String Quartet No. 1 (Prokofiev)

String Quartet No. 1 (Prokofiev)

Sergei Prokofiev wrote his String Quartet No. 1 in B minor (Op. 50) between 1930 and 1931 as a commission from the Library of Congress.cite web|title=Foundations for Music (Library of Congress Music, Theater, Dance: An Illustrated Guide)|url=http://www.loc.gov/rr/perform/guide/fndmus.html|accessdate=2008-10-08]

Analysis

The work is distinctive in that its key, B minor, is just a semitone below the limits of the viola and cello range. Another distinctive feature is that the finale is the slow movement, which is highly intense in emotion and full of sweeping melodies.

The string quartet is in three movements, lasting around 20-25 minutes:
#Allegro
#Andante molto
#Andante

Prokofiev had liked the finale so much that he transcribed a version of it for string orchestra (as Op. 50a), and included a piano transcription in his pieces op. 52.

Premiere

The work was premiered on April 23 1931 in Washington DC, and given its Russian premiere in Moscow on October 9 1931 by the Roth Quartet, according to the composer (writing in his "short" autobiography of 1941).

Recordings

ee also

*String Quartet No. 2 in F major

External links

* [http://www.prokofiev.org/catalog/work.cfm?WorkID=132 String Quartet No. 1 at prokofiev.org]

References


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