String Quartet No. 2 (Carter)
Encyclopedia
The Second String Quartet
by American
composer Elliott Carter
(1908-) was completed in 1959. It was commissioned by the Stanley String Quartet, and received its first performance in 1960 by the Juilliard String Quartet
.
The quartet is considerably influenced by the music of European avant-garde
composers who were gaining celebrity at this time, particularly Pierre Boulez
's Le marteau sans maître
. This is a much more fragmentary piece than his earlier quartet
(1951): the four instruments play very individual roles and unpredictably bounce off one another. Indeed, Carter instructs the players to sit as far apart as possible so that they appear to be playing different pieces simultaneously.
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...
by American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
composer Elliott Carter
Elliott Carter
Elliott 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...
(1908-) was completed in 1959. It was commissioned by the Stanley String Quartet, and received its first performance in 1960 by the Juilliard String Quartet
Juilliard String Quartet
The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York. The original members were violinists Robert Mann and Robert Koff, violist Raphael Hillyer, and cellist Arthur Winograd; Current members are Joseph Lin and Ronald Copes violinists,...
.
The quartet is considerably influenced by the music of European avant-garde
Avant-garde
Avant-garde means "advance guard" or "vanguard". The adjective form is used in English to refer to people or works that are experimental or innovative, particularly with respect to art, culture, and politics....
composers who were gaining celebrity at this time, particularly Pierre Boulez
Pierre Boulez
Pierre 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...
's Le marteau sans maître
Le marteau sans maître
Le marteau sans maître is a composition by the French composer Pierre Boulez. It is a setting of the surrealist poetry of René Char for alto and six instrumentalists. It was first performed in 1955.-Movements:...
. This is a much more fragmentary piece than his earlier quartet
String Quartet No. 1 (Carter)
The First String Quartet by American composer Elliott Carter was written during a year spent in the Arizona desert from 1950-51. To some extent, it can be said that this was his first major breakthrough work as a composer....
(1951): the four instruments play very individual roles and unpredictably bounce off one another. Indeed, Carter instructs the players to sit as far apart as possible so that they appear to be playing different pieces simultaneously.
External links
- The String Quartets of Elliott Carter by David Harvey
- Elliott Carter on Grove Music Online (Subscription access)