The String Quartet

Following the extremely extensive String Quartet opus 74, which was considered very modern at the time, Max Reger’s next string quartet, in E flat major (opus 109) from 1909, appears more subdued in tone. That does not mean that the techniques used are less complex, but it does mean that these works are experienced as more lyrical. The hymn-like theme of the Larghetto is wonderful. This is where Reger is at his best. Subdued, almost homely, as a musical product of the well-to-do bourgeoisie of the German Empire.

In 1910, the year after Webern’s Fünf Sätze for string quartet and Schoenberg’s Fünf Orchesterstücke were completed, Alban Berg began work on his String Quartet opus 3. This two-movement work (Langsam and Mässige Viertel) completed his studies with Schoenberg. His teacher, however, remained critical and only acknowledged him much later, after his death: “From Berg’s earliest compositions, however imperfect they may have been, two aspects could already be deduced. Firstly, that for him music was a language in which he could truly express himself. And, like all young, gifted people in those days, he was steeped in music; he lived in music.”