Program: Mozart's Divertimento in D Major Haydn's Quartet Op. 20 No. 1 in E-flat Major Richter's Quartet Op. 5 no. 5b in G minor With: Quartet Salonnieres Aniela Eddy, violin/viola Natalie Rose Kress, violin/viola Rebecca Nelson, violin/viola Cullen O'Neil, cello What was en vogue in 1772 Europe? Hoop skirts of unspeakable proportions, elaborate hairstyles that sometimes depicted current events, three-cornered hats, Revolutionary ideas... and in music -- a form that had recently won over Austria and was now sweeping through the rest of Europe: the string quartet. The string quartet was born in large part from the Austrian tradition of the divertimento, a genre that encompassed a variety of instrumentations but excluded continuo. Divertimenti were generally lighthearted and harmonically straightforward, and could be performed either as orchestra or chamber music depending simply on the number of instrumentalists involved. In the mid 1700's, chamber performances of four-part divertimenti constituted the very first public appearances of what would soon become known as the string quartet. This 1772 program highlights an extraordinary year in string quartet history, when the form still had strong ties to the divertimento but was also blossoming into its own deeply complex and wildly popular genre.
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