Edvard Grieg - String Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 27

 

Edvard Grieg

 

(1843~1907/ 노르웨이)

 

String Quartet No. 1 in G Minor, Op. 27

Performers: Copenhagen String Quartet [Tutter Givskov (violin), Mogens Lydolph (violin), Mogens Bruun (viola), Asger Lund Christiansen (violoncello)]

String Quartet No. 1 in g minor, Op. 27, written in 1877-1878

00:00 - I. Un poco Andante - Allegro molto ed agitato
11:54 - II. Romanze
18:05 - III. Intermezzo
24:29 - IV. Finale. Lento - Presto al Saltarello

Grieg was, at root, a miniaturist. He did not often work in the large scale of the sonata form; his entire completed literature in this form consists of a symphony that he suppressed, one concerto, one cello sonata, three violin sonatas, and this quartet. (Later, he wrote two movements toward another one.) It was composed in 1877-1878. It is an exceedingly attractive and untroubled work, with a melodic spirit that recalls his best songs or piano works. One song-like figure in particular is used throughout. Grieg does treat his material in sonata fashion, but not rigorously. There is a feeling of Norwegian peasant dances in the scherzo, while the finale trots merrily with a saltarello rhythm. It is, in short, a lovable work, heartwarming in the way that Grieg's music so often is.
The first performance of the quartet took place in Cologne in October 1878, by a quartet led by the work's dedicatee, violinist Robert Heckmann.[allmusic.com]

Edvard Grieg's String Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 27, is the second of three string quartets written by the composer. The first, in D minor, was an early work, now lost, written in the early 1860s at the request of his teacher, Carl Reinecke. The third quartet, in F major, remained incomplete at the composer's death.

 

 

Grieg wrote the quartet in 1877-78, while living at a farm in Hardanger.  He wrote to a friend "I have recently finished a string quartet which I still haven't heard. It is in G minor and is not intended to bring trivialities to market. It strives towards breadth, soaring flight and above all resonance for the instruments for which it is written."^[a]

The first performance of the quartet took place in Cologne in October 1878, by a quartet led by the work's dedicatee, violinist Robert Heckmann.^[6]

Publication of the quartet was delayed when the composer's preferred publisher, C.F. Peters, initially rejected the quartet because they believed the double stopping in some movements would require the work to be rewritten as a piano quartet or quintet. Grieg had to find another publisher, Fritsch, and only after the success of that release did C.F. Peters publish their own edition.

 

The work has four movements and lasts around 35 minutes in performance.

1. Un poco andante - Allegro molto ed agitato
2. Romanze: Andantino
3. Intermezzo: Allegro molto marcato - Più vivo e scherzando
4. Finale: Lento - Presto al saltarello

Influence

English musicologist Gerald Abraham, writing in 1948, suggested that Claude Debussy's String Quartet, also in G minor, was either consciously or subconsciously modelled on Grieg's quartet. Debussy often disparaged[ ① 비난하다 ② 폄하하다 ③ 흉을 보다 ④ 우습게 보다]Grieg's abilities as a composer and a pianist.[10]