1st Edition
The String Quartet, 1750–1797 Four Types of Musical Conversation
By Mara Parker
Copyright 2002
336 Pages
by
Routledge
336 Pages
by
Routledge
336 Pages
by
Routledge
Also available as eBook on:
The second half of the eighteenth century witnessed a flourishing of the string quartet, often represented as a smooth and logical progression from first violin-dominated homophony to a more equal conversation between the four voices. Yet this progression was neither as smooth nor as linear as previously thought, as Mara Parker illustrates in her examination of the string quartet during this... Read more
Contents: Preface; The string quartet as chamber music; Social aspects: from private to public; String quartet types: toward a reconsideration; The lecture; The polite conversation; The debate; The conversation; The string quartet during the second half of the 18th century; Personalia; Bibliography; Index.
Biography
Mara Parker is Assistant Professor of Musicology and String Performance at Widener University in Chester, PA. In addition to her work on the eighteenth-century string quartet, her research interests include chamber music of all types, cello technique and performers, and early nineteenth-century American music. A founding member of the Del Mar String Quartet and the CSU Faculty Trio, she regularly performs in chamber and solo recitals.
’This book provokes a good deal of thought and is full of excellent musical examples... If you are a performer, professional or amateur, this book will be worth investigating.’ The Strad '... a bold attempt to challenge a commonplace of the so-called 'Classical style'...' Early Music '[Mara Parker] has exposed complexities that will repay the further explorations of quartet scholars and performers.' Notes 'Parker's [...] quartet sample - over 650 works by sixty-two composers - is impressive, since the majority of the works under scrutiny are not available in reliable modern editions. She is also to be commended for including lengthy music examples; on several occasions entire quartet movements are reproduced... Her diligence in procuring and transcribing large quantities of hitherto obscure eighteenth-century quartets is laudable...' Eighteenth-Century Music
