Lesson plan
String Quartet
|upright=1.3 The term string quartet is a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play the quartets. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists, a violist, and a cellist. The string quartet was developed into its present form by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, whose works from the 1750s onwards established the ensemble as a group of four more-or-less equal partners. Since that time, the string quartet has been considered a prestigious form, as writing for four instruments with broadly similar characteristics both constrains and tests a composer. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described string quartet music as "four rational people conversing" ( ). String quartet composition flourished in the Classical era, and Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert each wrote a number of masterpieces in the genre. Many Romantic and early-twentieth-century composers composed string quartets, including Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Dvořák, Janáček, and Debussy. There was a slight lull in string quartet composition later in the 19th century, but it received a resurgence in the 20th century, with the Second Viennese School, as well as Bartók, Shostakovich and, in the US, Elliott Carter and Milton Babbitt producing highly regarded examples of the genre.…
Article summary
|upright=1.3 The term string quartet is a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play the quartets. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists, a violist, and a cellist. The string quartet was developed into its present form by the Austrian composer Joseph Haydn, whose works from the 1750s onwards established the ensemble as a group of four more-or-less equal partners. Since that time, the string quartet has been considered a prestigious form, as writing for four instruments with broadly similar characteristics both constrains and tests a composer. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe described string quartet music as "four rational people conversing" ( ). String quartet composition flourished in the Classical era, and Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert each wrote a number of masterpieces in the genre. Many Romantic and early-twentieth-century composers composed string quartets, including Mendelssohn, Schumann, Brahms, Dvořák, Janáček, and Debussy. There was a slight lull in string quartet composition later in the 19th century, but it received a resurgence in the 20th century, with the Second Viennese School, as well as Bartók, Shostakovich and, in the US, Elliott Carter and Milton Babbitt producing highly regarded examples of the genre.…
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Discussion questions
- Summarise the article in your own words. Which single claim would you verify first, and why?
- Which claim in this article is most likely to be revised as the sources update? How would you check its current status?
- If two sources disagreed about one of these facts, what would you need in order to trust one over the other?
Bibliography
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Key claims and bibliography are generated from the same tracked claims and sources as the article page.