Title: String Quartet (1905)
Description: The manuscript of Anton von Webern's String Quartet (1905) came to light only in 1961, when it was found among a number of compositions from Webern's earlier creative period, all of which had previously remained unknown. The year 1905 was a productive one for Webern. While receiving academic training at the University of Vienna, he had sought the private tutelage of Arnold Schonberg, the mentor and friend with whom he was soon to forge ahead on the still uncharted course towards a new idiom of musical expression. At the end of their first year of association, immediately after composing Langsamer Satz for string quartet in June 1905, Webern set to work on a more expansive and ambitious essay in the same genre. A formal plan, dated July 13, prefaces the earliest sketches to the String Quartet. It reveals that the composer derived his inspiration from a painting, the triptych Werden-Sein-Vergehn Giovanni Segantini (1858-1899), an artist renowned for his portrayal of grandiose mountain scenery. The String Quartet was written at the Preglhof, the Webern family's country estate in Carinthia. On the finished score appears the date August 25, 1905. Segantini's triptych, the composer's original inspiration, remained the formal model; there are three clearly discernible sections within the one-movement structure. The String Quartet (1905) had its world premiere on May 26, 1962, during the First International Webern Festival in Seattle, Washington, when it was played by the University of Washington String Quartet. The first performance in Europe, by the LaSalle Quartet, took place on August 3, 1965, during the Second International Webern Festival at Salzburg/Mittersill. - Hans Moldenhauer - Prefatory note.