The String Quartet

Presented by Leo Samama.

Tomás Luis Bretón y Hernandez remained loyal in his instrumental compositions to the traditional form schemes of the Middle-European classical romantic music besides the brilliant music of Saint-Saëns. His music is distinguished by a mixture of German seriousness, French elegance, and Spanish folk-like melodies, as we can hear in the three later string quartets.

In May 1910, Joaquín Turina composed a ‘Panorama Espanol’ for his teacher, the String Quartet of five parts in D minor (Opus 4) with the meaningful nickname ‘De la Guitarra’. This work is full of Andalusian melodies, although wrapped in Debussy’s harmonies. Later, in 1945, he wrote in his diary: “It is a Spanish panorama, seen from Paris!