Mendelssohn: String Quartets, Op. 44, Nos. 1-3/Henle

Category: String Quartet, Two Violins, Viola and Cello ** Composer: Mendelssohn, Felix ** Title: String Quartet, Op. 44, Nos. 1-3 ** Edited by: Ernst Herttrich ** Publisher: G. Henle Verlag URTEXT.

The three string quartets of Mendelssohn's Op. 44 were dedicated to Crown Prince Gustav of Sweden. In 1839, the year of the quartets' publication, Mendelssohn was in his prime: he was in love and recently married; had gained widespread acclaim for his oratorio, St. Paul; and, at age 30, had already been the conductor of the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra for four years. Decidedly Classical in nature, these three quartets still reflect the influence of Beethoven on Mendelssohn's chamber music; they are less cerebral, perhaps, than the Op. 12 and 13 quartets, but nonetheless lovely. They, in turn, inspired Robert Schumann, who dedicated his own three quartets to Mendelssohn in 1842. This Urtext edition contains parts for two violins, viola, and cello (no score), and is edited by Ernst Herttrich.