#ClassicsaDay #ClassicalQuartet Week 1

April is the fourth month of the year. And so the Classics a Day team decided to make it quartet month. This April the challenge is to post classical works that require four musicians. String quartets are the most common grouping of four -- but there are others. 

A piano trio has four players. And many 20th and 21st-Century quartets bring together unusual combinations of instruments. There's a lot to choose from!

Here are my posts for the first week of #ClassicsaDay for April's #ClassicalQuartet.

04/03/23 Franz Joseph Haydn: String Quartet Op. 1, No. 1 in B-flat major

Considered the father of the genre, Haydn wrote 68 string quartets. His Op. 1 set of six was published in 1762.

04/04/23 Michael Haydn: String Quartet in A

If Franz Joseph Haydn is the father of the string quartet, does that make his younger brother Michael its uncle? After all, he wrote 19 string quartets himself.

04/05/23 Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18

Beethoven dedicated his Opus 18 quartets to Haydn, but he was already pushing past the form Haydn established.

04/06/23 Ferdinand Ries: String Quartet in F major, Op. 70, No. 1

Ries was Beethoven's pupil (as well as his personal secretary). Ries wrote 27 quartets, most having some resemblance to the style of his teacher.

04/07/23 Maurice Emmanuel: String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 8

French composer Emmanuel was fond of modes. But his composition teacher, Léo Delibes, wasn't. Pieces like this quartet caused Delibes to expel Emmanuel from his class.