Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra (Schoenberg)
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The Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra in B-flat is a work by the Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg, freely composed after the Concerto Grosso Op. 6, No. 7 by George Frideric Handel. The work is divided into four movements: # Largo
Allegro Allegro may refer to: Common meanings * Allegro (music), a tempo marking indicate to play fast, quickly and bright * Allegro (ballet), brisk and lively movement Artistic works * L'Allegro (1645), a poem by John Milton * ''Allegro'' (Satie), an ...
# Largo #
Allegretto In musical terminology, tempo (Italian, 'time'; plural ''tempos'', or ''tempi'' from the Italian plural) is the speed or pace of a given piece. In classical music, tempo is typically indicated with an instruction at the start of a piece (often ...
grazioso #
Hornpipe The hornpipe is any of several dance forms played and danced in Britain and Ireland and elsewhere from the 16th century until the present day. The earliest references to hornpipes are from England with Hugh Aston's Hornepype of 1522 and others ...


Circumstances

The Concerto was written in the summer of 1933. In May of that year Schoenberg had been forced to flee
Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...
after the accession of the
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. He first went to
Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...
(where he reconverted from
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to the
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of his childhood). He spent the summer of 1933 with his wife and infant daughter in the French town of
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, a seaside resort near
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
, completing the Concerto there before leaving for permanent residence in America in October. The work was first performed on September 26, 1934 in
Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and List of cities in the Czech Republic, largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 milli ...
with the
Kolisch Quartet The Kolisch Quartet was a string quartet musical ensemble founded in Vienna, originally (early 1920s) as the New Vienna String Quartet for the performance of Schoenberg's works, and (by 1927) settling to the form in which it was later known. It h ...
as soloists.


The music

Schoenberg wrote of the work: "I was mainly intent on removing the defects of the Handelian style. Just as Mozart did with Handel's ''
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'', I have had to get rid of whole handfuls of rosalias and sequences, replacing them with real substance. I also did my best to deal with the other main defect of the Handelian style, which is that the theme is always best when it first appears and grows steadily more insignificant and trivial in the course of the piece".


Similar works

Other works for string quartet and orchestra have been written by
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, while concertos for string quartet and wind orchestra have been written by
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.


Sources

* Program notes by
Robert Craft Robert Lawson Craft (October 20, 1923 – November 10, 2015) was an American conductor and writer. He is best known for his intimate professional relationship with Igor Stravinsky, on which Craft drew in producing numerous recordings and books. ...
for the recording ( Naxos Records 8.557520) of Schoenberg's ''Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra in B-flat major'' performed by the
Fred Sherry Fred Sherry (born 1948) is an American cellist who is particularly admired for his work as a chamber musician and concert soloist. He studied with Leonard Rose at the Juilliard School before winning the Young Concert Artists International Audit ...
Quartet with the Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble under the baton of Robert Craft.
Center in Vienna
devoted to Arnold Schoenberg


References

{{Authority control Compositions by Arnold Schoenberg 1933 compositions Compositions in B-flat major Schoenberg