View source for String Quartet (Ravel)

{{Short description|1903 composition by Maurice Ravel}}
{{use dmy dates|date=December 2024}}
{{Infobox musical composition
| name                = String Quartet
| composer            = [[Maurice Ravel]]
| image               = <score>\relative c'' {\key f \major \tempo "Allegro moderato – très doux" 4 = 120 a4\p (g8 a8) e4 (d4) a'8 (f8 c'8 e8) d2}</score>
| alt                 = 
| image_upright       =
| caption             = Motif from the first movement<ref>White, p. 30</ref>[[File:Ravel - String Quartet, mov. I motive.mid|center]]
| catalogue           = 
| key                 = [[F major]]
| dedication          = [[Gabriel Fauré]]
| composed            = {{start date|1903}}
| performed           = {{start date|1904|03|05|df=y}}
| published           = 
| movements           = four
}}
[[Maurice Ravel]] completed his '''String Quartet''' in [[F major]] in early April 1903 at the age of 28. It was premiered in Paris in March the following year. The work follows a four-movement classical structure: the opening movement, in [[sonata form]], presents two themes that occur again later in the work; a playful [[scherzo]] second movement is followed by a lyrical slow movement. The finale reintroduces themes from the earlier movements and ends the work vigorously.

The [[string quartet|quartet]]'s structure is modelled on that of [[Claude Debussy]]'s [[String Quartet (Debussy)|String Quartet]], written in 1893, although Ravel's musical ideas strongly contrast with Debussy's. Debussy admired Ravel's piece rather more than did its dedicatee, Ravel's teacher [[Gabriel Fauré]].

==Background==
Ravel attended the [[Paris Conservatoire]], but his unconventional ideas had incurred the displeasure of its ultra-conservative director [[Théodore Dubois]] and some other faculty members. His friend and teacher [[Gabriel Fauré]] continued to encourage and advise him, and Ravel made continual efforts to win the country's top musical award, the [[Prix de Rome]], in the face of resistance from the Conservatoire regime. By 1904, it was becoming clear to the musical public that Ravel was the outstanding French composer of his generation. Among his works by that date were the piano pieces ''[[Pavane pour une infante défunte]]'' and ''[[Jeux d'eau (Ravel)|Jeux d'eau]]'', and 1904 saw the premieres of his orchestral song cycle ''[[Shéhérazade (Ravel)|Shéhérazade]]'' and the String Quartet.<ref name=grove>Kelly, Barbara L. [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/52145 "Ravel, Maurice"], ''Grove Music Online'', Oxford University Press, retrieved 26 June 2015 {{subscription required}}</ref>

The quartet has superficial resemblances to Debussy's [[String Quartet (Debussy)|String Quartet]], written ten years earlier. Debussy approved of his younger colleague's work, and sent him an encouraging letter.<ref>Letter from Debussy, dated 4 March 1904, reproduced in Nichols, p. 53</ref> The structure of Ravel's quartet is modelled on Debussy's, but where Debussy's music is, in [[Arbie Orenstein]]'s words, "effusive, uninhibited, and open[ing] up fresh paths", Ravel's displays emotional reticence, innovation within traditional forms, and unrivalled technical mastery.<ref>Orenstein, p. 127</ref> Ravel followed a direction he described as "opposite to that of Debussy's symbolism", abandoning "the vagueness and formlessness of the early French impressionists in favour of a return to classic standards."<ref>[[Arbie Orenstein|Orenstein, Arbie]]. "Maurice Ravel", ''[[The American Scholar (magazine)|The American Scholar]]'', vol. 64, no. 1 (Winter 1995), p. 101 {{JSTOR|41212291}} {{subscription required}}</ref>

The quartet was premiered by the Heymann Quartet at a concert of the [[Société nationale de musique]] on 5 March 1904.<ref>Nichols, p. 52</ref> Its dedicatee, Fauré, attended the performance but was not greatly taken with the piece. Critics were divided on its merits. [[Pierre Lalo]], already a staunch opponent of Ravel, dismissed it as derivative ("it offers an incredible resemblance to the music of M. Debussy")<ref>Orenstein, pp. 39–40</ref> but Jean Marnold of the ''[[Mercure de France]]'' praised the work and described Ravel as "one of the masters of tomorrow".<ref>Orenstein, p. 40</ref> The work had its London premiere in 1908 (the reviewer in ''[[The Musical Times]]'' found the music "chiefly remarkable for vagueness of significance, incoherence, and weird harmonic eccentricities")<ref>"London Concerts", ''[[The Musical Times]]'', vol. 49, no. 779 (1 January 1908), p. 40 {{JSTOR|904561}} {{subscription required}}</ref> and its German premiere in Berlin in 1910.<ref>[https://www.jstor.org/stable/906054 "Foreign Notes"], ''The Musical Times'', Vol. 51, No. 814 (1 December 1910), p. 805 {{subscription required}}</ref> By 1914, the work was so well established that a London critic was able to compare performances by the Parisian String Quartet with those of British players in consecutive months.<ref>"London Concerts", ''[[The Musical Times]]'', vol. 55, no. 852 (1 February 1914), p. 118 {{JSTOR|905760}} {{subscription required}}</ref> The quartet has remained, in Orenstein's phrase, "a standard work in the chamber music repertory".<ref>Orenstein, p. 39</ref>

==Structure==
The quartet is in four movements.

===I. ''Allegro moderato'' – ''très doux''===
The movement is in traditional [[sonata form]], based on two contrasting [[Theme (music)|themes]]. The first, rising and falling through a long arc, is played by all four players at the opening and taken over by the first violin, accompanied by scalar harmonies in the lower instruments. The second theme, more reflective in character, is played by the first violin and viola playing two octaves apart. The development section, straightforward and traditional, is predominantly lyrical, gaining intensity before the [[Recapitulation (music)|recapitulation]]. In the recapitulation, the return of the second theme is subtly changed, with the upper three parts remaining identical to the exposition, but the cello raised a minor third, moving the passage from D minor to F major. The pace slows and the movement ends very quietly.<ref name=notes>Nichols, pp. 52–54; Orenstein, p. 55; and Stowell|p. 256</ref>

===II. ''Assez vif'' – ''très rythmé''===
{{Listen
|type=music
|filename=Ravel - String Quartet, mvt 2 - US Army Band.ogg
|title=''Assez vif – Très rythmé''
|description=Second movement, played by the Army Strings ensemble of the [[United States Army Band]]}}
As in Debussy's quartet, the [[scherzo]] is the second movement and opens with a [[pizzicato]] passage. This first theme is in the [[Aeolian mode]], which some writers, including the Ravel scholar [[Arbie Orenstein]], detect the influence of the Javanese [[gamelan]], which had greatly impressed both Debussy and Ravel when heard in Paris in 1889.<ref>Orenstein, pp. 11, 155; and [[Barbara L. Kelly|Kelly, Barbara L.]] [http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/subscriber/article/grove/music/52145 "Ravel, Maurice"], ''[[Grove Music Online]]'', Oxford University Press, retrieved 26 February 2015 {{subscription required}}</ref> Others hear in it echoes of Ravel's Spanish descent.<ref>Stowell, p. 256</ref>

The central section of the music is a slow, wistful theme led by the viola. Ravel uses [[Cross-rhythm|cross rhythms]], with figures in [[triple time]] played at the same time as figures in double time. The key varies from A minor to E minor and G sharp minor. The movement concludes with a shortened reprise of the opening section.<ref name="notes" />

===III. ''Très lent''===
Despite the marking "very slow", the third movement has numerous changes of [[tempo]]. The viola introduces the first theme, which the first violin then repeats. There are strong thematic links with the first movement, and, in defiance of orthodox rules of harmony, conspicuous use of [[consecutive fifths]]. The music is rhapsodic and lyrical; it begins and ends in G{{music|flat}} major with passages in A minor and D minor.<ref name="notes" />

===IV. ''Vif et agité''===
The finale reverts to the F major of the first movement. It is loosely in the form of a [[rondo]]. The opening bars are stormy, and the movement, though short, has several changes of time signature, {{music|time|5|8}} to {{music|time|5|4}} to {{music|time|3|4}}. Short melodic themes are given rapid [[tremolando|tremolandi]] and sustained phrases are played against emphatic [[arpeggio]]s. There are brief moments of calm sections, including a reference to the first subject of the opening movement. The turbulence of the opening bars of the finale reasserts itself, and the work ends vigorously.<ref name="notes" />

==Duration==
The work generally takes about half an hour to play. Some typical timings on record are given in the following table.
:{| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders" style="text-align: left; margin-right: 0;"
! scope="col" |Quartet
! scope="col" |I
! scope="col" |II
! scope="col" |III
! scope="col" |IV
! scope="col"|Total
! scope ="col" class="unsortable"|Ref
|-
| [[Talich Quartet|Talich]]
| 7:51
| 6:24
| 8:13
| 4:34
| 27:02
| <ref>Notes to La Dolce Vita recording LDV08 (2012), {{OCLC|906570425}}</ref>
|-
| [[Amati Quartet|Amati]]
| 7:57
| 6:45
| 8:10
| 5:00
| 27:52
| <ref>Notes to Divox recording CDX-28902 (2008), {{OCLC|299069067}}</ref>
|-
| [[Belcea Quartet|Belcea]]
| 7:49
| 6:02
| 8:35
| 5:27
| 27:53
| <ref>Notes to EMI recording 0724357402057 (2005), {{OCLC|885050737}}</ref>
|-
| [[Melos Quartet|Melos]]
| 8:11
| 6:21
| 9:07
| 4:46
| 28:25
|<ref>Notes to DG recording 002894790529 (2012), {{OCLC|808419101}}</ref>
|-
| [[Alban Berg Quartett|Alban Berg]]
| 7:40
| 6:51
| 9:20
| 4:54
| 28:45
| <ref>Notes to EMI recording 0724356755154 (2009), {{OCLC|885042184}}</ref>
|-
| [[Levon Chilingirian|Chilingirian]]
| 8:36
| 6:21
| 8:39
| 5:28
| 29:04
| <ref>Notes to CFP recording 0094638223153 (2007), {{OCLC|885038370}}</ref>
|-
| [[Quatuor Ébène|Ébène]]
| 8:50
| 6:29
| 9:47
| 4:40
| 29:46
| <ref>Notes to Virgin Classics recording 5190452 (2008), {{OCLC|754506176}}</ref>
|-
| [[Juilliard String Quartet|Juilliard]]
| 8:57
| 6:31
| 9:19
| 5:27
| 30:14
| <ref>Notes to Sony recording 884977238334 (1993), {{OCLC|30528199}}</ref>
|-
| [[Brodsky Quartet|Brodsky]]
| 8:41
| 6:27
| 9:40
| 5:34
| 30:22
| <ref>Notes to Orchid recording ORC100012 (2010), {{OCLC|811550709}}</ref>
|}

==Arrangements==
During Ravel's lifetime, [[Ginette Martenot]] [[Transcription (music)|transcribed]] the first movement of the quartet for [[ondes Martenot]], gaining the composer's approval.<ref>Laurendeau, p. 23</ref> There are arrangements for solo piano and two pianos (both arranged by Lucien Garban) and for [[piano four hands]] (arranged by [[Maurice Delage]]).<ref>[https://data.bnf.fr/fr/13917754/maurice_ravel_quatuors__cordes__fa_majeur__o_35/ "Quatuors. Cordes. O 35. Fa majeur, Maurice Ravel (187–1937)"], [[Bibliothèque nationale de France]]. Retrieved 23 November 2022</ref> The conductor [[Rudolf Barshai]] arranged the quartet for small string orchestra in 2003.<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/culture-obituaries/music-obituaries/8110859/Rudolf-Barshai.html "Rudolf Barshai"], ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', 4 November 2010</ref> The Australian [[Nexas Quartet]] arranged the work for four saxophones.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.sydneychambermusicfestival.org.au/season-2024/nexas-quartet|access-date=23 December 2024|title=Season 24: Nexas Quartet|date=10 November 2024|publisher=Sydney Chamber Music Festival}}</ref>

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
* {{cite AV media notes|last=Laurendeau|first=Jean|year=2008|id=ATMA ACD2 2621|title=Messiaen – Fête des belles eaux|publisher=[[ATMA Classique]]|location=Québec|oclc=820358747}}
* {{cite book|last=Nichols|first=Roger|author-link=Roger Nichols (musical scholar)|title=Ravel|year=2011|location=New Haven, US, and London|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-10882-8|url=https://archive.org/details/mauriceravel00roge}}
* {{cite book|last=Orenstein|first=Arbie|author-link=Arbie Orenstein|title=Ravel: Man and Musician|year=1991|orig-year=1975|location=Mineola, US|publisher=Dover|isbn=978-0-486-26633-6}}
* {{cite book | last= Stowell | first= Robin | title= The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet | series = [[Cambridge Companions to Music]] | year= 2003| location= Cambridge and New York | publisher= Cambridge University Press | isbn= 978-0-521-80194-2}}
* {{cite book | last= White | first= John David | title= The Analysis of Music | year= 1976 | location= Englewood Cliffs, US | publisher= Prentice-Hall | isbn= 978-0-13-033233-2 | url= https://archive.org/details/analysisofmusic00whit}}

==External links==
* {{IMSLP|work=String Quartet in F major (Ravel, Maurice)|cname=String Quartet (Ravel)}}
* [http://traffic.libsyn.com/gardnermuseum/ravel_fmajquartet.mp3 Performance by the Musicians from Marlboro] from the [[Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum]] in [[MP3]] format

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[[Category:Chamber music by Maurice Ravel]]
[[Category:Compositions for string quartet|Ravel]]
[[Category:1903 compositions]]
[[Category:Compositions in F major]]
[[Category:Music with dedications]]