Johannes Brahms sought to placate his publisher Simrock in 1869 by suggesting he would eventually produce string quartets, despite his self-critical nature.
Composition History
Brahms reportedly burned over 20 string quartets, including one seen by Robert Schumann in 1853, before publishing his Op. 51 quartets.
Historical Context
In Brahms's adoptive home city of Vienna, interest in new chamber works had shifted to the Viennese classics like Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven by the 1850s.
Compositional Technique
Arnold Schoenberg, in his essay 'Brahms, the Progressive,' admired Brahms's structural principle of 'developing variation,' where ideas and motifs are immediately developed upon presentation.
Performer Biography
The Auryn Quartet won prizes in two top competitions, the ARD-Wettbewerb in Munich and the International String Quartet Competition in Portsmouth, just one year after its founding in 1982.
Composition History
Brahms's first two string quartets, Op. 51, underwent at least nine phases of modification, and eleven for the A minor quartet, before their 1873 publication.
Performer Biography
The Auryn Quartet, founded in 1981, still consists of the same four players and is recognized as one of the world's leading quartets.
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