String Quartets (Schumann)


The three string quartets by Robert Schumann were composed in 1842. They are:
The quartets Op. 41 are Schumann's only string quartets, and were composed after studying the quartets of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. He had sketched some ideas for quartets a few years before 1842, but they had been abandoned; in February of that year he considered again writing quartets.
Because of depression he was unable to compose for a period; eventually on 4 June he started work on the first quartet, and he finished the third quartet on 22 June. They were first performed on 13 September, as a present for his wife Clara on her 23rd birthday.
They were first published in 1843 by Breitkopf & Härtel, and dedicated to Felix Mendelssohn.

Movements

String Quartet No. 1

  1. Andante espressivo — Allegro
  2. Scherzo: Presto
  3. Adagio
  4. Presto

    String Quartet No. 2

  5. Allegro vivace
  6. Andante quasi variazioni
  7. Scherzo: Presto
  8. Finale: Allegro molto vivace

    String Quartet No. 3

  9. Andante espressivo — Allegro molto moderato
  10. Assai agitato
  11. Adagio molto
  12. Finale: Allegro molto vivace