Classical Music | Music for Quartet

Recorded on 03/28/2006, uploaded on 01/24/2009

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

String Quartet No.1 in G minor, Op.10      Claude Debussy

Claude Debussy is often regarded as one of the key figures to develop the style described as the musical equivalent of Impressionism in the visual arts.  Debussy himself preferred to be called a Symbolist.  However, just as the Impressionist painters used softer strokes to capture the essence of an ethereal moment or mood, Debussy's music bears a softer outline of harmony and an intoxicating mix of timbre and color.  Debussy was 31 years old when he composed the quartet in 1893, and it marked the birth of his personal musical language. 

In the opening of the first movement, a four-note motif is introduced which will appear in different guises in each of the movements.  Other melodies are heard between restatements of the motif, in slightly different forms each time. After a wide range of tonalities, the first movement closes in dramatic unison.

In the second movement, the theme is used in vivid ostinato figures by the viola, accompanied by the other three instruments in pizzicato. The theme then appears in the first violin in slow and expressive style, and is restated in pizzicato by all four instruments.

With the instruments muted, the third movement begins with a dreamlike introduction by the second violin, viola and cello, followed by the first violin softly singing a melody inspired by Russian songs. The four note motif appears in the central section and builds to a climax, after which the opening lyrical section of the movement returns.

The introduction of the final movement is based on the original motif. The cello starts a cryptic passage, using a transformation of the motif. The tempo speeds up as other instruments join, and then the theme is started by the viola, from the final notes of which, another melody is spun out. Shared notes of both themes become the accompaniment for the motif. At the end, the tonality changes from minor to major, and a reminder of the opening theme leads to an even faster coda.     Eusia String Quartet

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.