The Second String Quartet by
American composer
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter Jr. (December 11, 1908 – November 5, 2012) was an American modernist composer. One of the most respected composers of the second half of the 20th century, he combined elements of European modernism and American "ultra- ...
was completed in 1959. This composition for
string quartet was commissioned by the Stanley String Quartet of the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
, who decided not to play it upon seeing the score, and received its first performance in 1960 by the
Juilliard String Quartet
The Juilliard String Quartet is a classical music string quartet founded in 1946 at the Juilliard School in New York by William Schuman. Since its inception, it has been the quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School. It has received numerous ...
.
The quartet is considerably influenced by the music of European
avant-garde
The avant-garde (; In 'advance guard' or ' vanguard', literally 'fore-guard') is a person or work that is experimental, radical, or unorthodox with respect to art, culture, or society.John Picchione, The New Avant-garde in Italy: Theoretical ...
composers who were gaining celebrity at this time, particularly
Pierre Boulez's ''
Le Marteau sans maître
''Le Marteau sans maître'' (; The Hammer without a Master) is a chamber cantata by French composer Pierre Boulez. The work, which received its premiere in 1955, sets surrealist poetry by René Char for contralto and six instrumentalists. It ...
''. 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 has instructed the players to sit as far apart as possible so that they appear to be playing different pieces simultaneously.
Character
Each of the parts has its own different character:
*First Violin: "mercurical"
*Second Violin: "laconic"
*Viola: "expressive"
*Cello: "impetuous"
Carter has distinguished each character not just by general style, but also by the rigorous assignment of musical materials.
Reception
This work had brought Carter recognition in America comparable to what his First has given him back in
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...
. This work was awarded three major prizes, including the
Pulitzer Prize.
References
*Carter, Elliot. “Shop Talk by an American Composer.” In ''Collected Essays and Lecture, 1937-1995'', ed. Jonathan Bernard, 214-224. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1997; reprinted from ''Musical Quarterly'' 46, no. 2 (April 1960): 189-201.
*Carter, Elliot. “String Quartets Nos. 1, 1951, and 2, 1959.” In ''Collected Essays and Lecture, 1937-1995'', ed. Jonathan Bernard, 231-235. Rochester, NY: University of Rochester Press, 1997. Reprinted from sleeve notes from Composers String Quartet, Nonesuch Records H-71249 (1970).
*Schiff, David. ''The Music of Elliott Carter''. Second edition. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1998 (1983).
External links
The String Quartets of Elliott Carter by David Harvey
2
1959 compositions
Pulitzer Prize for Music-winning works
Process music pieces
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