Erwin Schulhoff’s relatively brief life spanned a period of incredible change in music and world affairs, beginning under the tutelage of Antonín Dvořák in the late Romantic tradition, and ending in 1942 as a victim of the Holocaust.
Haydn’s String Quartet in G minor, nicknamed “Rider” for the last movement’s rollicking theme, shows the adventurousness of the 61-year-old composer.
In Mannheim, the virtuoso flutist Johann Baptist Wendling provided Mozart with a place to stay, a piano, and a bundle of commissions for flute quartets and concertos. But there was a catch.
Mendelssohn wrote the String Quintet No. 1 in 1826 at 17 years old, revising it six years later with a new slow movement dedicated to the memory of Eduard Rietz, a close friend who had died of tuberculosis.
Telemann published a periodical called “The Faithful Music Master,” filled with entertaining and instructive chamber music. Among the pieces was a set of violin duets inspired by a recent bestseller, Jonathan Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels.
Perhaps because it foils preconceptions about what Dvořák’s music should sound like, the Piano Quartet No. 2 is often overlooked. But it’s masterfully written and full of surprises.
Bach almost never crossed his keyboard music with drama or narrative. In fact, Capriccio on the Departure of a Beloved Brother may be his only instrumental work to tell a story so overtly.
The sunrise is in the first measures—the first violin peaks up from a gentle dissonance. And so the day begins: mostly sunny, with a chance of clouds in the slow movement.
It would make sense for a viola quintet to start with the violas—but no, Brahms has the cello dive in with a wild solo across most of its range, springing across strings and punctuating with rolled chords, all while the other instruments gleam together above.
While many composers might set out to write a piano quintet, for Brahms it was simply the best ensemble in which to house a musical idea.