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 The form of the string quartet first came into common use around the middle of the eighteenth century, when the “father” of the string quartet , “Papa” Joseph Haydn first began writing works for string quartet. These early pieces have five movements but later works, starting with his opus 9 quartets of 1769–70 are in the modern form with four movements, which soon became standard both for Haydn and for other composers. The four movements consist of a fast movement, a slow movement, a minuet and trio then back to a fast finale.
The form was taken up by composers of the day and such as Mozart who even played as part of an impromptu ensemble with Haydn, performing Haydn’s works, as well as composers who followed. Since that time the string quartet has been considered to be the true test of the classical composer's skill, as great art is require to imbue tonal colour and melody with a restricted number of voices. It is also extremely difficult to compose for four equal instruments, rather than giving the melody to various sections of an orchestra while the rest play an accompaniment.
The composition of quartets flourished in the classical era which followed on from Haydn, and both Mozart and Beethoven wrote large numbers of quartets rivaling Haydn's . The quartet then lost some popularity during the nineteenth century but regained its place in the modern era of classical music when composers such as Arnold Schoenberg, Bela Bartok and Dmitri Shostakovich in particular took up the form. |
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