String Quartet (Verdi) string quartet complement of two violins, viola, and cello. String Quartet (Verdi) Giuseppe Verdi's String Quartet in E minor was written in the spring of 1873 during a production of "Aida" in Naples. It is the only surviving chamber music work in Verdi's catalogue. Verdi's production of "Aida" in early March, 1873 was delayed due to the sudden illness of soprano Teresa Stolz. Verdi focused his time in Naples on the writing of his first chamber work, the String Quartet in E minor. The work was premiered two days after the opening of "Aida" during an informal recital at his
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