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RR 2004/276 The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet Edited by Robin Stowell Cambridge University Press Cambridge 2003 xv + 373 pp. ISBN 0 521 80194 X (hbck); ISBN 0 521 00042 4 (pbck) £47.50 $75 (hbck); £17.95 $27 (pbck) Cambridge Companions to Music
Keyword Music
Review DOI 10.1108/09504120410543255
Since the middle of the eighteenth century the string quartet form has often been taken as a medium for composers' intimate thoughts. It developed from the serenades and divertimenti for stringed instruments and only became fully fledged with Haydn's first set of mature works. At that time performances were generally given in the private houses of the aristocracy and, increasingly, of the merchant and landed classes; it was only later that public performances took place. Dissemination of scores in manuscript and, more importantly, by publication ensured a wider audience, so that by the beginning of the nineteenth century there were vast numbers of quartets in circulation throughout Europe. During the rest of that century it became a favourite means of domestic music making...