String Quartet No. 1 (Ives) String Quartet No. 1 (Ives) String Quartet No. 1 is one of the most studied works by composer Charles Ives. The piece is composed for the standard string quartet of two violins, viola, and cello. The piece has four movements: The first movement is fugal in form and is considered separate from the rest because of its difference in tone. This piece is also found as the third movement of Ives' "Fourth Symphony", arranged for full orchestra. Historians agree that the fugal subject is based on "Missionary hymn" and the fugal countersubject is based on "Coronation". The second movement is
String quartet characterization and drama in the individual-pitted-against-the-mass vein, the writer of string quartets must perforce concentrate on the bare bones of musical logic. Thus, in many ways the string quartet is pre-eminently the dialectical form of instrumental music, the one most naturally suited to the activity of logical disputation and philosophical enquiry. Quartet composition flourished in the Classical era, with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert following Haydn in each writing a number of quartets. A slight slackening in the pace of quartet composition occurred in the later 19th century, in part due to a movement away from