Quartet, A Minor

Kreisler, Fritz

Kreisler's quartet was completed in 1922. In the preceding decade, there had been many new and, some would say, shocking developments in music. Those who, as Kreisler, rejected the atonalism of Schönberg and his Second Vienna School, could no longer write in the idiom of Brahms. New ways had to be found. Composers such as Dohnanyi, Weigl, Weiner, Stravinsky, to name but a few, all struck out in different directions, while retaining some aspects of traditional tonalism. Many critics have considered Kreisler's quartet to be programmatic and autobiographical as was Smetana's From My Life. Kreisler, however, never openly admitted this although he did tell his biographer, "It is my tribute to Vienna." (his birthplace) The opening movement, Allegro moderato but also titled Fantasia, immediately strikes a note of tragic drama with the opening cello solo. The main part of the movement does...