String Quartet (Ravel)

The String Quartet in F major (Op. 35 ) is the only string quartet by Maurice Ravel.

Formation, structure and style

Ravel composed the work in two phases. The first two movements arose in the late 1902, when Ravel was not exactly clear about in what form it should pour his composition. In April 1903, the third and fourth movements emerged. However, it took another year to his work on March 5, 1904, first performed in Paris by the Heymann Quartet renowned.

Ravel chose a classic four- movement form, which he, however, similar to the String Quartet of Claude Debussy, unconventional sorted by scherzo -like designed the second set and designed the third set as quiet, though influenced by various rhythm and key changes the transition to the final movement. The movement titles are:

• Allegro moderato. Très doux
• Assez vif. Très rythmé
• Très lent
• Vif et agité

In his composition Ravel combined different styles such as elements of the Rhapsody and Basque dance rhythms with classical elements. Therefore, the string quartet is considered music critics and biographers, but also Ravel himself as the beginning of the development of an individual musical language. The then 28 -year-old composer wrote the work was showing his " will to musical construction which, though imperfectly realized, but much more clearly than in my earlier compositions makes its appearance. "

Reception

The work was mostly positive, but received very differently by the audience of the French art. Gabriel Fauré, who was a few years earlier still, his teacher at the Conservatoire de Paris and the Ravel dedicated his string quartet, commented reserved or hostile, while Claude Debussy, whose ratio was otherwise marked to Ravel by some tensions became enthusiastic about the work and Ravel implored to change a single note. To a scandal arose when Ravel's composition from the Conservatoire carried along by the Prix de Rome due to formal concerns was excluded with respect to breaches of composition standards. For this decision, the outgoing director of the Conservatoire, Théodore Dubois, who had already Ravel faced hostile earlier in the year, was heavily criticized in public, including the Nobel Prize for Literature and influential music critic Romain Rolland. The String Quartet did not harm this public debate, on the contrary, it helped the factory in France but also internationally to great popularity, which continues today.