Background#

The “Kreutzer Sonata” quartet was the first to be composed after a request from the Bohemian Quartet who, in 1923, requested Janáček to compose two string quartets for them. The second was the “Intimate Letters” quartet.

Structure and style#

“I was imagining a poor woman, tormented and run down, just like the one the Russian writer Tolstoy describes in his Kreutzer Sonata”, Janáček confided in one of his letters to his young friend Kamila Stösslová. In the music of the quartet is depicted psychological drama containing moments of conflict as well as emotional outbursts, passionate work rush towards catharsis and to final climax. The composition consists of four movements: The thematic idea central to the whole work is very similar to the theme of the composer’s Danube symphony (1923–25). Using a principle of thematic montage, the quartet almost abandons the fields of traditional harmony, homophony and counterpoint and instead makes free with the varied sonic factors typical of Janáček, including his characteristic modal inflections.

References#

Janáček, Leoš: String Quartet No. 1. Urtext. Praha: Editio Bärenreiter, 2000. TP 520

Arrangements#

Arrangement suitable for: two violins, viola and cello #* arrangement for: soundtrack of the film Le Paltoquet #* arrangement by: Quentin Damamme #* performed by: Viotti Quartet # Arrangement suitable for: two violins, viola and cello #* arrangement for: string orchestra #* arrangement by: Richard Tognetti #* performed by: Australian Chamber Orchestra, co Richard Tognetti # Arrangement suitable for: two violins, viola and cello #* arrangement for: string orchestra #* arrangement by: Mario Brunello #* performed by: Orchestra d’Archi Italiana, co Mario Brunello # Arrangement suitable for: two violins, viola and cello #* arrangement for: piano trio #* arrangement by: Michal Hájků, (pseudonym of Jarmil Burghauser) #* performed by: Abegg Trio # Arrangement suitable for: two violins, viola and cello #* arrangement for: #* arrangement by: Till Alexander Körber #* performed by: Merlin Ensemble # Arrangement suitable for: two violins, viola and cello #* arrangement for: piano trio #* arrangement by: Stephen Coxe #* performed by: Weilerstein Trio#

External links#

• Program notes
• Recording by the Huberman Quartet (archived on the Wayback Machine)