With the publication of Haydn's Op. 33 (1782) and Mozart's ensuing ‘Haydn’ Quartets (1785), the influence of the Austro-Germanic string quartet spread throughout Europe concurrently with the gradual emergence of professional quartet ensembles. Like nineteenth-century symphonists, quartet composers faced a formidable heritage, especially after Beethoven. Brahms summed it up famously: ‘You have no idea how it feels to the likes of us always to hear such a giant (Beethoven) marching behind one.’ In the context of current musical discourse, it might seem naive to accept Brahms' observation as the starting point for an historical overview of quartet literature. Yet careful study of works by both famous and lesser-known composers points one repeatedly to the problem of the Viennese inheritance, and not only in German-speaking lands. Accordingly, this chapter focuses on the quartets of four acknowledged nineteenth-century masters of the genre and one whose works, although all but forgotten today, were widely acclaimed during his lifetime.

Schubert

Among the first to sense the giant marching behind him was Franz Schubert (1797–1828), who was born in Vienna just as the twenty-six-year-old Beethoven was becoming securely established in the Austrian capital; he would survive Beethoven by only twenty months. Although he is best known today for his Lieder, chamber music occupied Schubert more consistently than any other type throughout his regrettably short career: string quartets dating from 1810 or early 1811 (D. 18–19a) are among his earliest known pieces, and his last completed instrumental work is the extraordinary C major String Quintet with two cellos (D. 956) composed just weeks before he died.