String Quartet No. 1 (Rouse) Explained

The String Quartet No. 1 is the first string quartet by the American composer Christopher Rouse. The work was commissioned by the Casella Quartet and completed on June 7, 1982.^[1]

Composition

Structure

The work has a duration of roughly 16 minutes and is composed in six movements:

1. Variazioni I
2. Fantasma di Bartok I
3. Variazioni Piccoli
4. Fantasma di Bartok II
5. Variazioni II
6. Epilogo

Inspiration

The work was primarily inspired by Béla Bartók's String Quartet No. 4 and the assassination of Anwar Sadat, about which Rouse commented in the score program notes:

Reception

Edward Rothstein of The New York Times praised the string quartet, remarking that "the work's outbursts seemed insistent and intemperate".^[2] Reviewing a later recording of the piece, the music critic James Manheim praised the music for "draw[ing] closely on specific models and amplify[ing] them with big, visceral effects." He added:

Notes and References

1. [Christopher Rouse (composer)|Rouse, Christopher]
2. Web site: Rothstein . Edward . Edward Rothstein . Music: Debuts in Review . . March 6, 1983 . August 11, 2015.