Bartók's Second String Quartet was composed – with several long interruptions – between 1915 and 1918, after he had spent several years almost solely devoted to collecting folk music. The

Béla Bartók's six string quartets, composed between 1908 and 1940, are 20th-century milestones of the genre. His First String Quartet is closely linked to his unhappy love for the violinist

Debussy wrote these two short dances to a commission from the instrument-making firm of Pleyel, which was keen to use famous names in the marketing of its newly-developed chromatic harp. The dances are also

It is almost impossible to tell from listening to them that Bach's extremely popular concerti for harpsichord were probably his own transcriptions of solo concerti which had originally been composed for

This chamber music work, composed in 1907-08, marks a turning point not only in Schönberg's output but also in the history of modern music in general. Major-minor tonality, obligatory for centuries, is

"Harmony, bliss, music of Raphaelesque beauty! and yet in its simplicity, how wonderfully artistically everything is done." This is how Theodor Billroth enthused about the first String Quartet op. 88 by his

This volume brings together Mozart's youthful attempts at this later so central genre of the string quartet: the astonishing "Lodi Quartet" K. 80 by the only fourteen-year-old composer, the three

When Dvorak suddenly became internationally famous in 1878 with his Slavonic Dances, he received, among other things, a request for a new string quartet from Jean Becker, the first violinist of the renowned

When Dvorak wrote his Serenade for 10 winds and 2 lower strings in January 1878, the heyday of the great wind serenades and "Harmoniemusik" wind ensembles was already long gone. He was probably inspired by

It is almost impossible to tell from listening to them that Bach’s extremely popular concerti for harpsichord were probably his own transcriptions of solo concerti which had originally been composed

The twelve "London Symphonies" comprise the sublime final statement of Haydn's symphonic oeuvre. They were written for the London impresario Johann Peter Salomon, and Haydn himself conducted their premieres