String Quartet No.1, (H. 117) (the French Quartet), is a chamber composition by the

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

composer

Bohuslav Martinů Bohuslav Jan Martinů (; December 8, 1890 – August 28, 1959) was a Czech composer of modern classical music. He wrote 6 symphony, symphonies, 15 operas, 14 ballet scores and a large body of orchestral, chamber music, chamber, vocal and ins ...

Background

Martinů was strongly drawn to the

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

form from his childhood. He composed his first quartet, based on the poem ''Tři jezdci'' by Czech poet

Jaroslav Vrchlický Jaroslav Vrchlický (; 17 February 1853 – 9 September 1912) was a Czech people, Czech lyrical poet. He was nominated for the Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel prize in literature eight times. Life He was born Emilius Jakob Frida in Louny ...

, at the age of eight. However, Martinů's juvenile works remain forgotten, are now archive material, and it is difficult to reconstruct them. Martinů made his first step into the world of quartet writing with his ''"French Quartet"''. The work was composed in

Polička Polička (; ) is a town in Svitavy District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 9,100 inhabitants. The historic town centre is well preserved and is protected as an Cultural monument (Czech Republic)#Monument zones, urban m ...

in 1918. In 1925 Martinů intended to have the composition performed in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, with the Ševčík Quartet. However, the quartet was not premièred until 1927 in

Brno Brno ( , ; ) is a Statutory city (Czech Republic), city in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. Located at the confluence of the Svitava (river), Svitava and Svratka (river), Svratka rivers, Brno has about 403,000 inhabitants, making ...

Structure

The composition consists of four

movements Movement may refer to: Generic uses * Movement (clockwork), the internal mechanism of a timepiece * Movement (sign language), a hand movement when signing * Motion, commonly referred to as movement * Movement (music), a division of a larger c ...

: *1. Moderato. Allegro ma non troppo *2. Andante moderato *3. Allegro non troppo *4. Allegro The ''French Quartet'', named for the work's Impressionist mood, is influenced by the works of

Debussy Achille Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

and

Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

. It is the longest of all Martinů quartets. His typical individual style is not yet apparent, but the quartet contains the unquestionable quality and counts among the interesting examples of the composer's early chamber works.Sleeve note of the

Supraphon Supraphon Music Publishing is a Czech record label, oriented mainly towards publishing classical music and popular music, with an emphasis on Czech and Slovak composers. History The Supraphon name was first registered as a trademark in 1932. Th ...

recording (SU 3917-2), p. 5 The approximate duration of the work is 36 minutes.

Notes

References

*Martinů. String Quartets. Complete recording.

Panocha Quartet The Panocha Quartet () is a Czech string quartet. History The Panocha Quartet was formed at the Prague Conservatory in 1968 from a trio consisting of Jiří Panocha (violin), Jaroslav Hlůže (viola), and Jaroslav Kulhan (cello). At the suggesti ...

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(sleeve note)

External links

Info on musicweb-international.com
{{Authority control Chamber music by Bohuslav Martinů Martinu 01 1918 compositions