Sun Quartets to Black Angels:
A Survey of the String Quartet
The string quartet – the combination of two violins, viola, and cello – has been called “The most perfect expression of human behavior.” In this six-part course, Heifetz Institute President & CEO Benjamin K. Roe examines the nearly 300-year history and development of the string quartet, and how it became a medium for many composers’ most intimate and profound utterances. The course is offered by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute (OLLI) at the University of Virginia and University of Richmond.
Course Outline
I. Why The String Quartet?
An exploration of the early roots of the string quartet, and the early quartets of Franz Joseph Haydn, Luigi Boccherini, and even Benjamin Franklin!
II. The Classical Style 1750-1800
III. The Quartet Gets Personal: Beethoven & Schubert 1800 – 1827
IV: Romantics & Bohemians, 1827 – 1893
From Symbolism to Impressionism to Serialism to Modernism….and beyond.
V. “Isms” & The 20th Century 1893 – 1969