Overview of romantic string quartets

[matesic]

Despite having plenty better to do, I went through my best sources (mainly Cobbett) and listed all the composers I could find with credible dates who published string quartets in the century after Beethoven (1826-1925). Those who I know have recordings of some sort (very occasionally of SQs published after 1925) are on the "sung composers" sheet, the rest of course "unsung". A substantial proportion of pieces on the sung page may not in fact have had recordings. Of course quite a few "unsungs" must truly belong with the "sungs", but it's clear there that out of a total of more than 650 there are plenty yet to be heard!

http://www.mediafire.com/?6tj7zl2qhqdlddd

The dates recorded for each piece are mostly of publication, except where that was definitely more than 5 years after writing, in which case I went for the latter. I'll add some graphs in due course, but the main trend over time is a massive increase starting towards the end of the 19th century and persisting right into the 1920's, a big spike at 1920 I suspect being due to the sudden resumption of publishing activity after WW1. There's also a period during the 1860's when the proportion of "sung" to "unsung" drops particularly low, so that's where I'll be putting my spade looking for undiscovered treasure. Unfortunately my suspicions are that this was a time when conservatism reigned, and there just isn't much that looks interesting.

[giles.enders]

Well done, this is of great interest to me.  As an organiser/manager of chamber music concerts, I find that many established quartets are unwilling to stray far from the core repertoire and likewise the audience needs to have built up a trust between themselves and the performers.  There is also the question of finding time to obtain and examine the unknown works.

[chill319]

Another name for your list: Charles Hommann, who wrote some fine quartets in the first half of the 19th century: https://www.areditions.com/rr/rra/a030.html
Addendum:
Another American name worthy of inclusion in the list is Daniel Gregory Mason.

[Amphissa]

One for your list is Adolf Fredrik Lindblad, a Swedish composer, 1801-1878. I have a recording of his String Quartet No .3 in C major performed by the Yggdrasil String Quartet. You can find the String Quartet No. 4 on YouTube (performers not identified -- if anyone knows who they are, please post). I have not heard Nos. 1 & 2.

Also for your list, the American composer Daniel Gregory Mason crafted a very fine String Quartet on Negro Themes in G minor, Op 19 (1918-19). There is a recording of this by the Kohon String Quartet on a CD set titled The Early String Quartet in the U.S.A.

[eschiss1]

Lindblad 4: possibly Matla Temko and Mona Nordin, violins, Gideon Roehr, viola, and Nils Tidstrand, cello (1957 recording broadcast occasionally on Swedish radio). The movements are Allegro ma non troppo ; Allegretto grazioso ; Menuetto (Allegro - Trio (Più lento) - Allegro) ; Allegro.  We used to have that recording in our Downloads section, too (as a sound file, far more conveniently.) (24:55, internal timings in the recording I have

Allegro ma non troppo 8:00 - 4 second gap;
Allegretto grazioso 6:57 - 4 second gap;
Menuetto 4:55 - 5 second gap;
Finale 4:30. ... approximately.) As noted on the webpage, published in 1911; composed ???.

[semloh]

Great sleuthing, Eric! 

[Mark Thomas]

LIindblad's String Quartet No.4 is indeed in our Downloads board here.

[matesic]

Trying to be a good scientist, I felt I had to omit maybe 20 or so names for whom I couldn't identify dates confidently. According to Cobbett, Lindblad's quartets were all still in ms as of 1929 (unless "MS." was the author of the entry!). I also omitted Mason because his Op.19 is listed as having been "printed privately". Charles Homman was unknown to Cobbett and we still don't seem to know his dates for sure. But please do keep them coming!

http://www.mediafire.com/?tn8s23b8rrz2m6l

Here are a couple of charts that I hope you'll be able to read in ods format. What chiefly draws my eye are the huge surge in activity after a slight slump in the decade starting 1866, and the marked excess of "unsung" over "sung" composers in the decade starting 1856. There are about 30 names from that period that might be worth investigating, e.g. Willhelm Taubert, Carl Schuberth, Alexandre Boely, August Adelburg. I guess we won't go into what happened after 1916!

[eschiss1]

I'll try to find independent confirmation that Lindblad's quartet 4 was published in 1911, if I can.

[matesic]

I know the list is never going to be complete, but as long as I haven't missed too many it should still be valid as an "overview". Cobbett seems to provide good coverage of central European and English-speaking nations, also France, Russia, Denmark and Italy. Sweden could be a bit of a blind spot, although he does correctly note that Lindblad's string quintet was published. Of course, 1911 would be very posthumous so surprising if the quartet was published then.

[eschiss1]

Not if a friend or pupil took charge of it. (Or other interested party. Denmark has had "Samfundet til Udgivelse af Dansk Musik", for instance...)
Hrm. Röder of Leipzig (usually an engraver, but they did publish also) was identified as the publisher, in the link. Right now if one wants the material it is true one's directed to the Statens musik- och teaterbibliotek. So it's quite possible that either the 1911 edition is inaccessible, or that the SMOT has the rights, or that the mention of a 1911 edition is based on a misunderstanding (the Swedish Musical Heritage site is imperfect, I readily admit this.) .. hrm.

[eschiss1]

Though as to Lindblad quartet 4 also please note this:

description at Worldcat of an Abraham Hirsch Verlag edition (1911) of the parts of the 4th quartet. (Or this link if that Umweltsverlag stuff seems just plain weird.)

[matesic]

Thanks for the effort, but since it clearly exceeds my arbitrary (also imprecise and and possibly misguided...) "+5 years" rule, now I need to find out when he wrote it! Actually I'm inclined to think that retrospective publications such as this (as distinct from just a few years posthumous) should probably be left out of the analysis, since they may not reflect contemporary publication trends and musical taste. It's a hard one to decide, but broadly speaking I'm trying to argue for publication rather than composition dates as the criterion of "what people liked" at the time.

[eschiss1]

a "+5 years" rule that I quite missed. Eric, my penguin, you need to learn again how to read... (Mendelssohn F minor at least gets by at +3 but eeps, poor Schubert!)

[eschiss1]

Though you (Matesic) know it and have recorded it, the Rosenhain 3rd quartet (probably? composed between 1850 (estimate?) and 1864, when his first three quartets were published?) while not really innovative, is at least (I think!!) a well-done, unfrivolous work with real brio, invention and emotion behind especially the first movement and so seems worth a mention . Or so, again, it seems to me.