String Quartet No. 1 (Ligeti)
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György Ligeti
György Ligeti
György Sándor Ligeti was a composer of contemporary classical music. Born in a Hungarian Jewish family in Transylvania, Romania, he briefly lived in Hungary before becoming an Austrian citizen.-Early life:...

's String Quartet No. 1, titled Métamorphoses nocturnes, was composed in 1953-54. It is thus representative of what the composer himself used to call "the prehistoric Ligeti", referring to the works he wrote before leaving Hungary in 1956. Ligeti was inspired to write this quartet by Bartók
Béla Bartók
Béla Viktor János Bartók was a Hungarian composer and pianist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century and is regarded, along with Liszt, as Hungary's greatest composer...

's two middle string quartets (the third
String Quartet No. 3 (Bartók)
The String Quartet No. 3 by Béla Bartók was written in September 1926 in Budapest.The work is in one continuous stretch with no breaks, but is divided in the score into four parts:#Prima parte: Moderato#Seconda parte: Allegro...

 and fourth
String Quartet No. 4 (Bartók)
The String Quartet No. 4 by Béla Bartók was written from July to September, 1927 in Budapest.The work is in five movements:#Allegro#Prestissimo, con sordino#Non troppo lento#Allegretto pizzicato#Allegro molto...

), though he knew these works only from their scores, performances of them being banned under communist regimes at the time.

It was premiered at the Vienna Musikverein on 8 May 1958 by the Ramor Quartet, an ensemble that had also fled into exile.

The work is written in one continuous movement, which can be divided into seventeen contrasting sections:
  1. Allegro grazioso
  2. Vivace, capriccioso
  3. A tempo
  4. Adagio, mesto
  5. Presto
  6. molto sostenuto - Andante tranquillo
  7. Più mosso
  8. Tempo di Valse, moderato, con eleganza, un poco capriccioso
  9. Subito prestissimo
  10. Subito: molto sostenuto
  11. Allegretto, un poco gioviale
  12. Allarg. Poco più mosso
  13. Subito allegro con moto, string. poco a poco sin al prestissimo
  14. Prestissimo
  15. Allegro comodo, gioviale
  16. sostenuto, accelerando
  17. Lento


The score is published by Schott Music
Schott Music
Schott Music is one of the oldest German music publishers. It is also one of the largest music publishing houses in Europe and is currently the second oldest music publishing house. The company headquarters of Schott Music was founded by Bernhard Schott in Mainz, Germany in 1770.Established in...

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