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April 07, 2025Read More
By Sam Girling
The recent and ongoing subseries of scholarly editions String Quartets in Beethoven’s Europe addresses an overlooked aspect of chamber music history by focusing on string quartets from the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Traditionally, only the quartets of iconic Viennese composers—Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven—have remained prominent in the repertory, but this series broadens the scope to include lesser-known compositions (and composers) and their rich contextual backgrounds. The popularity of string quartets in small musical circles during this period was significant, yet many works were published only as performance parts rather than full scores. This practice contributed to their exclusion from broader canon formation as concert culture and music scholarship evolved in the late nineteenth century. As a result, the repertoire promoted in our subseries was mostly confined to private music-making and has not been thoroughly explored until now.
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April 19, 2017Read More
By Nancy November
The name of Emanuel Aloys Förster (1748–1823) comes up with some frequency when one researches Beethoven’s string quartets, yet Förster’s own quartets are no longer part of the standard chamber music repertoire, nor are they much discussed by musicologists. This neglect stems partly from the fact that only three of Förster’s string quartets were available in score until recently. But it also reflects the fact that his works have invariably been considered solely in comparison with Beethoven’s string quartets. These three editions, comprising the eighteen quartets published during Förster’s lifetime (opp. 7, 16, and 21, featuring six quartets each), aim to bring this important composer back to the notice of performers and scholars.
