Rosamunde String Quartet - Separate Parts
SCHUBERT

The quartet in A minor is one of the chamber music works with which Schubert, in the spring of 1824, "wanted to make his way towards the great symphony". At the same time it was also moving towards a wider audience because the "Rosamunde" quartet was going to be, during the composer's lifetime, the first and only string quartet which was not only played in public, but also published in separate parts. Fortunately for us, because the autograph of this much appreciated quartet is now lost and the first edition remains the only source of the work. But this restriction presents a great challenge precisely because the edition in separate parts contains many inaccuracies with regard to the articulation and the dynamics which must be resolved with great skill, which our Urtext edition succeeds to perfection. . The title refers to Schubert's stage music for the play Rosamunde which is quoted at the beginning of the Andante. Some will rather see an allusion to the Impromptu in B flat major op. posthumous 142 n ° 3, in which Schubert will later re-use this beautiful melody.