String Quintets op. 18 and 87-The genesis of Mendelssohn?s String quintets is closely connected to his friend Eduard Rietz and the latter?s brother Julius. Deeply affected by Eduard?s death in 1832 Mendelssohn exchanged the ?Minuetto?movement in his A major Quintet Op. 18 written six years previously for a newly composed adagio. It was in this form that the work was finally sent to the publishe…

The string quartet is generally considered as the chamber-music genre of the classical era: invented by Haydn elaborated by Haydn and Mozart and brought to its compositional peak by Beethoven. All later quartet composers had to measure themselves against the works of these three masters. This applies first and foremost toMendelssohn who has always been called a “classical romantic.” …

Le quatuor à cordes est généralement considéré comme le genre de la musique de chambre de la période classique par excellence: inventé par Haydn développé ensuite avec Mozart et déjà porté à son apogée par Beethoven. Tous les quatuors des compositeurs ultérieurs durent se mesurer à l?aune des ?uvres de ces trois maîtres. Cela est tout particulièrement vrai pour Men-delssohn qui fut toujours consi…