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- Judith Weir
String Quartet No. 2 (“The Spaniard”) (2023)
- Chester Music Ltd (World)
Commissioner exclusivity applies
Commissioned by Britten Pears Arts and Wigmore Hall for the Leonkoro Quartet and first performed at the Aldeburgh Festival, Snape Maltings, Suffolk, on 13 June 2024.
- 2vn.va.vc
- 15 min
- 13th June 2024, Britten Studio, Snape Maltings, Snape, Suffolk, United Kingdom
Programme Note
1. Animato
2. Tempo di Menuetto
3. Cantabile
4. Energico
Shortly after completing my Second Quartet, I realised that all of its formal features reminded me of moments from Beethoven's quartets. An edgy, conversational opening followed by a long cello tune; an athletic minuet and trio; a hymn-like slow movement; and a second scherzo for the finale, ending with an extended, impassioned coda.
I hadn't intended to write a Beethoven homage; but neither was the resemblance to my favourite quartet composer a coincidence. So my subtitle is also an oblique reference to him. "The Spaniard" was Beethoven's nickname at home in Bonn, on account of his "short, stocky build" and "dark-brown facial complexion"; according to his Bonn contemporary and neighbour, Gottfried Fischer.
Programme note by Judith Weir
More Info
- Judith Weir to be Featured Musician at Aldeburgh Festival 2024
- 19th December 2023
- Judith Weir will be a Featured Artist at the 2024 Aldeburgh Festival with the performance of over a dozen of her works, including the world premieres of String Quartet No. 2 'The Spaniard' and Planet.