Listening To Good Music: The String Quartet (1955)

[Music] however of all these forom the string quartet has been the most popular ever since the 18th century when the composer heyen first explored its [Music] possibilities in the hien serenade which the quartet is playing the first violin is singing a song while the other three instruments play a guitar-like accomp [Music] in writing music the composer uses the voices of a musical group to say something to those who listen music is a kind of language the better you understand musical language the more you will appre appreciate what the composer is trying to say the musicians like actors or interpreters bring to life the notes the composer has set down on the written [Music] page now let's meet the musicians and their instruments first the deepest voice of the group The Cello [Music] this cello played by George sopkin was made by Matteo Giller in Venice Italy more than 200 years ago this Viola played by Irving ilmer is almost 400 years old and was made by gasparo daalo in braia [Music] Italy the second violin played by Abram loft is the baby of the quartet it was only in 1772 that it was made by Tomaso balistrieri who was strongly influenced by the work of the master violin maker stradavarius and here is a violin made by Stratovarius himself in cromona Italy in 1729 it is played by Leonard [Music] sorin let's take a closer look at these struments they are very similar in shape each has a body or sound box a bridge four strings a fingerboard a neck a scroll and Four Pegs the larger the instrument the lower the notes it can play the combined range of these instruments cover six octaves let's listen to the entire range [Music] usually they're played with a bow as you've just seen But the strings can also be played picato that is plucked with the [Music] finger now let's hear the tonal range each instrument usually plays the cello for the base or baritone Parts provides the tonal foundation for the [Music] group the viola for the contralto or tener Parts plays principally in the range between the cello and the [Music] violin the violins are the twins of the quartet together they cover the soprano and Alto [Music] range these four voices make up a complete musical unit through familiarity with the string quartet you will have a better understanding of all musical groups large or small vocal or instrumental for example the string choir of the symphony orchestra is merely an enlarged string quartet supplemented in the lower register by the bass vials the vocal chorus too is divided in a similar manner with bass tener Alto and soprano Parts as graphically portrayed on the piano keyboard you can see that human voices overlap in range the instruments too overlap in range in a similar manner though these instruments have many notes in common there is a noticeable difference in sound even when each instrument plays exactly the same notes listen [Music] closely this difference in South quality which you could hear when each instrument played exactly the same notes is what is called tone color or tamber composers using tonal color Melody Harmony and Rhythm combine the sounds of these instruments to create many moods let's listen to some examples of moods which are found in quartet music here is heyen in a gay [Music] mood [Music] shoar and turn [Music] sad here heyen suggests a [Music] lullabi [Music] and there is Fury or anger in this bit of [Music] Shubert now a stately uette by [Music] Mozart and listen to this Lively dance a Tarantella by Hugo [Music] wolf [Music] a little later you're going to hear the Fine Arts quartet in a concert where it will play the finale movement from the hien quartet in C major here are a few interesting things to watch for to begin with the theme played by the first [Music] violin the second violin and Viola pick it up and here the cello takes over sometimes the composer takes sheer Delight in showing the virtuosity of the players [Music] and here's the section from which the movement gets its nickname mama papa listen as the argument is tossed back and [Music] forth [Music] and who do you think got in the last word we have met the four voices of the quartet and have learned of their versatility and their tone color we have heard how they can be used to create a mood and we have seen how a theme is carried through the instruments of the quartet now let's go to the concert hall to hear the fine art Arts quartet performed the finale movement of heiden's mama papa quartet in C [Music] major [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]