1 and 2, 1916 – 1920 and 1951) - Nikolai MyaskovskyNikolai MyaskovskyNikolai Yakovlevich Myaskovsky was a Russian and Soviet composer. He is sometimes referred to as the "father of the Soviet symphony".-Early years and first important works:...
(1881–1950): wrote thirteen (1907–1949) - Nikolai RoslavetsNikolai RoslavetsNikolai Andreevich Roslavets was a significant Soviet modernist composer. Roslavets was a convinced modernist and cosmopolitan thinker; his music was officially suppressed from 1930 onwards....
(1881–1944): wrote five string quartets (1913, 1915, 1920, 1929–31, 1942 http://home.wanadoo.nl/ovar/roslavetz.htm). - Ignatz WaghalterIgnatz WaghalterIgnatz Waghalter was a Polish-German composer and conductor.-Early years:Waghalter was born into a poor but musically-accomplished Jewish family in Warsaw. His eldest brother, Henryk Waghalter , became a renowned cellist at the Warsaw Conservatory. Wladyslaw , the youngest Waghalter brother,...
(1881–1949): One string quartet, in D major, Op. 3 - Zoltán KodályZoltán KodályZoltán Kodály was a Hungarian composer, ethnomusicologist, pedagogue, linguist, and philosopher. He is best known internationally as the creator of the Kodály Method.-Life:Born in Kecskemét, Kodály learned to play the violin as a child....
(1882–1967): wrote two string quartets (1908 and 1917) - Joseph MarxJoseph MarxJoseph Rupert Rudolf Marx was an Austrian composer, teacher and critic.-Life and career:Marx pursued studies in philosophy, art history, German studies, and music at Graz University, earning several degrees including a doctorate in 1909. He began composing seriously in 1908 and over the next four...
(1882–1964): wrote three string quartets (http://www.joseph-marx.org/en/list.html#list) not counting the original version of one and a draft. - Gian Francesco MalipieroGian Francesco MalipieroGian Francesco Malipiero was an Italian composer, musicologist, music teacher and editor.-Early years:Born in Venice into an aristocratic family, the grandson of the opera composer Francesco Malipiero, Gian Francesco Malipiero was prevented by family troubles from pursuing his musical education in...
(1882–1973): wrote eight string quartets (1920–1964) - Artur SchnabelArtur SchnabelArtur Schnabel was an Austrian classical pianist, who also composed and taught. Schnabel was known for his intellectual seriousness as a musician, avoiding pure technical bravura...
(1882–1951): wrote five string quartets (1918–1940 - http://www.peermusic-classical.de/schnabel3.htm) - Igor StravinskyIgor StravinskyIgor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ; 6 April 1971) was a Russian, later naturalized French, and then naturalized American composer, pianist, and conductor....
(1882–1971): Three Pieces for String Quartet (1914); Concertino (1920); Double Canon for String Quartet -1959 - Joaquín TurinaJoaquín TurinaJoaquín Turina was a Spanish composer of classical music.-Biography:Turina was born in Seville but his origins were in northern Italy . He studied in Seville as well as in Madrid...
(1882–1949): early quartet Op. 4 -1911 and a later work for string quartet, La Oración del Torero -1925 - Karol SzymanowskiKarol SzymanowskiKarol Maciej Szymanowski was a Polish composer and pianist.-Life:Szymanowski was born into a wealthy land-owning Polish gentry family in Tymoszówka, then in the Russian Empire, now in Cherkasy Oblast, Ukraine. He studied music privately with his father before going to Gustav Neuhaus'...
(1882–1937): two string quartets, No. 1, Op. 37 in C major -1917 and No. 2, Op. 56 -1927 - Arnold BaxArnold BaxSir Arnold Edward Trevor Bax, KCVO was an English composer and poet. His musical style blended elements of romanticism and impressionism, often with influences from Irish literature and landscape. His orchestral scores are noted for their complexity and colourful instrumentation...
(1883–1953): three string quartets: No. 1 in G major (1918), No. 2 in E minor and No. 3 in F major -1936 - Fran LhotkaFran LhotkaFran Lhotka was a Czech-born Croatian composer of classical music.He was a student of Antonín Dvořák...
(1883–1962): string quartet in G minor - Anton WebernAnton WebernAnton Webern was an Austrian composer and conductor. He was a member of the Second Viennese School. As a student and significant follower of Arnold Schoenberg, he became one of the best-known exponents of the twelve-tone technique; in addition, his innovations regarding schematic organization of...
(1883–1945): his String QuartetString Quartet (Webern)The String Quartet, Op. 28 by Anton Webern is written for the standard string quartet group of two violins, viola and cello. It was the last piece of chamber music that Webern wrote The String Quartet, Op. 28 by Anton Webern is written for the standard string quartet group of two violins, viola and...
is composed using the twelve-tone techniqueTwelve-tone techniqueTwelve-tone technique is a method of musical composition devised by Arnold Schoenberg...
. His Five Movements, Op. 5 -1909 and Six Bagatelles, Op. 9 (1911–13) are also significant in SQ literature. Plus, a string quartet, a slow movement and a rondo from 1905 - Alban BergAlban BergAlban Maria Johannes Berg was an Austrian composer. He was a member of the Second Viennese School with Arnold Schoenberg and Anton Webern, and produced compositions that combined Mahlerian Romanticism with a personal adaptation of Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique.-Early life:Berg was born in...
(1885–1935)- String Quartet, Op. 3 -1910
- Lyric Suite (serial,1926) for string quartet, a work which influenced Bartók and many others
- Egon WelleszEgon WelleszEgon Joseph Wellesz was an Austrian-born British composer, teacher and musicologist, notable particularly in the field of Byzantine music.- Life :...
(1885–1974): wrote nine string quartets, No. 1 'in five movements' Op. 14 (1911–12) through No. 9, Op. 97 -1966 and Op. 103 Music for String Quartet - Othmar SchoeckOthmar SchoeckOthmar Schoeck was a Swiss composer and conductor.He was known mainly for his considerable output of art songs and song cycles, though he also wrote a number of operas and instrumental compositions including two string quartets and...
(1886–1957): wrote two string quartets (Opp. 23, 1913, and 37, 1923) and a movement for string quartet (1908). - Kurt AtterbergKurt AtterbergKurt Magnus Atterberg was a Swedish composer. He is best known for his symphonies, operas and ballets. Atterberg once said that: "The Russians, Brahms, Reger were my ideals." His music combines their influences with Swedish folk tunes.-Biography:Atterberg was born in Gothenburg as the son of the...
(1887–1974): three string quartets, only one, No. 2 in B minor, recorded - Ernst TochErnst TochErnst Toch was a composer of classical music and film scores.- Biography :Toch, born in Leopoldstadt, Vienna, into the family of a humble Jewish leather dealer when the city was at its 19th-century cultural zenith, sought throughout his life to introduce new approaches to music...
(1887–1964): 13 string quartets, the first five now lost, and a brief Dedication for quartet. - Fartein ValenFartein ValenOlav Fartein Valen was a Norwegian composer and musical theorist, notable for his work within atonal polyphonic music.-Background:...
(1887–1952): wrote two string quartets - Heitor Villa-LobosHeitor Villa-LobosHeitor Villa-Lobos was a Brazilian composer, described as "the single most significant creative figure in 20th-century Brazilian art music". Villa-Lobos has become the best-known and most significant Latin American composer to date. He wrote numerous orchestral, chamber, instrumental and vocal works...
(1887–1959): wrote seventeen string quartets between 1915 and 1957 - Matthijs VermeulenMatthijs VermeulenMatthijs Vermeulen , was a Dutch composer and music journalist.- Early life :...
(1888–1967): wrote one string quartet (1960–61)
Born in the 1890s
- Bohuslav MartinůBohuslav MartinuBohuslav Martinů was a prolific Czech composer of modern classical music. He was of Czech and Rumanian ancestry. Martinů wrote six symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber, vocal and instrumental works. Martinů became a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic...
(1890–1959): wrote ten string quartets of which only eight survive, Nos. 40550 and the unnumbered Tři jezdci -1902 - Arthur BlissArthur BlissSir Arthur Edward Drummond Bliss, CH, KCVO was an English composer and conductor.Bliss's musical training was cut short by the First World War, in which he served with distinction in the army...
(1891–1975): four string quartets: No. 1 in A major (1914); No. 2 (1923); No. 3 in B (1941); No. 4 -1950 - Sergei ProkofievSergei ProkofievSergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
(1891–1953): wrote two string quartets (1930 and 1941) - Arthur HoneggerArthur HoneggerArthur Honegger was a Swiss composer, who was born in France and lived a large part of his life in Paris. He was a member of Les six. His most frequently performed work is probably the orchestral work Pacific 231, which is interpreted as imitating the sound of a steam locomotive.-Biography:Born...
(1892–1955): wrote three string quartets, in C minor (1917), D major (1936), and E major -1937 - Darius MilhaudDarius MilhaudDarius Milhaud was a French composer and teacher. He was a member of Les Six—also known as The Group of Six—and one of the most prolific composers of the 20th century. His compositions are influenced by jazz and make use of polytonality...
(1892–1974): wrote eighteen, the fourteenth and fifteenth of which may be played as an octetOctet (music)In music, an octet is a musical ensemble consisting of eight instruments or voices, or a musical composition written for such an ensemble.-Octets in classical music:Octets in classical music are one of the largest groupings of chamber music... - Hilding RosenbergHilding RosenbergHilding Rosenberg , was the first Swedish modernist composer, and one of the most influential figures in Swedish 20th century classical music....
(1892–1985): wrote twelve (No. 1, 1920 revised 1955 to No. 12, 1957) - Germaine TailleferreGermaine TailleferreGermaine Tailleferre was a French composer and the only female member of the famous composers' group Les Six.-Biography:...
(1892–1983): wrote one quartet (1917–19) - Alois HábaAlois HábaAlois Hába was a Czech composer, musical theorist and teacher. He is primarily known for his microtonal compositions, especially using the quarter tone scale, though he used others such as sixth-tones and twelfth-tones....
(1893–1973): wrote sixteen quartets, empolying various microtonalMicrotonal musicMicrotonal music is music using microtones—intervals of less than an equally spaced semitone. Microtonal music can also refer to music which uses intervals not found in the Western system of 12 equal intervals to the octave.-Terminology:...
systems (e.g. No. 11 uses a sixth-tone system; No. 12, quarter-tone; No. 16, fifth-tone) - Paul DessauPaul DessauPaul Dessau was a German composer and conductor.- Biography :Dessau was born in Hamburg into a musical family...
(1894–1979): seven string quartets (No. 1 before 1943 and published 1969?, No. 2 in 1942/43, No. 3 in 1943–46, No. 4 Barbaraquartett or 99 Bars for Barbara (http://www.schott-music.com/shop/products/show,137823.html), No. 5 Quartettino (Felsenstein-Quartett) in 1955, No. 6 Sieben Sätze für Streichquartett in 1974, No. 7 in 1975 Also a string quartet movement in 1957.) - Ernest John MoeranErnest John MoeranErnest John Moeran was an English composer who had strong associations with Ireland .-Early life:...
: (1894–1950): two string quartets (in A minor and in E major) - Willem PijperWillem PijperWillem Pijper ; Zeist, 8 September 1894 - Utrecht, 18 March 1947) was a Dutch composer, music critic and music teacher.-Life:Pijper was born at Zeist, near Utrecht, on 8 September 1894 of strict Calvinist working-class parents. His father, who sometimes played psalm accompaniments on the harmonium,...
(1894–1947): five string quartets (1914, 1920, 1923, 1928, 1946) - Walter PistonWalter PistonWalter Hamor Piston Jr., , was an American composer of classical music, music theorist and professor of music at Harvard University whose students included Leroy Anderson, Leonard Bernstein, and Elliott Carter....
(1894–1976): wrote five string quartets (from 1933 to 1962) - Erwin SchulhoffErwin SchulhoffErwin Schulhoff was a Czech composer and pianist.-Life:Born in Prague of Jewish-German origin, Schulhoff was one of the brightest figures in a generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany...
(1894–1942): two numbered string quartets (1924, 1925), one unnumbered quartet (1918), plus a Divertimento, Op. 14 -1914 and a set of Five Pieces -1923 - Paul HindemithPaul HindemithPaul Hindemith was a German composer, violist, violinist, teacher, music theorist and conductor.- Biography :Born in Hanau, near Frankfurt, Hindemith was taught the violin as a child...
(1895–1963): a violist, wrote seven string quartets - Dane RudhyarDane RudhyarDane Rudhyar , born Daniel Chennevière, was an author, modernist composer and humanistic astrologer. He was the pioneer of modern transpersonal astrology.-Biography:...
(1895–1985): Crisis and Overcoming (1978), Advent -1976 - Robert Gerhard (1896–1970): two string quartets (1950–5, 1960–2 http://www.metierrecords.co.uk/text/32.htm. Three earlier quartets at least are lost.)
- Howard HansonHoward HansonHoward Harold Hanson was an American composer, conductor, educator, music theorist, and champion of American classical music. As director for 40 years of the Eastman School of Music, he built a high-quality school and provided opportunities for commissioning and performing American music...
(1896–1981): one string quartet in one movement, his Op. 23 -1923 - Roger SessionsRoger SessionsRoger Huntington Sessions was an American composer, critic, and teacher of music.-Life:Sessions was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a family that could trace its roots back to the American revolution. His mother, Ruth Huntington Sessions, was a direct descendent of Samuel Huntington, a signer of...
(1896–1985): two string quartets (1938, 1951,) Canons to the memory of Stravinsky -1971 - Virgil ThomsonVirgil ThomsonVirgil Thomson was an American composer and critic. He was instrumental in the development of the "American Sound" in classical music...
(1896–1989): wrote two string quartets (1931 and 1932) - Henry CowellHenry CowellHenry Cowell was an American composer, music theorist, pianist, teacher, publisher, and impresario. His contribution to the world of music was summed up by Virgil Thomson, writing in the early 1950s:...
(1897–1965): wrote four - John FernströmJohn FernströmJohn Fernström was a Swedish composer.Fernström was born in Yichang, China, where he also spent most part of the first ten years of his life at the mission his father directed, except for a couple of years in Sweden. He resided permanently in the Swedish province of Skåne from 1907 and started to...
(1897–1961): wrote eight - Erich Wolfgang KorngoldErich Wolfgang KorngoldErich Wolfgang Korngold was an Austro-Hungarian film and romantic music composer. While his compositional style was considered well out of vogue at the time he died, his music has more recently undergone a reevaluation and a gradual reawakening of interest...
(1897–1957): perhaps better known for his movie scores, his formal works include three string quartets, Op. 16 in A (1923), Op. 26 in E(1933), Op. 34 in D -1945 - Francisco MignoneFrancisco MignoneFrancisco Paulo Mignone is one of the most significant figures in Brazilian classical music, and one of the most significant Brazilian composers after Heitor Villa-Lobos...
(1897–1986): wrote two, both in 1957 - Quincy PorterQuincy PorterQuincy Porter was an American composer and teacher of classical music.Born in New Haven, Connecticut, he went to Yale University where his teachers included Horatio Parker and David Stanley Smith. Porter received two awards while studying music at Yale: the Osborne Prize for Fugue, and the...
(1897–1966): wrote nine (No. 1 in E minor, 1922–3; No. 9, 1958.) - Alexandre TansmanAlexandre TansmanAlexandre Tansman was a Polish-born composer and virtuoso pianist. He spent his early years in his native Poland, but lived in France for most of his life...
(1897–1986): wrote nine (one lost, replaced by Triptych) (http://www.usc.edu/dept/polish_music/composer/tansman.html for most of that, Fanfare review of a recording for the rest) - Hanns EislerHanns EislerHanns Eisler was an Austrian composer.-Family background:Eisler was born in Leipzig where his Jewish father, Rudolf Eisler, was a professor of philosophy...
(1898–1962): wrote one string quartet, 1937 (http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/2003/Oct03/Eisler_%20Zemlinsky_cookson.htm) - George GershwinGeorge GershwinGeorge Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
(1898–1937): wrote one piece for string quartet, a Lullaby, 1919 or 1920 - Viktor UllmannViktor UllmannViktor Ullmann was a Silesia-born Austrian, later Czech composer, conductor and pianist of Jewish origin.- Biography :...
(1898–1944): three string quartets of which two are lost. - Pavel HaasPavel HaasPavel Haas was a Czech composer who was murdered during the Holocaust. He was an exponent of Leoš Janáček's school of composition, and also utilized elements of folk music and jazz. Although his output was not large, he is notable particularly for his song cycles and string quartets.-Pre-war:Haas...
(1899–1944): wrote three string quartets from 1920 to 1938 - Hans KrásaHans KrásaHans Krása was a Czech composer who was killed in the Holocaust at Auschwitz. He helped to organize cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp.-Life:...
(1899–1944): one quartet -1921 - Jón LeifsJón LeifsJón Leifs , was an Icelandic composer.Jón was born in Sólheimar. He left Iceland in 1916 to study in Germany at the Leipzig Conservatory. He graduated in 1921 having studied piano, and then devoted his time to conducting and composing. He became successful as a conductor, and also as a writer.He...
(1899–1968): Icelandic composer, 3 string quartets: No. 1 'Mors et vita', Op. 21, (1939); No. 2 'Vita et mors', Op. 36, (1948–51); No. 3 'El Greco', Op. 64, -1965 (source: Grove) - Silvestre RevueltasSilvestre RevueltasSilvestre Revueltas Sánchez was a Mexican composer of classical music, a violinist and a conductor.-Life:...
(1899–1940): wrote four quartets - Alexander TcherepninAlexander TcherepninAlexander Nikolayevich Tcherepnin was a Russian-born composer and pianist. His father, Nikolai Tcherepnin and his son, Ivan Tcherepnin were also composers, as are two of his grandsons, Sergei and Stefan. His son Serge was involved in the roots of electronic music and instruments...
(1899–1977): wrote two quartets (1922, 1926) - Randall ThompsonRandall ThompsonRandall Thompson was an American composer, particularly noted for his choral works.-Career:He attended Harvard University, became assistant professor of music and choir director at Wellesley College, and received a doctorate in music from the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music...
(1899–1984): wrote two quartets, in D minor (about 1941- possibly earlier, see Library of Congress listing?) and G major -1967
Born in the 1900s
- George AntheilGeorge AntheilGeorge Antheil was an American avant-garde composer, pianist, author and inventor. A self-described "Bad Boy of Music", his modernist compositions amazed and appalled listeners in Europe and the US during the 1920s with their cacophonous celebration of mechanical devices.Returning permanently to...
(1900–1959): wrote three quartets (1925, 1927, 1948), plus two smaller collections - Aaron CoplandAaron CoplandAaron Copland was an American composer, composition teacher, writer, and later in his career a conductor of his own and other American music. He was instrumental in forging a distinctly American style of composition, and is often referred to as "the Dean of American Composers"...
(1900–1990): wrote four pieces for string quartet (1921, unpublished; 1923, 1923, 1928) - Ernst KrenekErnst KrenekErnst Krenek was an Austrian of Czech origin and, from 1945, American composer. He explored atonality and other modern styles and wrote a number of books, including Music Here and Now , a study of Johannes Ockeghem , and Horizons Circled: Reflections on my Music...
(1900–1991): wrote eight - Otto LueningOtto LueningOtto Clarence Luening was a German-American composer and conductor, and an early pioneer of tape music and electronic music....
(1900–1996): a piece for string quartet published in 1914, and two quartets published by CF Peters as string quartets 2 and 3 in the 1970s (No. 2 dating from 1922, No. 3 from 1927 http://allenoten.de/index.php?link=http%3A//allenoten.de/cgi-bin/search2a.cgi%3Fpnum%3D11869 ) - Alexander MosolovAlexander MosolovAlexander Vasilyevich MosolovMosolov's name is transliterated variously and inconsistently between sources. Alternative spellings of Alexander include Alexandr, Aleksandr, Aleksander, and Alexandre; variations on Mosolov include Mossolov and Mossolow...
(1900–1973): probably two quartets (1926, 1943) - Hans Erich ApostelHans Erich ApostelHans Erich Apostel was a German-born Austrian composer of classical music....
(1901–1972): wrote two quartets (1935, 1956) - Ruth Crawford SeegerRuth Crawford SeegerRuth Crawford Seeger , born Ruth Porter Crawford, was a modernist composer and an American folk music specialist.-Life:...
(1901–1953): String QuartetString Quartet (Crawford-Seeger)Ruth Crawford's String Quartet is "regarded as one of the finest modernist works of the genre" . The composition or piece is in four untitled movements.-First Movement:The first movement is a fine example of twelve-tone study...
(1931) - Edmund RubbraEdmund RubbraEdmund Rubbra was a British composer. He composed both instrumental and vocal works for soloists, chamber groups and full choruses and orchestras. He was greatly esteemed by fellow musicians and was at the peak of his fame in the mid-20th century. The most famous of his pieces are his eleven...
(1901–1986): wrote four string quartets (No. 1 in F minor, Op. 35, 1933 revised 1946; No. 2 in E Op. 73, 1951; No. 3, Op. 112, 1963; No. 4, Op. 150, 1977; dates from the notes to the Sterling Quartet cycle on Conifer) - Vissarion ShebalinVissarion ShebalinVissarion Yakovlevich Shebalin was a Soviet composer.-Biography:Shebalin was born in Omsk, where his parents were school teachers. He studied in the musical college in Omsk. He was 20 years old when, following the advice of his professor, he went to Moscow to show his first compositions to...
(1902–1963): wrote nine quartets (1923–1963) http://home.wanadoo.nl/ovar/shebalin.htm - William WaltonWilliam WaltonSir William Turner Walton OM was an English composer. During a sixty-year career, he wrote music in several classical genres and styles, from film scores to opera...
(1902–1983): wrote two string quartets (1922 and 1947) - Stefan WolpeStefan WolpeStefan Wolpe was a German-born composer.-Life:Wolpe was born in Berlin. He attended the Klindworth-Scharwenka Conservatory from the age of fourteen, and the Berlin Hochschule für Musik in 1920-1921. He studied composition under Franz Schreker and was also a pupil of Ferruccio Busoni...
(1902–1972): String Quartet (1968–1969) - Günter RaphaelGünter RaphaelGünter Raphael was a German composer. Born in Berlin, Raphael is the grandson of composer Albert Becker. His first symphony was premiered by Wilhelm Furtwängler in 1926 in Leipzig. From 1926 to 1934 he taught in Leipzig, but illness and the rise of National Socialism - he was declared a half-Jew -...
(1903–1960): wrote six quartets (1924–1954) - Dmitry Kabalevsky (1904–1987): wrote two string quartets (1928 and 1945)
- Alan RawsthorneAlan RawsthorneAlan Rawsthorne was a British composer. He was born in Haslingden, Lancashire, and is buried in Thaxted churchyard in Essex.-Career:...
(1905–1971): four quartets (1935–1965) - William AlwynWilliam AlwynWilliam Alwyn, CBE, born William Alwyn Smith was an English composer, conductor, and music teacher.-Life and music:...
(1905–1985): wrote three string quartets (1954, 1975 and 1984), Three Winter Poems for string quartet (1948), and a Novelette for String quartet (1938). - Giacinto ScelsiGiacinto ScelsiGiacinto Scelsi , Count of Ayala Valva was an Italian composer who also wrote surrealist poetry in French....
(1905–1988): wrote five (1944, 1961, 1963, 1964, 1984) - Michael TippettMichael TippettSir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE was an English composer.In his long career he produced a large body of work, including five operas, three large-scale choral works, four symphonies, five string quartets, four piano sonatas, concertos and concertante works, song cycles and incidental music...
(1905–1998): wrote five numbered string quartets plus two unnumbered youthful works - Eduard TubinEduard Tubin-Life:Tubin was born in Torila, Governorate of Livonia, Estonia. Both his parents were music lovers, and his father played trumpet and trombone in the village band. His first taste of music came at school where he learned flute and balalaika. Later, his father swapped a cow for a piano, and the...
(1905–1982): wrote one string quartet - Klaus EggeKlaus EggeKlaus Egge was a Norwegian composer and music critic. His music, often called a stream of will, is characterized by polyphony and a strong rhythmical energy.-Music:...
(1906–1979): wrote several - Ross Lee FinneyRoss Lee FinneyRoss Lee Finney Junior was an American composer born in Wells, Minnesota who taught for many years at the University of Michigan. He studied with Nadia Boulanger, Edward Burlingame Hill, Alban Berg and Roger Sessions...
(1906–1997): wrote eight (No. 1 in F minor (1935) to No. 8 (1960)) - Benjamin FrankelBenjamin FrankelBenjamin Frankel was a British composer. Frankel's most famous pieces include a cycle of five string quartets and eight symphonies as well as a number of concertos for violin and viola; his single best-known piece is probably the First Sonata for Solo Violin, which, like his concertos, resulted...
(1906–1973): wrote five (1944–1965) - Elisabeth LutyensElisabeth LutyensElisabeth Lutyens, CBE was a significant English composer.- Early life and education :She was one of the five children of architect Sir Edwin Lutyens and his wife Emily, who was profoundly involved in the Theosophical Movement...
(1906–1984): wrote 13 - Dmitri ShostakovichDmitri ShostakovichDmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich was a Soviet Russian composer and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century....
(1906–1975): wrote fifteen string quartets, often seen as being as significant works as his fifteen symphonies, but more "private" - Camargo GuarnieriCamargo GuarnieriMozart Camargo Guarnieri was a Brazilian composer.-Name:He was registered at birth as Mozart Guarnieri, but when he began a musical career, he decided his first name was too pretentious and subject to puns. Thus he adopted his mother's maiden name Camargo as a middle name, and thenceforth signed...
(1907–1993): two string quartets (1932, 1944) - Elizabeth MaconchyElizabeth MaconchyDame Elizabeth Violet Maconchy Le Fanu DBE was an English composer, most noted for her cycle of thirteen string quartets.-Biography:...
(1907–1994): thirteen quartets - Miklós RózsaMiklós RózsaMiklós Rózsa was a Hungarian-born composer trained in Germany , and active in France , England , and the United States , with extensive sojourns in Italy from 1953...
(1907–1995): best known for his film scores, Rózsa also composed more formal music including two string quartets, No. 1, Op. 22 (1950) and No. 2, Op. 38 (1981) - Elliott CarterElliott CarterElliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
(born 1908): has written five string quartets in the second half of the 20th century; also, Elegy (1948) and Fragments 1 & 2 (1994; 1999); the second quartetString Quartet No. 2 (Carter)The Second String Quartet by American composer Elliott Carter was completed in 1959. It was commissioned by the Stanley String Quartet, and received its first performance in 1960 by the Juilliard String Quartet....
won the Pulitzer Prize for MusicPulitzer Prize for MusicThe Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer did not call for such a prize in his will, but had arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year...
, 1960; the thirdString Quartet No. 3 (Carter)The Third String Quartet by American composer Elliott Carter was completed in 1971. Like his previous quartet, it is dedicated to the Juilliard String Quartet, and it was premiered in 1973...
, in 1973 - Kurt HessenbergKurt HessenbergKurt Hessenberg was a German composer and professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst in Frankfurt am Main.- Life :...
(1908–1994): eight string quartets (1934–1987) (http://www.thiasos.de/Komp/hessenbergd.html#Werkverzeichnis) - Grażyna BacewiczGrazyna BacewiczGrażyna Bacewicz was a Polish composer and violinist. She is only the second Polish female composer to have achieved national and international recognition, the first being Maria Szymanowska in the early 19th century.- Life :Bacewicz was born in Łódź...
(1909–1969): seven string quartets, the first two only recently published and recorded (the others from 1947 to 1965) - Vagn HolmboeVagn HolmboeVagn Gylding Holmboe was a Danish composer and teacher who wrote largely in a neo-classical style.-Life:At the age of 16, Holmboe began formal music training at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen on the recommendation of Carl Nielsen. He studied under Knud Jeppesen and Finn Høffding...
(1909–1996): twenty mature string quartets from 1949 to 1985 (several discarded early works, one last Quartetto sereno completed by Per NørgårdPer NørgårdPer Nørgård is a Danish composer.-Biography:Nørgård studied with Vagn Holmboe at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, and subsequently with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. To begin with, he was strongly influenced by the Nordic styles of Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen and Vagn Holmboe...
)
Born in the 1910s
- Samuel BarberSamuel BarberSamuel Osborne Barber II was an American composer of orchestral, opera, choral, and piano music. His Adagio for Strings is his most popular composition and widely considered a masterpiece of modern classical music...
(1910–1981): wrote the String Quartet No. 1 in B minor, Op. 11 (1936), from which the Adagio for StringsAdagio for StringsAdagio for Strings is a work by Samuel Barber, arranged for string orchestra from the second movement of his String Quartet, Op. 11. Barber finished the arrangement in 1936, the same year as he wrote the quartet...
was orchestratedOrchestrationOrchestration is the study or practice of writing music for an orchestra or of adapting for orchestra music composed for another medium...
; the String Quartet No. 2, Op. 27 (1948); Serenade for string quartet, Op. 1 (1929), arranged for string orchestraString orchestraA string orchestra is an orchestra composed solely or primarily of instruments from the string family. These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello, the double bass , the piano, the harp, and sometimes percussion...
in 1944; Dover BeachDover Beach"Dover Beach" is a short lyric poem by the English poet Matthew Arnold. It was first published in 1867 in the collection New Poems, but surviving notes indicate its composition may have begun as early as 1849...
, for baritone (or mezzo-soprano) and string quartet, Op. 3; and a single quartet movement (1949) for a quartet whose other movements were never written - Evgeny GolubevEvgeny GolubevEvgeny Kirillovich Golubev was a Russian Soviet composer.He was taught by Nikolai Myaskovsky, and his students included Alfred Schnittke, who studied with him from 1953 until 1958 and Michael L. Geller...
(1910–1988): wrote 24 string quartets (1931–1986) - William SchumanWilliam SchumanWilliam Howard Schuman was an American composer and music administrator.-Life:Born in Manhattan in New York City to Samuel and Rachel Schuman, Schuman was named after the twenty-seventh U.S. president, William Howard Taft, although his family preferred to call him Bill...
(1910–1992): wrote five string quartets (1936–1987) - Bernard HerrmannBernard HerrmannBernard Herrmann was an American composer noted for his work in motion pictures.An Academy Award-winner , Herrmann is particularly known for his collaborations with director Alfred Hitchcock, most famously Psycho, North by Northwest, The Man Who Knew Too Much, and Vertigo...
(1911–1975): best known as a film composer (Citizen KaneCitizen KaneCitizen Kane is a 1941 American drama film, directed by and starring Orson Welles. Many critics consider it the greatest American film of all time, especially for its innovative cinematography, music and narrative structure. Citizen Kane was Welles' first feature film...
, PsychoPsycho (1960 film)Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
, Taxi DriverTaxi DriverTaxi Driver is a 1976 American drama film directed by Martin Scorsese and written by Paul Schrader. The film is set in New York City, soon after the Vietnam War. The film stars Robert De Niro and features Jodie Foster, Harvey Keitel, and Cybill Shepherd. The film was nominated for four Academy...
, etc.), Echoes was his only string quartet (1966) - Arkady FilippenkoArkady FilippenkoArkady Dmitriyevich Filippenko was a Soviet Ukrainian composer.- Biography :He was born in the small village of Pushcha-Vodycia, now a suburb of Kyiv . As a pre-schooler, he spent a great deal of time outdoors with his grandfather, a shepherd who played and made pastoral pipes akin to those of...
(1912–1983): Ukrainian composer who wrote three string quartets; No. 1 in A minor, No. 2 in D major, No. 3 in G major. String quartet No. 2 was awarded the U.S.S.R. State Prize in 1948. EditionSilvertrust - John CageJohn CageJohn Milton Cage Jr. was an American composer, music theorist, writer, philosopher and artist. A pioneer of indeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and non-standard use of musical instruments, Cage was one of the leading figures of the post-war avant-garde...
(1912–1992): String Quartet in Four PartsString Quartet in Four PartsString Quartet in Four Parts is a string quartet by John Cage, composed in 1950. It is one of the last works Cage wrote that is not entirely aleatoric. Like Sonatas and Interludes for prepared piano and the ballet The Seasons , this work explores ideas from Indian philosophy.-General...
(1950), Thirty Pieces for String Quartet (1983), Music for Four (the quartet parts extracted from his Music for...) (1987–1988), Four (1989) - Conlon NancarrowConlon NancarrowConlon Nancarrow was a United States-born composer who lived and worked in Mexico for most of his life. He became a Mexican citizen in 1955.Nancarrow is best remembered for the pieces he wrote for the player piano...
(1912–1997): wrote three string quartets (1945, ca. 1948, 1987), second incomplete - Lord Benjamin BrittenBenjamin BrittenEdward Benjamin Britten, Baron Britten, OM CH was an English composer, conductor, and pianist. He showed talent from an early age, and first came to public attention with the a cappella choral work A Boy Was Born in 1934. With the premiere of his opera Peter Grimes in 1945, he leapt to...
(1913–1976): wrote three numbered string quartets (1941, 1945 and 1975) plus two early unnumbered ones (1928 and 1931) and a number of other works for string quartet (such as the three Divertimenti, 1933) - Tikhon KhrennikovTikhon KhrennikovTikhon Nikolayevich Khrennikov was a Russian and Soviet composer, pianist, leader of the Union of Soviet Composers, who was also known for his political activities...
(1913–2007): has written three quartets, the third his Op. 33 (1988) - Witold Lutosławski (1913–1994): wrote one string quartet (1964)
- David DiamondDavid Diamond (composer)David Leo Diamond was an American composer of classical music.-Life and career:He was born in Rochester, New York and studied at the Cleveland Institute of Music and the Eastman School of Music under Bernard Rogers, also receiving lessons from Roger Sessions in New York City and Nadia Boulanger in...
(1915–2005): wrote ten string quartets, from 1940 to 1974 - George PerleGeorge PerleGeorge Perle was a composer and music theorist. He was born in Bayonne, New Jersey. Perle was an alumnus of DePaul University...
(1915–2009): wrote eleven, of which five (1-4, 6) were withdrawn - Vincent PersichettiVincent PersichettiVincent Ludwig Persichetti was an American composer, teacher, and pianist. An important musical educator and writer, Persichetti was a native of Philadelphia...
(1915–1987): wrote four string quartets (1939, 1944, 1959, 1972) - Milton BabbittMilton BabbittMilton Byron Babbitt was an American composer, music theorist, and teacher. He is particularly noted for his serial and electronic music.-Biography:...
(1916–2011) wrote five abstract, densely serialisticSerialismIn music, serialism is a method or technique of composition that uses a series of values to manipulate different musical elements. Serialism began primarily with Arnold Schoenberg's twelve-tone technique, though his contemporaries were also working to establish serialism as one example of...
quartets in the mid-20th century, and a sixth premiered in 2002 - Henri DutilleuxHenri DutilleuxHenri Dutilleux is one of the most important French composers of the second half of the 20th century, producing work in the tradition of Maurice Ravel, Claude Debussy, and Albert Roussel, but in a style distinctly his own...
(born 1916): wrote one quartet, Ainsi la nuit (1976) - Einar Englund (1916–1999): wrote a quartet in 1985
- Alberto GinasteraAlberto GinasteraAlberto Evaristo Ginastera was an Argentine composer of classical music. He is considered one of the most important Latin American classical composers.- Biography :...
(1916–1983): four string quartets, 1948 to 1974, the last with baritone to a text from Beethoven's Heiligenstadt Testament - Brian BoydellBrian BoydellBrian Boydell was an Irish composer whose works include orchestral pieces, chamber music, and songs. He was professor of music at Trinity College, Dublin for 20 years, founder of the Dowland Consort, conductor of the Dublin Orchestral Players, and a prolific broadcaster and writer on musical...
(1917–2000): wrote three (1949, 1957, 1969), plus Adagio and Scherzo for String Quartet (1991) - Lou HarrisonLou HarrisonLou Silver Harrison was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison (May 14, 1917 – February 2, 2003) was an American composer. He was a student of Henry Cowell, Arnold Schoenberg, and K. P. H. Notoprojo Lou Silver Harrison...
(1917–2003): String Quartet Set (1979) - Isang YunIsang YunIsang Yun was a Korean-German composer originally from Korea. According to his official publisher's Boosey & Hawkes biography of him, he was granted political asylum by West Germany, eventually becoming a naturalised German citizen, following his abduction and torture in 1967 by the South Korean...
(1917–1995): wrote six string quartets (No. 1 before 1956, No. 2 withdrawn, No. 3 in 1959, revised in 1961, No. 4 in 1988, No. 5 in 1990 and No. 6 in 1992- information from notes to recording of quartets 3 and 4, and from http://www.boosey.com/pages/cr/catalogue/cat_results.asp?composerid=2698&classificationgroupid=9&stype=1) - George RochbergGeorge RochbergGeorge Rochberg was an American composer of contemporary classical music.-Life:Rochberg was born in Paterson, New Jersey. He attended the Mannes College of Music, where his teachers included George Szell and Hans Weisse, and the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Rosario Scalero and...
(1918–2005) wrote seven: the sixth quartet includes a set of variations on Pachelbel's Canon; the second includes a soprano part with texts by Rilke; the seventh includes a baritone part to texts by his late son. String Quartet No. 3String Quartet No. 3 (Rochberg)George Rochberg’s String Quartet No. 3 is an important piece in American contemporary music literature. Written in 1971 and premiered on May 15, 1972, by the Concord String Quartet, the third string quartet was an important move away from serialism for the American composer.-Background of...
is well known for its supposedly neo-romantic esthetic. - Sven-Erik BäckSven-Erik BäckSven-Erik Bäck was a Swedish composer of classical music. He was born in Stockholm.Bäck studied from 1939 until 1943 in the King's Music-Academy and from 1940 until 1945, was a composition student of Hilding Rosenberg...
(1919–1994): wrote four (1945, 1947, 1962, 1984) - Leon KirchnerLeon KirchnerLeon Kirchner was an American composer of contemporary classical music. He was a member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for his String Quartet No. 3.Kirchner was born in Brooklyn, New York...
(1919–2009): wrote four (1949, 1958, 1967, 2007); the third includes a tape part, which won the Pulitzer Prize for MusicPulitzer Prize for MusicThe Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer did not call for such a prize in his will, but had arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year...
, 1967 - Mieczysław Weinberg (1919–1996): wrote seventeen, from his Op. 2 (1937 rev. 1986) to Op. 146 (1987) http://home.wanadoo.nl/ovar/vainberg.htm
Born in the 1920s
- Peter Racine FrickerPeter Racine FrickerPeter Racine Fricker was an English composer who lived in the United States for the last thirty years of his life....
(1920–1990): wrote three string quartets (1947 to 1975) - Bruno MadernaBruno MadernaBruno Maderna was an Italian conductor and composer. For the last ten years of his life he lived in Germany and eventually became a citizen of that country.-Biography:...
(1920–1973): Quartetto per archi (ca. 1946); Quartetto per archi in due tempi (1955), dedicated to Luciano BerioLuciano BerioLuciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian... - William BergsmaWilliam Bergsma-Biography:After studying piano with his mother, a former opera singer, and then the viola, Bergsma moved on to study composition; his most significant teachers were Howard Hanson and Bernard Rogers. Bergsma attended Stanford University for two years before moving on to the Eastman School of...
(1921–1994): wrote five string quartets (1942, 1944, 1953, 1970, 1982) - Karel HusaKarel HusaKarel Husa is a Czech-born classical composer and conductor, winner of the 1969 Pulitzer Prize and 1993 University of Louisville Grawemeyer Award in Music Composition...
(born 1921): has written four; the third quartet won the Pulitzer Prize for MusicPulitzer Prize for MusicThe Pulitzer Prize for Music was first awarded in 1943. Joseph Pulitzer did not call for such a prize in his will, but had arranged for a music scholarship to be awarded each year...
, 1969 - Andrew ImbrieAndrew ImbrieAndrew Welsh Imbrie was an American composer of contemporary classical music.-Career:Imbrie was born in New York on April 6, 1921, and began his musical training as a pianist when he was 4. In 1937, he went to Paris to study briefly with Nadia Boulanger...
(1921–2007): has written at least five (fifth written in 1987) - Joonas KokkonenJoonas KokkonenJoonas Kokkonen was a Finnish composer. He was one of the most internationally famous Finnish composers of the 20th century after Sibelius; his opera The Last Temptations has received over 500 performances worldwide, and is considered by many to be Finland's most distinguished national opera.-...
(1921–1996): wrote three string quartets (1959, 1966, 1976) - Robert SimpsonRobert Simpson (composer)Robert Simpson was an English composer and long-serving BBC producer and broadcaster.He is best known for his orchestral and chamber music , and for his writings on the music of Beethoven, Bruckner, Nielsen and Sibelius. He studied composition under Herbert Howells...
(1921–1997): wrote 15 string quartets between 1952 and 1991 - Iannis XenakisIannis XenakisIannis Xenakis was a Romanian-born Greek ethnic, naturalized French composer, music theorist, and architect-engineer. He is commonly recognized as one of the most important post-war avant-garde composers...
(1922–2001): wrote four works for string quartet: "st/4 — 1,080262" (1955–1962) which was written with the help of an IBM 7090IBM 7090The IBM 7090 was a second-generation transistorized version of the earlier IBM 709 vacuum tube mainframe computers and was designed for "large-scale scientific and technological applications". The 7090 was the third member of the IBM 700/7000 series scientific computers. The first 7090 installation...
computer using stochastic algorithms, Tetras (1983), a work in nine sections, Tetora (1990), which means "four" in DorianDoric GreekDoric or Dorian was a dialect of ancient Greek. Its variants were spoken in the southern and eastern Peloponnese, Crete, Rhodes, some islands in the southern Aegean Sea, some cities on the coasts of Asia Minor, Southern Italy, Sicily, Epirus and Macedon. Together with Northwest Greek, it forms the...
, Ergma (1994). - György LigetiGyörgy LigetiGyörgy Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...
(1923–2006): String Quartet No. 1 ("Métamorphoses nocturnes") (1953–1954) and String Quartet No. 2String Quartet No. 2 (Ligeti)György Ligeti's String Quartet No. 2 is a string quartet that was composed between February and August 1968. It consists of five movements:# Allegro nervoso# Sostenuto, molto calmo# Come un meccanismo di precisione# Presto furioso, brutale, tumultuoso...
(1968) - Peter MenninPeter MenninPeter Mennin was an American composer and teacher. He directed the Peabody Conservatory in Baltimore, then for many years ran the Juilliard School, succeeding William Schuman in this role...
(1923–1983): wrote two string quartets (1941 and 1951) - Daniel PinkhamDaniel PinkhamDaniel Rogers Pinkham, Jr. was an American composer, organist, and harpsichordist. Pinkham was one of America's most active composers during his lifetime...
(1923–2006): wrote at least one string quartet - Mel PowellMel PowellMel Powell was a jazz pianist and composer of classical music.Mel Epstein was born to Russian Jewish parents, Milton Epstein and Mildred Mark Epstein, and began playing piano as a child. He performed jazz professionally in New York City as a teenager...
(1923–1998): Filigree Setting (1959), String Quartet (1982) - Lejaren HillerLejaren HillerLejaren Arthur Hiller was an American composer. In 1957 he collaborated on the first significant computer music composition, Illiac Suite, with Leonard Issacson. It was his fourth string quartet. In 1958 he founded the Experimental Music Studio at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign...
(1924–1994): wrote seven - Ezra LadermanEzra LadermanEzra Laderman is an American composer of classical music.-Biography:His parents, Isidor and Leah, both emigrated to the United States from Poland. Though poor, the family had a piano. Ezra writes, "At four, I was improvising at the piano; at seven, I began to compose music, writing it down...
(born 1924): has written twelve string quartets - Luigi NonoLuigi NonoLuigi Nono was an Italian avant-garde composer of classical music and remains one of the most prominent composers of the 20th century.- Early years :Born in Venice, he was a member of a wealthy artistic family, and his grandfather was a notable painter...
(1924–1990): wrote Fragmente-Stille, an Diotima for string quartet (1980), inspired by the poetry of Friedrich HölderlinFriedrich HölderlinJohann Christian Friedrich Hölderlin was a major German lyric poet, commonly associated with the artistic movement known as Romanticism. Hölderlin was also an important thinker in the development of German Idealism, particularly his early association with and philosophical influence on his... - Luciano BerioLuciano BerioLuciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI was an Italian composer. He is noted for his experimental work and also for his pioneering work in electronic music.-Biography:Berio was born at Oneglia Luciano Berio, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (October 24, 1925 – May 27, 2003) was an Italian...
(1925–2003): Quatuor No. 1 (1956), dedicated to Bruno MadernaBruno MadernaBruno Maderna was an Italian conductor and composer. For the last ten years of his life he lived in Germany and eventually became a citizen of that country.-Biography:...
; Sincronie (1963–64); Notturno (1993); Glosse (1997) - Pierre BoulezPierre BoulezPierre Boulez is a French composer of contemporary classical music, a pianist, and a conductor.-Early years:Boulez was born in Montbrison, Loire, France. As a child he began piano lessons and demonstrated aptitude in both music and mathematics...
(born 1925): wrote Livre pour quatuor (1949), then withdrew it, recasting some parts later as Livre pour cordes - Bertold HummelBertold HummelBertold Hummel was a German composer of modern classical music.- Life :Bertold Hummel was born November 27, 1925 in Hüfingen . He studied at the Academy of Music in Freiburg from 1947 to 1954, taking composition with Harald Genzmer, and cello with Atis Teichmanis...
(1925–2002): wrote String Quartet No. 1, Op. 3 (1951); String Quartet No. 2, Op. 46 (1972); 8 FRAGMENTS from Letters of Vincent van Gogh for Baritone and String Quartet, Op. 84 (1985); Concertante Music for Guitar and String Quartet, Op. 89a (1989) - Gunther SchullerGunther SchullerGunther Schuller is an American composer, conductor, horn player, author, historian, and jazz musician.- Biography and works :...
(born 1925): has written three - Vladimir ShainskyVladimir ShainskyVladimir Yakovlevich Shainsky is a Soviet and Russian composer.Vladimir Shainsky was born in 1925 in Kiev, Ukrainian SSR, USSR. In 1936, he became a student at the musical school in Kiev, where he learned to play the violin. However, his studies were interrupted by the German-Soviet War , when...
(born 1925): wrote at least one string quartet - Boris TchaikovskyBoris TchaikovskyBoris Alexandrovich Tchaikovsky was a Soviet composer, born in Moscow, whose oeuvre includes orchestral works, chamber music and film music. He is considered as part of the second generation of Russian composers, following in the steps of Pyotr Tchaikovsky and especially Mussorgsky.He was admired...
(1925–1996): wrote six (1954–1976) - Earle BrownEarle BrownEarle Brown was an American composer who established his own formal and notational systems...
(1926–2002): wrote one quartet (1965) - Morton FeldmanMorton FeldmanMorton Feldman was an American composer, born in New York City.A major figure in 20th century music, Feldman was a pioneer of indeterminate music, a development associated with the experimental New York School of composers also including John Cage, Christian Wolff, and Earle Brown...
(1926–1987): Structures (1951); Three Pieces (1954–1956); 'String Quartet No. 1 (1979), lasts about 100 minutes; String Quartet No. 2 (1983) lasts over six hours - Hans Werner HenzeHans Werner HenzeHans Werner Henze is a German composer of prodigious output best known for "his consistent cultivation of music for the theatre throughout his life"...
(born 1926): has written five - Ben Johnston (born 1926): has written ten string quartets – No 1 Nine Variations (1959); No 2 (1964); No 3 Vergings (1966); No 4 Amazing Grace (1973); No 5 (1979); No 6 (1980); No 7 (1984); No 8 (1984–86); No 9 (1987–88); and No 10 (1995). String Quartets Nos 3 and 4 may be performed together as Crossings.
- György KurtágGyörgy KurtágGyörgy Kurtág is a Hungarian composer of contemporary music.- Biography :György Kurtág was born in Lugoj in the Banat region, Romania.In 1946, he began his studies at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, where he met his wife, Márta, and also György Ligeti, who became a close friend...
(born 1926): three works: String Quartet, Op. 1, Hommage à Mihály András (12 Microludes), Op. 13, Officium breve in memorium Andreae Szervánszky, Op. 28 - Thomas WilsonThomas Wilson (composer)Thomas Wilson CBE was a Scottish composer of classical music.One of the greatest musicians Scotland has produced, Thomas Brendan Wilson was born in Trinidad, Colorado, USA to British parents, but moved to Scotland with his family when he was 17 months old. They settled in the Glasgow area where he...
(1927–2001): wrote four string quartets most notably String Quartet No. 3 (1958) McEwen Composition Prize and String Quartet No. 4 (1978), as well as numerous other chamber works - Thea MusgraveThea MusgraveThea Musgrave CBE is a Scottish composer of opera and classical music.-Biography:Born in Barnton, Edinburgh, Thea Musgrave studied at the University of Edinburgh and in Paris as a pupil of Nadia Boulanger...
(born 1928): has written one string quartet (1958) - Einojuhani RautavaaraEinojuhani RautavaaraEinojuhani Rautavaara is a Finnish composer of contemporary classical music, and is one of the most notable Finnish composers after Jean Sibelius.-Life:...
(born 1928) has written four string quartets - Ezra SimsEzra SimsEzra Sims is one of the pioneers in the field of microtonal composition. He invented a system of notation which was adopted by many microtonal composers after him, including Joseph Maneri....
(born 1928): String Quartet No. 2 (1962) (really a quintet), Third Quartet (1962) - Karlheinz StockhausenKarlheinz StockhausenKarlheinz Stockhausen was a German composer, widely acknowledged by critics as one of the most important but also controversial composers of the 20th and early 21st centuries. Another critic calls him "one of the great visionaries of 20th-century music"...
(1928–2007): Helikopter-StreichquartettHelikopter-StreichquartettThe Helikopter-Streichquartett is one of Karlheinz Stockhausen's best-known pieces, and one of the most complex to perform. It involves a string quartet, four helicopters with pilots, as well as audio and video equipment and technicians. It was first performed and recorded in 1995...
(from "Mittwoch" from "LICHT"), for 4 helicopters & string quartet - George CrumbGeorge CrumbGeorge Crumb is an American composer of contemporary classical music. He is noted as an explorer of unusual timbres, alternative forms of notation, and extended instrumental and vocal techniques. Examples include seagull effect for the cello , metallic vibrato for the piano George Crumb (born...
(born 1929): String Quartet, and Black Angels (Images I), for electric string quartet - Peter SculthorpePeter SculthorpePeter Joshua Sculthorpe AO OBE is an Australian composer. Much of his music has resulted from an interest in the music of Australia's neighbours as well as from the impulse to bring together aspects of native Australian music with that of the heritage of the West...
(born 1929): eighteen string quartets (up to 2010), of which the first five are considered lost, although isolated movements have been performed and recorded; the twelfth and sixteenth include an optional part for didgeridu; the thirteenth includes soprano voice
Born in the 1930s
- Tōru TakemitsuToru Takemitsuwas a Japanese composer and writer on aesthetics and music theory. Largely self-taught, Takemitsu possessed consummate skill in the subtle manipulation of instrumental and orchestral timbre...
(1930–1996) A Way a Lone for string quartet (1981) - Larry AustinLarry AustinLarry Austin is a United States composer noted for his electronic and computer music works. He was a co-founder and editor of the avant-garde music periodical Source: Music of the Avant Garde...
(born 1930): Quartet in Open Style (1964) - Sofia GubaidulinaSofia GubaidulinaSofia Asgatovna Gubaidulina, is a Russian composer of half Russian, half Tatar ethnicity.Gubaidulina's music is marked by the use of unusual instrumental combinations...
(born 1931): has written four string quartets (1971, 1987, 1987, 1994), the last with tape - Mauricio KagelMauricio KagelMauricio Kagel was a German-Argentine composer. He was notable for his interest in developing the theatrical side of musical performance .-Biography:...
(1931–2008): wrote five - Ib NørholmIb NørholmIb Nørholm is a Danish composer and organist.Nørholm studied with Vagn Holmboe at the Royal Danish Academy of Music, where he later taught , becoming a professor in 1981...
(born 1931): has written at least nine, number 1 from 1954 to number 9 his Op. 137 in 1994 (http://snyk.kroyer.kulturhotel.dk/vdb/resultat.php?PARAMET_KOMPID=159, Library of Congress listing of publication has Op. No. ) - James DouglasJames Douglas (composer)James Douglas is a Scottish classical composer.Douglas was born in Dumbarton. He was brought up in Edinburgh and moved to live in North West Scotland in 2006. Douglas has composed over 2000 works including music for a wide variety of instruments and a number of choral pieces...
(born 1932): British Composer of 15 String Quartets. - Per NørgårdPer NørgårdPer Nørgård is a Danish composer.-Biography:Nørgård studied with Vagn Holmboe at the Royal Danish Academy of Music in Copenhagen, and subsequently with Nadia Boulanger in Paris. To begin with, he was strongly influenced by the Nordic styles of Jean Sibelius, Carl Nielsen and Vagn Holmboe...
(born 1932): has written ten - Alexander GoehrAlexander GoehrAlexander Goehr is an English composer and academic.Goehr was born in Berlin in 1932, the son of the conductor and Schoenberg pupil Walter Goehr. In his early twenties he emerged as a central figure in the Manchester School of post-war British composers. In 1955–56 he joined Oliver Messiaen's...
(born 1932): four string quartets (Op. 5 (1957), Op. 23 (1967), Op. 37 (1976), Op. 52 (1990)) - Henryk GóreckiHenryk GóreckiHenryk Mikołaj Górecki was a composer of contemporary classical music. He studied at the State Higher School of Music in Katowice between 1955 and 1960. In 1968, he joined the faculty and rose to provost before resigning in 1979. Górecki became a leading figure of the Polish avant-garde during...
(1933–2010): String Quartet No. 1 ("Already It Is Dusk"), Op. 62, String Quartet No. 2 ("Quasi una Fantasia"), Op. 64; String Quartet No. 3 (Piesni Spiewaja, "...songs are sung"), Op. 67 - Krzysztof PendereckiKrzysztof PendereckiKrzysztof Penderecki , born November 23, 1933 in Dębica) is a Polish composer and conductor. His 1960 avant-garde Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima for string orchestra brought him to international attention, and this success was followed by acclaim for his choral St. Luke Passion. Both these...
(born 1933): has written three string quartets (1960, 1968, 2008); Die Unterbrochene Gedanke (1984) - R. Murray SchaferR. Murray SchaferRaymond Murray Schafer is a Canadian composer, writer, music educator and environmentalist perhaps best known for his World Soundscape Project, concern for acoustic ecology, and his book The Tuning of the World...
(born 1933): eleven string quartets, as of 2006; the seventh quartet includes a soprano part, the fourth and ninth include tape parts - Peter Maxwell DaviesPeter Maxwell DaviesSir Peter Maxwell Davies, CBE is an English composer and conductor and is currently Master of the Queen's Music.-Biography:...
(born 1934): String Quartet in One Movement (1961); a few other shorter works; Maxwell Davies was commissioned by Naxos RecordsNaxos RecordsNaxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
to compose ten string quartets, completed in 2007. The recordings are performed by the Maggini QuartetMaggini QuartetThe Maggini Quartet is a British string quartet. Its members are Susanne Stanzeleit , David Angel , Martin Outram and Michal Kaznowski ....
. - Roger ReynoldsRoger ReynoldsRoger Reynolds is an American composer born July 18, 1934 in Detroit, Michigan. He is a professor at the University of California at San Diego. He received an undergraduate degree in engineering physics from the University of Michigan where he later studied composition with Ross Lee Finney...
(born 1934): Tetra, Coconino . . . A Shattered Landscape - Alfred SchnittkeAlfred SchnittkeAlfred Schnittke ; November 24, 1934 – August 3, 1998) was a Russian and Soviet composer. Schnittke's early music shows the strong influence of Dmitri Shostakovich. He developed a polystylistic technique in works such as the epic First Symphony and First Concerto Grosso...
(1934–1998): wrote four string quartets and a Canon in Memoriam Igor Stravinsky and Variations for string quartet - Christian WolffChristian Wolff (composer)Christian G. Wolff is an American composer of experimental classical music.-Biography:Wolff was born in Nice in France to German literary publishers Helen and Kurt Wolff, who had published works by Franz Kafka, Robert Musil, and Walter Benjamin. After relocating to the U.S...
(born 1934): Summer (1960); Lines (1972) - Helmut LachenmannHelmut LachenmannHelmut Lachenmann is a German composer associated with musique concrète instrumentale.-Life and works:...
(born 1935): three string quartets: Gran Torso (1972), Reigen seliger Geister (1989), and Grido (2001), plus Tanzsuite mit Deutschlandlied for string quartet and orchestra - François-Bernard MâcheFrançois-Bernard MâcheFrançois-Bernard Mâche is a French composer of contemporary music. Born into a family of musicians, he is a former student of Émile Passani and Olivier Messiaen and has also received a diploma in Greek archaeology and a teaching certificate...
(born 1935): Eridan, String Quartet Op. 57 (1986), written for the Arditti QuartetArditti QuartetThe Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974. The quartet is associated particularly with contemporary music.-Early history:The quartet was founded in 1974 by violinist Irvine Arditti together with John Senter, Levine Andrade and Lenox Mackenzie...
; Moirés for string quartet and tape, Op. 73 (1994) - Arvo PärtArvo PärtArvo Pärt is an Estonian classical composer and one of the most prominent living composers of sacred music. Since the late 1970s, Pärt has worked in a minimalist style that employs his self-made compositional technique, tintinnabuli. His music also finds its inspiration and influence from...
(born 1935): Psalom, SummaSummaSumma and its diminutive summula are mainly used, in English and other modern languages, for texts that 'sum up' knowledge in a field, such as the compendiums of theology, philosophy and canon law which were used both as textbooks in the schools and as books of reference during the Middle...
, and arranged FratresFratresFratres is a composition by the Estonian composer Arvo Pärt, existing in versions for a wide variety of instrumentations and exemplifying Pärt's tintinnabuli style of composition. Structurally, the piece consists of a set of eight or nine chord sequences, separated by a recurring percussion motif...
for string quartet - Terry RileyTerry RileyTerrence Mitchell Riley, is an American composer intrinsically associated with the minimalist school of Western classical music and was a pioneer of the movement...
(born 1935): String Quartet (1960); returned to pre-composed notated music at the request of the Kronos QuartetKronos QuartetKronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...
in the 1970s: G Song; Sunrise of the Planetary Dream Collector; Cadenza on the Night Plain; Mythic Birds Waltz; Salome Dances for Peace; Requiem for Adam; The Sands for string quartet and orchestra; The Cusp of Magic for string quartet, pipa and assorted toys; Sun Rings for string quartet, choir and backing track of sounds recorded by NASA in space, to name but a few - Aulis SallinenAulis SallinenAulis Sallinen is a Finnish contemporary classical music composer. He writes in a modern, though tonal and not experimental music style. He studied at the Sibelius Academy, where his teachers included Joonas Kokkonen...
(born 1935): five string quartets - Peter SchickelePeter SchickeleJohann Peter Schickele is an American composer, musical educator, and parodist. He is best known for his comedy music albums featuring his music that he presents as music written by the fictional composer P. D. Q...
(born 1935): five string quartets, two quintets with piano - La Monte YoungLa Monte YoungLa Monte Thornton Young is an American avant-garde composer, musician, and artist.Young is generally recognized as the first minimalist composer. His works have been included among the most important and radical post-World War II avant-garde, experimental, and contemporary music. Young is...
(born 1935): On Remembering a Naiad (Five small pieces)(1956); Chronos Kristalla (Time Crystals) (1990), where the quartet's strings are tuned to Just intonationJust intonationIn music, just intonation is any musical tuning in which the frequencies of notes are related by ratios of small whole numbers. Any interval tuned in this way is called a just interval. The two notes in any just interval are members of the same harmonic series...
, played in natural harmonics throughout, and the performance lasting about ninety minutes - Steve ReichSteve ReichStephen Michael "Steve" Reich is an American composer who together with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is a pioneering composer of minimal music...
(born 1936): Different TrainsDifferent TrainsDifferent Trains is a three-movement piece for string quartet and tape written by Steve Reich in 1988. It won a Grammy Award in 1990 for Best Contemporary Classical Composition.The work's three movements have the following titles:...
(1988), for string quartet and tape; Triple QuartetTriple QuartetTriple Quartet is a piece written by Steve Reich in 1998. It was commissioned by and is dedicated to the Kronos Quartet, and was premiered by them on May 22, 1999 in the Kennedy Center, Washington DC....
(1998), which may be performed by one quartet (with tape), three quartets, or a 36 piece orchestra; and WTC 9/11WTC 9/11WTC 9/11 is a composition by Steve Reich for string quartet written in 2009–2010 which premiered on March 19, 2011 at Duke University. The piece was written for the Kronos Quartet, who performed the premiere, and was co-commissioned by Barbican Centre, Carnegie Hall, Duke University, the University...
(2009-10), for string quartet and tape - Erich UrbannerErich UrbannerErich Urbanner is an Austrian composer and teacher.-Biography:Urbanner studied from 1955 to 1961 at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna, in the composition classes of Karl Schiske and Hanns Jelinek, as well as studying piano with Grete Hinterhofer and conducting with Hans Swarowsky...
(born 1936): has written three quartets - Philip GlassPhilip GlassPhilip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
(born 1937): wrote three string quartets as a student, five mature string quartets (1966, 1983, 1985, 1989, 1991) and music for string quartet for the 1931 film Dracula (1998) - Valentin SilvestrovValentin SilvestrovValentyn Vasylyovych Sylvestrov is a Ukrainian pianist and composer of contemporary classical music.-Education:Sylvestrov began private music lessons at age 15...
(born 1937): wrote two quartets (1974, 1988), plus Quartetto Piccolo (1961) - Bart BermanBart BermanBart Berman is a Dutch-Israeli pianist and composer, best known as an interpreter of Franz Schubert and 20th century music....
(born 1938): String Quartet (1958); Four Melodies for string quartet (1994) - Gloria CoatesGloria CoatesGloria Coates is an American composer who has moved to, and has subsequently been living in Munich, Germany since 1969...
(born 1938): has written nine string quartets up to 2009 - John CoriglianoJohn CoriglianoJohn Corigliano is an American composer of classical music and a teacher of music. He is a distinguished professor of music at Lehman College in the City University of New York.-Biography:...
(born 1938): String Quartet (1995), revised for string orchestraString orchestraA string orchestra is an orchestra composed solely or primarily of instruments from the string family. These instruments are the violin, the viola, the cello, the double bass , the piano, the harp, and sometimes percussion...
as Symphony No. 2 (2000) - Alvin CurranAlvin CurranComposer Alvin Curran , is the co-founder, with Frederic Rzewski and Richard Teitelbaum, of Musica Elettronica Viva, and a former student of Elliott Carter. Curran's music often makes use of electronics and environmental found sounds....
(born 1938): VSTO (1993) - John HarbisonJohn HarbisonJohn Harris Harbison is an American composer, best known for his operas and large choral works.-Life:...
(born 1938): has written three - Paavo HeininenPaavo HeininenPaavo Heininen is a Finnish composer and pianist. He studied at the Sibelius Academy in Helsinki, where he was taught composition by Aarre Merikanto, Einojuhani Rautavaara, Einar Englund, and Joonas Kokkonen...
(born 1938): String Quartet No. 1, Op. 32c ("Kwartet smyczkowy"); String Quartet No. 2, Op. 64 ("Anadyr.mpl") - Joan TowerJoan TowerJoan Tower is a Grammy-winning contemporary American composer, concert pianist and conductor. Lauded by the New Yorker as "one of the most successful woman composers of all time", her bold and energetic compositions have been performed in concert halls around the world...
(born 1938): 'Night Fields' (1994), 'In Memory' (2002), 'Incandescent' (2003) - Charles WuorinenCharles WuorinenCharles Peter Wuorinen is a prolific Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. His catalog of more than 250 compositions includes works for orchestra, opera, chamber music, as well as solo instrumental and vocal works...
(born 1938): has written four, plus the short Divertimento and Josquiniana, in six movements based on Josquin des Prés - Louis AndriessenLouis AndriessenLouis Andriessen is a Dutch composer and pianist based in Amsterdam. He teaches composition at the Royal Conservatory of The Hague...
(born 1939): has written two - Jonathan HarveyJonathan Harvey (composer)Jonathan Harvey is a British composer. He has held teaching positions at universities and music conservatories in Europe and the USA and is frequently invited to teach in summer schools around the world.-Life:...
(born 1939): has written four - Heinz HolligerHeinz HolligerHeinz Holliger Heinz Holliger Heinz Holliger (born 21 May 1939 is a Swiss oboist, composer and conductor.-Biography:He was born in Langenthal, Switzerland, and began his musical education at the conservatories of Bern and Basel. He studied composition with Sándor Veress and Pierre Boulez...
(born 1939): has written two (1973, 2007) - Tom JohnsonTom Johnson (composer)Tom Johnson , is an American minimalist composer, a former student of Morton Feldman.-Career:His pieces are most often based simply on mathematical and logical processes, such as tiling, which he attempts to make as clear as possible...
(born 1939): Formulas for String Quartet (1994) (eight short movements, each following a mathematical formula); Combinations for String Quartet (2003) - John McCabeJohn McCabe (composer)John McCabe CBE is an English composer and pianist.- Biography :John McCabe was born in Huyton, Liverpool, Merseyside. A prolific composer from an early age, he had written thirteen symphonies by the time he was eleven...
(born 1939): wrote five (1960, 1972, 1979, 1982, 1989) - Tomáš Svoboda (born 1939) has written ten string quartets as of 2009
Born in the 1940s
- Richard WilsonRichard Edward WilsonRichard Edward Wilson is an American composer of orchestral, operatic, instrumental, and chamber music. Wilson was born in Cleveland, Ohio, where he was at a young age drawn to the concerts of George Szell and the Cleveland Orchestra...
(born 1941): has written four as of 2006 - Chick CoreaChick CoreaArmando Anthony "Chick" Corea is an American jazz pianist, keyboardist, and composer.Many of his compositions are considered jazz standards. As a member of Miles Davis' band in the 1960s, he participated in the birth of the electric jazz fusion movement. In the 1970s he formed Return to Forever...
(born 1941): wrote one specifically for the Orion String QuartetOrion String QuartetThe Orion String Quartet is a string quartet formed in 1987. It is the quartet-in-residence of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and New York's Mannes College of Music. The members are Todd and Daniel Phillips, brothers who alternate on first and second violin, violist Steven Tenenbom...
in 2004. - Ingram MarshallIngram MarshallIngram Marshall is an American composer and a former student of Vladimir Ussachevsky and Morton Subotnick. Son of Bernice Douglas and Harry Reinhard Marshall, Sr. He was a talented soprano in the Boy's Choir at the Mt. Vernon Community Church, and was influenced early by noted music instructor,...
(born 1942): Entrada (At the River) for string quartet amplified with processing, Evensongs, Voces Resonae (1984), and Fog Tropes II - Meredith MonkMeredith MonkMeredith Jane Monk is an American composer, performer, director, vocalist, filmmaker, and choreographer. Since the 1960s, Monk has created multi-disciplinary works which combine music, theatre, and dance, recording extensively for ECM Records.-Life and work:Meredith Monk is primarily known for her...
(born 1942): Stringsongs for string quartet (2004) - Gavin BryarsGavin BryarsRichard Gavin Bryars is an English composer and double bassist. He has been active in, or has produced works in, a variety of styles of music, including jazz, free improvisation, minimalism, historicism, experimental music, avant-garde and neoclassicism.-Early life and career:Born in Goole, East...
(born 1942): has written three (1986 (Between the National and the Bristol), 1990, 1998) - Krzysztof MeyerKrzysztof MeyerKrzysztof Meyer is a Polish composer, pianist and music scholar.-Biography:Meyer was born in Cracow. As a boy he played piano and organ. He began his composition study early – in 1954, with Stanisław Wiechowicz...
(born 1943): wrote twelve (1963, 1969, 1971, 1974, 1977, 1981, 1985, 1985, 1989, 1994, 2001, 2005) - Joanna BruzdowiczJoanna BruzdowiczJoanna Bruzdowicz is a Polish composer.-Life:Bruzdowicz studied at the Warsaw Music High School, at the State Higher School of Music ; she earned her M.A. in 1966...
(born 1943): wrote two (1983, 1988) - Brian FerneyhoughBrian FerneyhoughBrian John Peter Ferneyhough is an English composer. His music is characterized by the extensive use of complex rhythmic tuplet notation which features in all his works...
(born 1943): String Quartets Nos. 1–6; the fourth includes a part for a soprano; the Arditti QuartetArditti QuartetThe Arditti Quartet is a string quartet founded in 1974. The quartet is associated particularly with contemporary music.-Early history:The quartet was founded in 1974 by violinist Irvine Arditti together with John Senter, Levine Andrade and Lenox Mackenzie...
premiered Ferneyhough's sixth quartet in 2010; also, Dum Transisset I-IV (2007), "Exordium - Elliotti Carteri in honorum centarii" (2008) - Paul LanskyPaul LanskyPaul Lansky is an American electronic-music or computer-music composer who has been producing works from the 1970s up to the present day .-Biography:...
(born 1944): String Quartet No. 1 (1967), String Quartet No. 2 (1971–1978), Ricercare (2000) - Michael NymanMichael NymanMichael Laurence Nyman, CBE is an English composer of minimalist music, pianist, librettist and musicologist, known for the many film scores he wrote during his lengthy collaboration with the filmmaker Peter Greenaway, and his multi-platinum soundtrack album to Jane Campion's The Piano...
(born 1944): four string quartets, plus a few smaller pieces; a fifth quartet was premiered in 2011 - John TavenerJohn TavenerSir John Tavener is a British composer, best known for such religious, minimal works as "The Whale", and "Funeral Ikos"...
(born 1944): four string quartets: The Hidden Treasure - String Quartet No. 1; The Last Sleep of the Virgin – String Quartet No. 2, for string quartet and handbells; Diódia - String Quartet No. 3; The Bridegroom – String Quartet No. 4; plus other works including parts for string quartet - Pēteris VasksPeteris VasksPēteris Vasks is a Latvian composer.Vasks was born in Aizpute, Latvia, into the family of a Baptist pastor. He trained as a violinist at the Jazeps Vitols Latvian Academy of Music, as a double-bass player with Vitautas Sereikaan at the Lithuanian Academy of Music and Theatre, and played in several...
(born 1946): has written five string quartets - Heinz WinbeckHeinz WinbeckHeinz Winbeck is a German composer and an academic teacher. He is known for five large scale symphonies.-Professional career:...
(born 1946): The composer of five symphonies wrote three string quartets (as of 2011), entitled Tempi capricciosi Tempi notturni (both 1979) and Jagdquartett (Hunting quartet) (1984) - John Adams (born 1947): wrote John's Book of Alleged DancesJohn's Book of Alleged DancesJohn's Book of Alleged Dances is a composition by John Coolidge Adams for string quartet and recorded prepared piano. The first performance took place November 19, 1994, at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, California. The work was commissioned and premiered by the Kronos Quartet...
in 1994 for the Kronos QuartetKronos QuartetKronos Quartet is a string quartet founded by violinist David Harrington in 1973 in Seattle, Washington. Since 1978, the quartet has been based in San Francisco, California. The longest-running combination of performers had Harrington and John Sherba on violin, Hank Dutt on viola, and Joan...
; String Quartet No. 1 (2008) - Salvatore SciarrinoSalvatore SciarrinoSalvatore Sciarrino is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:In his youth, Sciarrino was attracted to the visual arts, but began experimenting with music when he was twelve. Though he had some lessons from Antonino Titone and Turi Belfiore, he is primarily self-taught as a...
(born 1947): wrote Sei quartetti brevi (1967–1992), as well as String Quartet No. 7 (2000) - Peter RuzickaPeter RuzickaPeter Ruzicka is a German composer and conductor of classical music.Peter Ruzicka was born in Düsseldorf on July 3, 1948. He received his early musical training at the Hamburg Conservatory. He studied composition with Hans Werner Henze and Hans Otte...
(born 1948): has written six quartets; the fourth includes a part for a speaker; the sixth includes a part for a soprano - Julia TsenovaJulia TsenovaJulia Tsenova , born in Sofia, Bulgaria, was an award-winning Bulgarian composer, pianist and musical pedagogue. She died of cancer at the age of 61.-Life and career:...
(1948–2010): wrote String Quartet No. 1 (2003) - David L. Post (born 1949): has written four string quartetsNo. 1 (1992), No. 2 (2001), No. 3 (2003) and No. 4 (2005). He has also written a Fantasia on a Virtual Choral for String Quartet (2003)
- Kevin VolansKevin VolansKevin Volans is a composer associated with the post-minimalist movement in contemporary composition. He was born in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa on July 6, 1949, and even though he has spent most of his life outside his native country, is the best known South African composer active today.In...
(born 1949): ten string quartets, plus a short quartet movement; the RTÉ Vanbrugh QuartetRTÉ Vanbrugh QuartetRTÉ Vanbrugh Quartet, also known as the RTÉ String Quartet, is the resident string quartet to Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Ireland's national broadcasting service, and Artists in residence to University College Cork and founders of the internationally acclaimed West Cork Chamber Music Festival...
premiered String Quartet No. 10 in February 2006
Born in the 1950s
- James DillonJames Dillon (composer)James Dillon, born October 29, 1950 in Glasgow, Scotland, is a Scottish composer often regarded as belonging to the New Complexity school. Dillon studied art and design, linguistics, piano, acoustics, Indian rhythm, mathematics and computer music, but is self-taught in composition.Honors include...
(born 1950): has written six quartets - Lorenzo FerreroLorenzo FerreroLorenzo Ferrero is a contemporary Italian composer with a predilection for opera, a librettist, author, and book editor. He started composing at an early age and wrote over a hundred compositions thus far, including twelve operas, three ballets, and numerous orchestral, chamber music, solo...
(born 1951): Tempi di quartetto (1996–1998); Five Aztec Gods (2005) - Lois V VierkLois V VierkLois V Vierk is a "post-minimalist" or "totalist" composer who lives in New York City.She received a B.A. degree in piano and ethnomusicology from UCLA in 1974. She then attended Cal Arts, studying composition with Mel Powell, Leonard Stein, and Morton Subotnick, receiving her M.F.A. in 1978...
(born 1951): Into the brightening air (1994/1999), dedicated to Mel PowellMel PowellMel Powell was a jazz pianist and composer of classical music.Mel Epstein was born to Russian Jewish parents, Milton Epstein and Mildred Mark Epstein, and began playing piano as a child. He performed jazz professionally in New York City as a teenager...
and River Beneath the River (1993) - George TsontakisGeorge TsontakisGeorge Tsontakis is an American composer and conductor.Tsontakis studied composition with Hugo Weisgall and Roger Sessions at the Juilliard School from 1974 to 1978, and later with Franco Donatoni at the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia in Rome...
(born 1951): Five String Quartets (1980–2006) ( Tsontakis Worklist at Presser) - Hans AbrahamsenHans AbrahamsenHans Abrahamsen is a Danish composer.Born in Copenhagen, Abrahamsen first got to know music through playing the French horn at school. He went on to study music theory at the Royal Danish Academy of Music...
(born 1952): String Quartet No. 1 "Ten Preludes" (1973); String Quartet No. 2 (1981) - Simon BainbridgeSimon BainbridgeSimon Bainbridge is a British composer, and a professor and former head of composition at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and visiting professor at the University of Louisville, Kentucky in the United States.-Biography:...
(born 1952): String Quartet (1972) - Reinhard FebelReinhard FebelReinhard Febel is a German composer, notable for his operas. He is also a music theorist and a university professor at the Hochschule für Musik, Theater und Medien Hannover and the Mozarteum.-Career:...
(born 1952): String Quartet (1981/82) - Bunita MarcusBunita MarcusBunita Marcus, born May 5, 1952 in Madison, Wisconsin, began studying composition at the age of sixteen and worked in both electronic and instrumental mediums while at the University of Wisconsin. In 1981 she received a Ph.D...
(born 1952) The Rugmaker (1986) - Wolfgang RihmWolfgang RihmWolfgang Rihm is a German composer.Rihm is Head of the Institute of Modern Music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival...
(born 1952): wrote twelve quartets, as of 2005 - Kaija SaariahoKaija SaariahoKaija Saariaho is a Finnish composer.Kaija Saariaho studied composition in Helsinki, Freiburg and Paris, where she has lived since 1982. Her studies and research at IRCAM have had a major influence on her music and her characteristically luxuriant and mysterious textures are often created by...
(born 1952): Nymphea (Jardin Secret III) (1987) for string quartet and live electronics - John ZornJohn ZornJohn Zorn is an American avant-garde composer, arranger, record producer, saxophonist and multi-instrumentalist. Zorn is a prolific artist: he has hundreds of album credits as performer, composer, or producer...
(born 1953): Forbidden Fruit for voice, string quartet & turntables (1987), Cat o' Nine Tails (or, Tex Avery Directs the Marquis de Sade) (1988), The Dead Man (1990), Memento Mori (1992), Kol Nidre (1996), Necronomicon (2003) - Carl VineCarl VineCarl Vine is an Australian composer of contemporary classical music.-Career:Vine was born in Perth, Western Australia. When he was ten years old, he took up the piano. An adolescent encounter with Karlheinz Stockhausen inspired a period as a teenage modernist, a direction which he abandoned in 1985...
(born 1954) Australian composer, four string quartets to date, of which 3 and 4 have been recorded: Knips Suite (String Quartet No. 1) (1979); String Quartet No. 2 (1984); String Quartet No. 3 (1994); String Quartet No. 4 (2004) - Arturo RodasArturo Rodas- Biography:Rodas studied at the National Conservatory in Quito, took private composition lessons with Gerardo Guevara, and also graduated in Law at the Universidad Central del Ecuador. Between 1978 and 1980 he was assistant to the French composer José Berghmans in Quito and Paris. He studied at...
(born 1954) Ecuadorian composer, A - B - C - D for string quartet (1989); Fuga Atonal II for string quartet (2008) - Pascal DusapinPascal DusapinPascal Dusapin , is a French composer born in Nancy. He is one of France's best-known living composers; his works have been performed worldwide....
(born 1955): five quartets (1982, 1989, 1992, 1997, 2005) - Nigel KeayNigel KeayNigel Keay was born in Palmerston North, New Zealand in 1955. He has been a freelance musician since 1983 working as a composer, violist, and violin teacher...
(born 1955) two quartets (1983, 1995) http://www.nigelkeay.com/quartet1995.htm - Don Rath Jr (born 1956) : Prolific composer for the stringed instruments, many quartets.
- Bob OstertagBob OstertagRobert "Bob" Ostertag is an experimental sound artist based in San Francisco.- Early career :...
(born 1957): All the Rage (1992) - Julia WolfeJulia WolfeJulia Wolfe is an American composer. She was born in Philadelphia, holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Princeton and Yale, and currently works in New York. Wolfe's music is rhythmically vigorous and often clangorously dissonant...
(born 1958): released an album of string quartets, The String Quartets: Dig Deep, Four Marys, and Early that summer (1991) - David Johnstone (born 1959): 9 Romantic European Pieces for String Quartet (2004) recorded by the Gala Quartet for Creighton's Collection
- Patrick JonathanPatrick Jonathan-Life:Patrick Jonathan is a composer born in London, England, but currently based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. A former student of Stanley Glasser, Edward Gregson and Don B...
(born 1959): String Quartet (2006) - Robert Scott ThompsonRobert Scott ThompsonRobert Scott Thompson is a composer of ambient, instrumental and electroacoustic music. He earned the B.Mus. degree from the University of Oregon and M.A. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California at San Diego. His primary teachers include Bernard Rands, Roger Reynolds, Joji Yuasa and...
(born 1959): American composer. Dissipative Structures for String Quartet (1981), premiere by Harvard String Quartet, Cabrillo Music Festival. First Prize in open competition. - Shigeru Kan-noShigeru Kan-nois a Japanese composer and conductor living in Germany.-Biography:Shigeru Kan-no was born in Fukushima, Japan. He now lives as a free-lance composer and conductor in Westerwald, Germany. His repertoire includes over 100 operas and 700 concert pieces. He is also a talented musician, able to play...
(born 1959): Japanese composer. wrote 10 String Quartets up to 2008.
Born in the 1960s
- Aaron Jay KernisAaron Jay KernisAaron Jay Kernis is an American composer and professor at the Yale School of Music.-Biography:Aaron Jay Kernis is Jewish, was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Manhattan School of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory, and Yale University .,Notable works include the...
(born 1960): 2 string quartets, No. 1 Musica celestis (1990), No. 2 Musica instrumentalis (1998). He received the 1998 Pulitzer PrizePulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
for Quartet No. 2. - William SusmanWilliam SusmanWilliam Joseph Susman, born August 29, 1960 in Chicago, is an American composer of concert and film music as well as an accomplished pianist. He belongs to the generation of American composers that came of age in the late twentieth century, received traditional academic training while remaining...
(born 1960): Four string quartets. - Ezequiel ViñaoEzequiel ViñaoEzequiel Viñao is an Argentine-American composer. He emigrated to the United States in 1980 and studied at the Juilliard School...
(born 1960): wrote three quartets, as of 2009: La Noche de las Noches (1989); The Loss and the Silence (2004) and Sirocco Dust (2009) - Lowell LiebermannLowell LiebermannLowell Liebermann is an American composer, pianist and conductor.At the age of sixteen, Liebermann performed at Carnegie Hall, playing his Piano Sonata, op. 1...
(born 1961): has so far written four string quartets: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 5 (1979), String Quartet No. 2, Op. 60 (1998), String Quartet No. 3, Op. 102 (2007) and String Quartet No. 4, Op. 103 (2007) - Edgar MeyerEdgar MeyerEdgar Meyer is a prominent contemporary bassist and composer. His styles include classical, bluegrass, newgrass, and jazz. Meyer has worked as a session musician in Nashville, part of various chamber groups, a composer, and an arranger...
(born 1961): released an album mostly of string quartets, Short Trip HomeShort Trip HomeShort Trip Home is an album of classical chamber music by a quartet unusual both for its membership and its instrumentation. Double bassist Edgar Meyer wrote the majority of the compositions recorded on the album for a quartet of violin, double bass, mandolin, and guitar...
(1999) - Rodney Waschka IIRodney Waschka IIRodney Waschka II is an American composer known for his algorithmic compositions and his theatrical works.-Biography:Waschka studied at Brooklyn College, at the Institute of Sonology, then newly part of the Royal Conservatory of The Hague, and earned his doctorate at the University of North Texas...
: String Quartet: Laredo (1999) String Quartet: Ha! Fortune (2003) both recorded by the Nevsky String QuartetNevsky String QuartetNevsky String Quartet is a string quartet based in St. Petersburg, Russia. They are noted for their award-winning performances of Russian music and their performances of contemporary music.-History and Repertoire:...
on Capstone Records. - Jennifer HigdonJennifer HigdonJennifer Higdon is an American composer of classical music. Higdon has received many awards, including the 2010 Pulitzer Prize in Music for her Violin Concerto and the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Percussion Concerto.-Biography:Higdon was born in Brooklyn,...
(born 1962): Seven works for string quartet: Autumn's Cricket (1987), Voices (1993), Sky Quartet (1997 revised 2001), Amazing Grace (2003), Impressions (2003), Southern Harmony (2003), and An Exultation of Larks (2005). - Andersen Viana (born 1962): wrote five quartets (1984,1990,1990,1996,1998)
- Fredrik SixtenFredrik SixtenSven Fredrik Johannes Sixten is a Swedish composer, cathedral organist and conductor. Sixten was born in Skövde, Sweden. He earned his Bachelor of Arts at the Royal College of Music, Stockholm. He studied composition with Professor Sven-David Sandström and is now recognized as one of Sweden's...
(born 1962) Chaconne (2007) recorded by the Swedish radio. "Contrasts" for stringquartett (1984) - Graham WaterhouseGraham WaterhouseGraham Waterhouse is an English composer and a cellist. He is known for chamber music and for unusual scoring, such as Piccolo Quintet, Bright Angel for three bassoons and contrabassoon, Chieftain's Salute for Great Highland Bagpipe and string orchestra, and works for speaking voice and cello,...
(born 1962) composed Hungarian Polyphony (1987) and Chinese Whispers (2010), among others. - Graham FitkinGraham FitkinGraham Fitkin is a British composer, pianist and conductor. His compositions fall broadly into the minimalist and postminimalist genres...
(born 1963): Servant (1992); Pawn (2005). - Maarten Regtien (born 1963): Dutch composer; 11 string quartets, among them: Die Fransösische Reise (2001), Die Pölnische Reise (2003), Juana la Loca plays "Beethoven & Friends" (2006).
- Joseph Hallman: Philadelphia composer, many string quartets for multiple groups, including "the not-so-magnificent cadaver", "musings", and "compliments". Also notable are his transcriptions of contemporary pop songs for gospel singer and string quartet.
- Ian WilsonIan Wilson (composer)Ian Wilson is a prolific, award-winning Irish composer of classical music. He also served as the music director of the Sligo New Music Festival from 2003 to 2011....
(born 1964): Twelve string quartets, as of 2012 - Nico Dezaire (born 1965): Books: Strings Together (2006); Sunny Strings (2009)
- Roberto CarnevaleRoberto CarnevaleRoberto Carnevale is an Italian composer, pianist and conductor.- Biography and career :Born in Catania, he started studying piano at the age of seven. He took a degree in Arts at the University of Catania and he attended the Accademia Musicale Chigiana in Siena...
(born 1966): Italian composer. Quartuccio (1996); Il mio quartetto (2002). - Vanessa LannVanessa LannVanessa Lann has been a composer and pianist since the age of five. She studied at the Tanglewood Institutewith Ruth Schonthal. She also attended the Westchester Conservatory of Musicat Harvard University, where her main teachers were Earl Kim, Peter Lieberson, and Leon Kirchner...
(born 1968): "Lullabye for a Young Girl Dreaming" (1990); "Landscape of a Soul's Remembering" (2006)
Born in the 1970s
- David HorneDavid Horne (composer)David Horne is a Scottish composer, pianist, and teacher.A resident composer with the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic for four years, he has been awarded several commissions...
(born 1970): Surrendering to the Stream (1993), Undulations (1996), Subterfuge , String Quartet No. 3 "Flight from the Labyrinth" (2005), String Quartet No. 4 (2006). - Branimir Krstic (born 1970): American composer. String Quartet "Vukovar" (1990); String Quartet No. 2 (1996); String Quartet No. 3 ("The Waves", 1997).
- Troy Lennerd (born 1970): "Miniatures for String Quartet" (2001)
- Sef Albertz (born 1971): Dialogs (string quartet No. 1) (1988)
- Yitzhak YedidYitzhak YedidYitzhak Yedid is an Israeli Australian composer of classical music and jazz pianist.-Biography:Yitzhak Yedid was born on September 29, 1971 in Jerusalem, Israel. His family immigrated from Syria. He studied at the Rubin Academy of Music and the New England Conservatory in Boston with Ran Blake...
(born 1971): Israeli composer, 'Visions, Fantasies and Dances' 60 minutes in 7 parts (2007) - Edward TopEdward TopSiemon Edward Top is a Dutch composer.Top studied violin and composition with Peter-Jan Wagemans at the Rotterdam Conservatoire. He won the Dutch prize for composition in 1999. He also studied composition with Klaas de Vries...
(born 1972) composed two string quartets (1998, 2002). - Jörg WidmannJörg WidmannJörg Widmann is a German composer and clarinetist. He lives and works in Munich and Freiburg.- Education and career :...
(born 1973): German composer, 5 one-movement string quartets (1997–2005) that form a cycle - R. Luke DuBoisR. Luke DuBoisRoger Luke DuBois is an American composer, performer, conceptual new media artist, programmer, record producer and pedagogue based in New York City.-Biography:...
(born 1975): American Composer, Hard Data (2009) - Jefferson FriedmanJefferson FriedmanJefferson Friedman is an American composer.-Life:He received his M.M. degree in music composition from The Juilliard School, where he studied with John Corigliano, and his B.A. from Columbia University, where his teachers included David Rakowski and Jonathan Kramer...
(born 1974): American composer, 3 string quartets (1996,1999,2005) - David Philip HeftiDavid Philip HeftiDavid Philip Hefti , winner of the prestigious Gustav Mahler Competition and of the George Enescu Competition, studied at the Conservatories of Winterthur, Zurich and Carlsruhe, taking composition, conducting, clarinet and chamber music. His mentors included Wolfgang Rihm, Cristóbal Halffter,...
(born 1975): Swiss composer, Ph(r)asen – String Quartet No. 1 (2007); Guggisberg-Variationen – String Quartet No. 2 (2008) - David FlynnDavid FlynnDavid Flynn is an Irish composer and musician with a number of major awards and commissions to his name. His recent music is noteworthy for merging the influence of traditional Irish music with contemporary classical music and jazz...
(born 1977): Irish composer, three string quartets to date. String Quartet No. 1 "Fairground Attractions" (2003), String Quartet No. 2 "The Cranning" (2004–2005), String Quartet No. 3 "The Keening" (2007), Flynn received the 2004 Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival Composers Award for "Slip" the first movement of Quartet No. 2 - Soni Petrovski (born 1977): Macedonian composer, String Quartet (1998)
- Jimmy LopezJimmy LopezJimmy Lopez is a classical music composer from Lima, Peru. He has won several international awards and pieces composed by him have been performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Aspen Concert Orchestra, National Symphony Orchestra of...
(born 1978): Peruvian composer, String Quartet "La Caresse du Couteau" (2004)
Born in the 1980s
- Richard ZarouRichard ZarouRichard Zarou is a contemporary composer of concert and film music and the host of the new music podcast "No Extra Notes". Zarou is from Centreville, VA and completed his undergraduate studies at Shenandoah University in Virginia...
(born 1981): American composer, String Quartet "Retreating From the Light" (2003) - Alin Gherman (born 1981): Belgian Romanian composer, "Mouths & strings" for string quartet (2005)
- Giovanni Albini (born 1982): Italian composer. String Quartet No. 2 "Larsenian Elegy" (2005), String Quartet No. 3 "Snowing L.A." (2006) finalist for the Aberdeen Music Prize 2007 (recorded by the BBC).
- Mohammed FairouzMohammed FairouzMohammed Fairouz is an Arab American composer.Having fulfilling many commissions and created a substantial body of frequently performed works, he is considered one of the most sought after composers of the young generation. Fairouz began composing at an early age and studied at the New England...
(born 1985): American composer, String Quartet Lamentation and Satire (2008), Chorale Fantasy for String Quartet (2010). - Mark Buller (born 1986): American composer, String Quartet No. 2 (2009)