How does the String Quartet interact with

new musical languages (from 1950 - 2000s)?

Introduction
What is the identity of the String Quartet? Is it de ned by the composer? Or, is the composer’s
identity impregnated by the quartet’s one? I start this essay with these questions because it
seems to me that the string quartet behaves more like a genre of music than a mere possibility
within the world of possible ensembles to work with. The reasoning behind this assumption is
that by listening to the di erent pieces I found myself nding similarities in the sounds. The
interesting fact is that the composers of the quartets do not belong to the same schools or
artistic currents. At the same time, I am aware that this assertion is too general as an idea. That
is why I will try to point out the similarities rst to nally show how the composers’s identities
are of the utmost importance to distinguish each piece as unique and carriers of the
composer’s voice.

Before diving into the 20th-21st Century pieces, it deems pertinent to brie y signal out the
history of the string quartets. It is an ensemble that crystalized its structure as such in the so
calle Classical period thanks to Haydn. It gained such a relevance that it was considered to be
a true test of the composer’s art. One of the reasons for this is that its homogenous sound
constrained the palette of sounds in comparison to other ensembles like the orchestra.
Nevertheless, this ‘di culty’ represented a way in which composers could show their mastery
of the art of composition. This resulted in the continuous writing for string quartets until
nowadays. It is important to mention that there has been composers that refused to write for
this genre and they actually questioned its relevance like Pierre Boulez and Oliver Messiaen. In
any case, the String Quartet Genre remains a common practice among composers.

Given that genres of music, to be considered as such, share a set of conventions or traditions I
would like to keep focused on this idea and go back to the the question of identity or ‘the
composer’s voice.’ Under the umbrella of the tradition, the string quartet can represent a set of
pre-established resources that condition, to some extent, the writing of music. And this is
marked by the cultural and social context that serves as the composer’s background. What
seems to be interesting is the fact that this genre can overcome certain cultural barriers in the
sense that it exists a common practice that encompasses the individual idiom of the composer.

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Similarities. Beyond cultural barriers
Circling back to the idea of genre, the String Quartet has strong idiomatic characteristics.
Which can be broadly described by its timbral and technical features. To name a few, bowing (à
la punta, col legno tratto, col legno batutto, detaché, jeté, sul tasto, sul ponticello), pizzicato
and tapping, harmonics (natural and arti cial), among others. From these varied possibilities,
the genre developed accordingly with the development of the instruments construction and
materials alongside the performers skills and specialization. In this sense the genre become as
a traditional compositional practice and as such every region and epoch modi ed the tradition
itself.

So, if a comparison is made between Haydn’s rst quartets with the ones written in the mid
1900s is possible to observe the development of techniques that call for more virtuosic
performances. This is due to the higher expectations on the performers but also because of
what the instrument is now able to do and yield. Hence, what I will show with the following
excerpts from di erent quartets are the similar techniques that constitute the common
language in the genre. Some of which can be traced from the baroque period and some that
were developed towards the second half of the 1900s.

String Quartet no.1 - Elliot

Carter m. 38 1st movement

The Four Quarters - Thomas Adès m. 35

3rd movement

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Nonet for Strings - Aaron Copland rehearsal mark 26

The previous examples show the use of double, triple and quadruple stops. This technique can
be traced through the history of the string quartets. Further more, pieces for solo strings make
use of this technique frequently. What is interesting to observe is that these composers adapt
the technique to t their language. In Carter’s case, he is using the double stops on two of the
instruments while the other two are playing melodic lines. This creates a more complex texture
that is worked out in pairs. Where in Copland’s and Adès the multiple stops are functioning in a
dense texture that has a homorhythmic behavior. Worth to mention, Carter’s piece starts with
double stops on the cello part where the instrument is playing a lyrical phrase by itself. In a
way, the use of the multiple stops in the piece is a structural part of the compositional process.
A similar statement can be maid about Adès’s piece, where the double stops are an integral
part in order to create the complex harmonies, more evidently on the cello’s and viola’s parts.
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Where in Copland’s piece the technique acts more as a circumstantial part on speci c
moments of the piece like the break on measure 5 after rehearsal 11.

String Quartet no. 3 - Conlon

Nancarrow m. 62 3rd movement.

The Four Quarters

- Thomas Adès

m. 16 4th
movement

The Four Quarters - Thomas Adès m.44 1st movement

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Nonet for Strings - Aaron Copland measure 4 after

rehearsal mark 19

S t r i n g
Quartet no.
3 - Conlon
Nancarrow
m.45 1st
movement

String Quartet no. 3 - Alberto Ginastera m.32 5th movement

The gesture on these examples relates to motions upwards or downwards, mostly done by
glissandi but also by, what I call, quasi-glissandi. Basically, they refer to an idiomatic possibility
of the instrument: fast motions moving by half steps or even smaller intervals. This sonority is
unique to the string instruments and is present on many pieces. The extensive use of it by
these composers relates to the liberation of the sounds in terms of creating e ects that are not
necessarily tied to harmonic, scalar or tonality constrains. The so called quasi-glissandi
examples can be tied to the collection of pitches used in the particular pieces but its fast
motion gives the gist of a glissando. On Copland’s piece this e ect is achieved by the
combination of the instruments that starts on di erent pitches, this gesture is repeated on the
following measure where other pitches are other creating an ever more complex mass of
sound. On Nancarrow’s quartet, the ‘glissando’ e ect is achieved by the overlapping of the
instruments and the superposition of di erent tempi.

These ideas lead me to another particularity of the strings that is frequently used, the high
register. The bowed string instruments can achieve certain levels of delicacy on the high
register that are not possible on other families. That is, the use of dynamics and the sustain on
those pitches. Therefore the use of this register by composers from the 20th and 21st centuries
is a mark of the expansion in the instruments idiom. Not that the high register was not in use
before, but the liberation of the xed register and roles of the instruments allowed the
composers to assign new functionalities to the parts in the string quartets. At the same time,
this does not create a timbre that fools the ears but it expands the timbral qualities of the
genre. On the same line of thought, the further exploration with harmonics and the
development of better skills to reproduce higher arti cial harmonics gave place to more
virtuosic explorations that are put in favor to the composer’s intentions. Another characteristic
of the string quartet is the densi cation of the texture by adding lines with sustained notes.
Because of the possibility to sustain the notes for extended periods of time, the genre allow the
gradual addition to more components to the texture. Thanks to the register expansion
mentioned before, the use of higher registers permits the acoustical phenomena of di erential
tones given that in many cases the lines act as close partials to a lower fundamental. On the
examples below, it is possible to observe the behaviors mentioned here.

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1- Carter m. 467; 2- Ginastera m. 49 2nd movement; 3- Schnebel m. 1 5th movement; 4- Adès

m. 18 1st movement.



1- Copland rehearsal mark 19; 2- Ginastera m. 1 1st movement; 3- Carter m. 361; 4- Nancarrow
m. 9 2nd movement

 Nancarrow m. 285 3rd movement

To nish this section of similarities and the features of the genre, it seems pertinent to mention
the masking/complementing/composite aspect of the string quartet. By this I mean, the fact
that the string quartet can function as four independent lines but the strong homogeneity of the
instruments allows the blurring of the boundaries between the instruments. Therefore, it is
achievable high levels of complementarity to the point of creating a composite instrument. The
masking is a technique used on many di erent styles and instrumentations but I would say that
the smoothness conquered by the string quartet becomes extremely handy to create continues
motions between the instruments permitting more versatility and less exhaustion to the
performers. Given that the string quartet developed into a genre that is not tied to a speci c
composition school or techniques, one important feature is its possibility to create composite
instruments. Meaning that the treatment of the whole quartet can be done as one instrument or
subdivisions into ensembles within the ensemble. This opens up the ability to create textures
where two instruments compose one line and their interaction complements each other as a
line in the texture.

Nancarrow’s String Quartet no.3 m18 2nd movement - The proximity in register and the
complementary rhythm between instruments give an idea of one complex line.

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Composite/Complementation/Masking

Copland’s Nonet for Strings rehearsal mark 16 - the

violins and the viola compose a dense line by
converging on the same notes and crossing the
voices. Because of the similarity in timbre this blurs
a clear distinction between the instruments.

Carter’s String Quartet no.1 m204 - the triple and

quadruple stops on vln., vla. and cello acts as a composite
instrument intertwining the timbres. Vln. II is also doubling
the melody on vln. I, as the cello continues that doubling
by the end of the measure.

Schnebel’s Stücke m8 1st movement - shows the

process of masking between the violins and the
composite timbre by the use of di erent bowing
technics.

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Feldman’s String Quartet no.2 page 3, rst and

second system - complementation between the for
instruments and creation of a composite
sound that could have ben produced by only
one instrument given the register and metric
location of the events.

Ginastera’s String Quartet no.3 m.

29 rst movement - composite
sound between instruments by
working in pairs on the
downwards motions and the viola
cello pair continuing the gesture
from the violins

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As it becomes noticeable, the quartet behaves as a composite instrument and this is achieved
through the expansion of the musical language as well. The compositional practices developed
after post-wars are good examples of the expansion on the conception of the sound world in
music. Nevertheless, the string quartet has a particular color that ties the whole spectrum of
pieces written for this genre. As with many general considerations, there are exceptions to the
rule one of which can be Lachenmann’s ‘Gran Torso.’ But even with the expansion of the
instrument’s sounds it is impossible to not recognize the color of the string quartet.

It is because of all this examples that I consider that the string quartet as a genre transcends
the cultural barriers marked by geographical boundaries. Becoming in this way a signi cant
tool to vividly manifest the current artistic concerns proposed by composers throughout the
epochs. And at the same time, it speaks of a more general cultural manifestation that has been
expanding along the expansion of the communications and linked between cultures and
composition schools.

Where did the individuality go?

Given the previous examples and the overview of the string quartet as a genre, my concern is
not to leave the reader with the false idea that the composer’s identity is lost amid the strong
character of the string quartet. That is not my intention in pointing out the similarities. Each
composer gives its own twist to this genre in order for it to serve as a carrier of the composer’s
intention, meaning and concern. I could even say that given the peculiarities of the pieces
analyzed here, both genre and composer mingled in such an ingenious way that the message
is carried out with more strength. This is so to the degree that a synergetic union is created that
helps convey the speci cities of the genre and the composer’s voice.

In order to show this, the examples below are intended to evidence passages, gestures and
sonorities that are genuinely representing the voices of the composers. On each quartet there
are many aspects that can be signaled but for the purpose of this essay I will point out one
aspect from each composer.

To begin with, I would like to related some of the pieces by its relationship with temporality, the
perception and the ways to work with it. The di erent composers deals with this perceptual
phenomena in di erent manners with di erent results. What seems interesting to me is the fact
that within the realm of time in music these composers are reaching new ways to use the genre
of the string quartet to carry out their voices.

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In the case of Adès’s example (IV. The Twenty- fth Hour), the whole movement is a construct
that works around the perception of time. Without changing the tempo marking he is able to
create rhythmically written accelerando and rallentando. The excerpt only shows the moment
in which the rallentando starts to gradually happen from measure 18 until the very end of the
piece. He is able to achieve such e ect by the use of rhythmic groupings that constantly
generate the sensation of stretching the perception of time of the sos active voices in the
piece. He sustains this idea with the use of prolonged chords that adds a static layer where the
other layers (the ones with constant motion) can alter the perception of time.

On Nancarrow’s piece, his handling of the temporality is directly done by the use of
polyrhythms created by the superposition of the di erent voices playin the same motivic idea.
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By giving the durational value of the measure and using di erent metric groupings on each
instrument, the polyrhythmic texture is created. The perception of time is in constant tension
because none of the voices is more prominent than the other or the driven one. At the same
time, the use of clearly de ned ranges for each instruments helps to sustain the struggle of
perceiving the di erent temporalities on each voice. An interesting aspect, that directly speaks
of the composer’s voice, is the fact that he uses a motive with strong character and the
repetition of this motive in canon.

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 S c h n e b e l ’s
s e c o n d
movement of his quartet works with temporality by means of altering the length of the
measures and using accelerando and ritardando and tempo markings. The overall impression
is the lack of pulsation and any element that anchors the listening to some kind of time
recurrence. In measure 4 the use of ‘prestissimo’ with the ‘ritardando’ at the end is another
mechanism that allows the composer to stretch the temporal frame of the piece. His string
quartets can be likened to to Webern pieces because of its brevity but also because of the use
of the twelve tone scale.

 Feldman on his String Quartet no. 2 gives an example of the manipulation of time by the use of
di erent rhythmic structures or patterns. Where he uses repetition of these structures and a
constant variation of the duration of each. The way in which he achieves that is by constantly
changing the meter. It is important to keep in mind that this piece last for over 5 hours and it is
basically made of small static units that are juxtaposed one after another. The piece start by
the repetition of the same pitch collection and its dynamics changed on every iteration. It
interesting to compare his other String Quartet called ‘Structures’ where the use of these
structures has a similar treatment in the piece but in a shorter duration of time. Both pieces
deal with temporality by using patterns that could work independent to each other. In a way,
each pattern could work as the short movements seen in Schnebel’s piece. The big di erence
is that, at least to me, Feldman is dealing with the perception of time at bigger scales.
Therefore the importance of create a kind of static perpetual motion. Both pieces, one about 6
minutes long and the other about 5 hours give a similar feeling of losing track of the passing of
time. When everything changes constantly, it could be said, that nothing changes at all.

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 On Ginastera’s quartet the main features that stands out is the use of a voice added to the
strings. That fact is left for another discussion but what interests me in this discussion is how
the voice is at the service of altering temporality in the piece. On this particular passage
(measure 36 of the rst movement), the indication ‘senza tempo’ gives place to a break in the
previous owing of time in the piece. The text, recited by the voice, is the one dictating the new
temporality while the strings are following the ‘recitado’ with approximate durations on their
parts and breaths markings.

Finally, on Carter’s music is well known his new approach to time. This is one of the many
passages in the piece where he is making use of the metric modulations. This allows him to
create a constant shifting in time and rhythmic perceptual values by smoothly altering the
values themselves and matching the di erent values from one measure to the next one. This
goes on top of dense textures and complex contrapuntal relationships between the voices.

What else is there to say?

Of course there are many more things to say about each string quartet but I wanted to nish
the previous section showing a similar concern about temporality and how to work around it.
What seems to be an important aspect that they also share is the use of counterpoint to create
structures and textures. Some of the pieces make use of canon, homorhythmic imitations,
augmentations, and so on. Possibly the most di erent ones in that sense are Schnebel and
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 Feldman because of the nature of the pieces where shorter structures are present and the kind
of contrapuntal development is not possible with this type of formal layouts.

In any case, the voice exchanges are present in all pieces where the continuity of the musical
ideas and gestures is developed thanks to freedom in which the instruments interact with each
other. From this perspective, an important development in the string quartet genre since the
1800s is the liberation of the instruments from xed roles. As it is observable in the examples,
the instruments exibility and adaptability to di erent roles on this string quartets concessions
the composers to expand the color of the genre by exploiting the extreme registers, the fast
and frequent shifting on playing techniques within the same passage, so on and so forth.

To nish, it seems pertinent to go back to the idea that the string quartet as a genre carries out
a singular sonority. The interesting thing is that the di erent composers analyzed here prove to
have found a path in which they can use this singular sonority to their favor allowing their own
voices to sound. Probably one of the reasons that writing for string quartets is still a common
practice is because of the relatively easiness on nding the performers but that would be an
oversimpli cation. Because of the pieces that I chose to analyzed and many others that were
left out from this essay, I nd fascinating that this genre grew into an extremely diverse one that
accommodates virtuosity and simpleness under the umbrella of a well de ned sonority. At the
same time, it seems to be a genre that haven’t found a limit to its possibilities yet.
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