Carnegie Hall

String quartets are intense, intimate musical experiences that give listeners a glimpse into composers’ most personal expressions. The fascination with the nuanced artistry of four string players engaging in intimate musical conversations goes back centuries. But which string quartets have been performed most frequently at the Hall? Members of our team in the Carnegie Hall Rose Archives and the Carnegie Hall Data Lab have the answers. What they found might surprise you: There were no quartets on the list by Haydn, who almost single-handedly invented the genre, or Mozart, who was his disciple.

No. 1: Schubert’s String Quartet in D Minor, D. 810, “Death and the Maiden” (56 performances)

While the second movement from Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1 has been heard 67 times at Carnegie Hall, Franz Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” is the quartet that has been performed most frequently in its entirety. It was first performed in 1826 in a private home and wasn’t published until 1831—two years after Schubert’s death at the young age of 31. It was premiered at Carnegie Hall by the New York Symphony String Quartet on December 6, 1891.

The quartet’s title comes from its second movement—a reference to Schubert’s song of the same name. He masterfully quotes the piano introduction of the song and then presents five variations of the theme that unfold with heightening drama. Intensity reigns throughout most of the quartet. Its thundering opening movement recalls Beethoven at his most turbulent, its scherzo is furious, and its finale a manic dance—perhaps, as some suggest, a dance of death.

No. 2: Debussy’s String Quartet in G Minor (46 performances)

Claude Debussy wrote only one string quartet. Perhaps a letter to his friend, composer Ernest Chausson, explains why: “I’ve had to start all over again three times.” Once the crisis of confidence was resolved, Debussy created a masterpiece that’s one of his most popular works. His quartet premiered in Paris in 1893 in a performance by the Ysaÿe Quartet, one of the preeminent ensembles of its time. It took more than 35 years before Carnegie Hall audiences were seduced by its intoxicating beauty in a performance by the Léner Quartet on December 20, 1929.

Debussy’s music enchants with melodic splendor and lush, shimmering harmonies. Its structure is cleverly based on an opening motif that cycles in various forms throughout the work. The quartet’s second movement features stunning tonal effects, including the viola playing a repeated up-tempo version of the motif as the other instruments play bravura pizzicato (plucked) passages and slashing contrasting rhythms. It turned out that Chausson didn’t care for the quartet, to which Debussy replied, “I shall write another just for you, and try to clothe it in more dignified clothing.” But he never did.

No. 3: Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major (38 performances)

Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet—a frequent companion to Debussy’s in concerts and on recordings—was written a decade after Debussy’s and was Ravel’s first chamber work. Like Debussy, Ravel also used unique string effects and vivid tonal colors, but Ravel’s quartet has an almost Mozartian taut construction. The Flonzaley Quartet gave the work its Carnegie Hall premiere on December 4, 1911, alongside quartets by Haydn and Boccherini.

A sweetly melodic theme opens the quartet and reappears later in the work. The second-movement scherzo is a high-octane romp with rapid-fire pizzicatos and cutting cross-rhythms, producing a sound similar to Javanese gamelan music—not surprising, since Ravel heard that instrument in Paris in 1889. Calm is restored in the lyrical third movement before a finale that roils with energy and virtuosic flair.

No. 4: Beethoven’s String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59, No. 2, “Razumovsky” (37 performances)

The first question usually asked when approaching Ludwig van Beethoven’s quartet is, “Who or what is Razumovsky?” Count Andrey Razumovsky was the Russian ambassador to Vienna, an amateur violinist, and one of Beethoven’s first patrons. The composer dedicated his three Op. 59 quartets to his benefactor in 1806. The second was first performed at the Count’s Viennese home in 1807; it received its Carnegie Hall premiere on December 20, 1892, with the New York Symphony String Quartet.

Beethoven opens his quartet with crashing chords that recall the tumultuous opening of his “Eroica” Symphony. The storm clouds are dispelled in the beautifully serene Adagio, inspired (according to Beethoven’s friends) by the composer contemplating the night sky. In the third movement, he honors his patron by quoting a Russian tune that expands into a display of complex counterpoint, while the finale is a high-energy race that challenges the virtuosity of each performer.

No. 5: Dvořák’s String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, “American” (37 performances)

Antonín Dvořák was in need of rest in the summer of 1893 after his first season as director of New York’s National Conservatory of Music. He found it in the small Czech community of Spillville, Iowa. Upon arriving with his family and friends, he immediately set to work on a string quartet, which he completed in a little more than two weeks. The Kneisel Quartet premiered the work in Boston on January 1, 1894. Eleven days later—on January 12, 1894—the Kneisel Quartet gave the work its Carnegie Hall premiere.

Like his “New World” Symphony, the “American” Quartet (the nickname wasn’t Dvořák’s) shows the composer’s fascination with Native American music and African American spirituals, yet never quotes any specific selections. Dvořák was a trained orchestral violist, and the viola is given many of the opening melodies in the quartet. It’s a work that overflows with gorgeous lyricism, especially the breathtakingly beautiful Lento movement, a tenderhearted song touched with a dash of melancholy.

Photography: Schubert manuscript courtesy of The Mary Flagler Cary Music Collection, The Morgan Library & Museum; Razumovsky portrait courtesy of the National Gallery of Victoria; Dvořák photo courtesy of the Carnegie Hall Rose Archives.