The String Quartet: From the Private to the Public Sphere ed. by Christian Speck (review)

Widely-held monographs published in the past two decades regarding the string quartet in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, when not Cambridge Companions or similar, have been somewhat limited to specific studies of Haydn, Beethoven, or Schubert with the notable exception of Mara Parker's superb The String Quartet, 1750–1797: Four Types of Musical Conversation (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2002). Another high-quality installment in the Speculum musicae series published by the Centro Studi Opera Omnia Luigi Boccherini and Brepols, this collection of essays (originally presented at the 2013 conference The String Quartet from 1750 to 1870 in Lucca, Italy) addresses the problematic issue of the string quartet's historiography following its reception. Christian Speck, whose impressive record of scholarship on the quartets of Boccherini and others may speak for itself, continues to influence current scholarly thought regarding the venerable genre with this well-edited array of deeply focused studies on a substantially broad range of topics. In a sizeable introduction, Speck considers the quartet's binary private/public nature and how that division is often obscured in its accounts, referencing a 1785 article by Johann Georg Krünitz that situates chamber music apart from the church and theatre yet between concert and "cabinet" (p. xiii). Aristocratic and bourgeois cultivation of the quartet is shown to have a corollary in monasteries and rectories (venues not often remembered in historical surveys), citing collections containing repertoire and manuscripts. The sacred triumvirate of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven is briefly addressed within the context of source quotes from Francesco Galeazzi, Heinrich Christoph Koch, Jérôme-Joseph de Momigny, and Bernhard Marx, along with the caution of noting the variant names related to the genre: quatuor brillant and concertant, quartettino, and so forth.

Cliff Eisen brings his usual excellent scholarly craft to the table with a study of Mozart's late string chamber music—the 'Prussian' quartets K. 579–590 and quintets K. 593 and 614—and the traditionally problematic notion of his 'late style', arguing that they might display a shift away from diversity and multiplicity of material toward a more Baroque-like 'unity of affect' (p. 8). Claiming that historical dismissal of these works by critics represents a failure to perceive Mozart's changing style, Eisen suggests a revisionist historiography that derives meaning from the composer's life by finding it within the compositions, instead of requiring a 'late style' to have biographical justification. As head of the Music Department at the National Széchényi Library in Budapest, Balázs Mikusi has regular access to Haydn's private collection of string quartets, which he posits can enable insights into the composer's creative work. Although the collection is noticeably late in its selection of repertory, it includes many dedicated published works that Haydn appeared to value, regardless of whether they err on the side of self-promotion for the dedicator as opposed to gratitude or homage. Mikusi also discusses the sometimes overlooked role of Haydn as editor, and how this collection may assist in understanding the creation of his Op. 42 quartet, which has challenged scholars due to its brevity and lack of inclusion in a set.

Speck's own contributions to the volume come in the form of two essays regarding Haydn's Emperor Quartet, Op. 76, No. 3, one a shorter study of the vocal and instrumental idioms in its variations movement and the other an exploration of the quartet's role in the public concert life of London and Vienna. Stating that the variations on the Emperor's Hymn represent a kind of metamorphosis from Lied to string quartet, he references the hymn's original status as a government commission and its recognisability while considering Haydn's avoidance of demanding polyphony or strict counterpoint, instead noting that the postlude which rises from the final pitch of the Lied points toward a solution of negotiating...