Some musicologists believe Mendelssohn used the 'soggetto cavato dalle parole' technique in his E Flat Major quartet, encoding the musical initials of 'Betty Pistor' (B-Es) into the main motif.
Composer Biography
Mendelssohn's middle quartets (Nos. 3, 4, and 5, Op. 44) were composed for Cécile, the woman he later married.
Performer Biography
The Minetti Quartett, a musical sensation from Austria, is named after a play by the famous Austrian author Thomas Bernhard, who lived in Ohlsdorf, the birthplace of the quartet's two female members.
Composer's Artistic Vision
Mendelssohn engaged in an intensive musical dialogue with Ludwig van Beethoven, particularly after Beethoven's death, exchanging thoughts and ideas in his A Minor quartet.
Composition History
Mendelssohn's first two string quartets (Op. 12 and Op. 13) were written for Friederica Dorothea Elisabeth Pistor, known as 'Betty', a friend of his sister Rebecka.
Composition History
The love song 'Ist es wahr?' ('Is it true?'), which inspired the A Minor quartet, was written by Mendelssohn himself, despite being attributed to 'H. Voss' in its first edition.
Composer Biography
Felix Mendelssohn dedicated his final string quartet (No. 6, Op. 80) to his sister Fanny, who had died suddenly.
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