View source for String Quartet (Webern)

[[File:Anton_Webern_(1883–1945)_1927_©_Georg_Fayer_(1891–1950)_OeNB_10450290.png|thumb|Webern, 1927, portrait by [[Georg Fayer]]]]
The '''String Quartet''', [[Opus number|Op.]] 28, by [[Anton Webern]] is written for the standard [[string quartet]] group of two [[violin]]s, [[viola]] and [[cello]]. It was the last piece of [[chamber music]] that Webern wrote (his other late works include two [[cantata]]s Op. 29/31 and the ''Variations for Orchestra, Op. 30'').

The work was initially planned in November 1936<ref>[[Julian Johnson (academic)|Johnson, Julian]] (1999). {{Google books|F8jM_fWN2k0C|Webern and the Transformation of Nature}}. pp. 197–199. {{ISBN|0-521-66149-8}}.</ref> and was premiered at the Coolidge Festival in [[Pittsfield, Massachusetts]], on September 22, 1938, in response to a commission that year from [[Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge]]. When Webern sent the score of the piece to Coolidge, he accompanied it with a letter saying that the piece was "purely lyrical" and comparing it to the two and three movement [[piano sonata]]s of [[Ludwig van Beethoven]].

It is in three movements:

{{Ordered list|type=upper-roman|
|Mässig (Moderately), [[variation form]].
|Gemächlich (Leisurely), [[ternary form]] (ABA), the outer parts being a four-part [[canon (music)|canon]] with all the notes the same length (fluctuations in [[tempo]] aside).
|Sehr fliessend (Very flowing), a freer movement with numerous changes in texture and mood. In a letter to [[Erwin Stein]], Webern described the middle part of this movement as a [[fugue]].
}}

The string quartet is [[atonality|atonal]] and uses [[twelve-tone technique]]. The [[tone row]] on which the piece is based (B{{music|flat}}, A, C, B, D{{music|sharp}}, E, C{{music|sharp}}, D, G{{music|flat}}, F, A{{music|flat}}, G) is based on the [[BACH motif]] (B{{music|flat}}, A, C, B{{music|natural}}) and is composed of three [[tetrachord]]s:

:<score sound="1">
{
\override Score.TimeSignature
#'stencil = ##f
\override Score.SpacingSpanner.strict-note-spacing = ##t
  \set Score.proportionalNotationDuration = #(ly:make-moment 3/2)
    \relative c'' {
        \time 4/1
        \set Score.tempoHideNote = ##t \tempo 1 = 60
        bes1 a c b!
        dis e cis d
        ges, f aes g
    }
}
</score>

The first four notes of the row are the BACH motif itself, followed by its [[Melodic inversion|inversion]], followed by same motif transposed up a [[interval (music)|minor sixth]]. A special property of this row is that its inversion (G, A{{music|flat}}, F, G{{music|flat}}, D, C{{music|sharp}}, E, D{{music|sharp}}, B, C, A, B{{music|flat}}) is equivalent to its [[Permutation (music)|retrograde]].

The piece was first published in 1939 by [[Boosey & Hawkes]], and was the last of Webern's works to be published in his lifetime. In 1955 another edition appeared from [[Universal Edition]].

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{AllMusic|class=composition|id=mc0002370924|author=John Keillor|title=String Quartet, Op. 28}}
*[http://members.tripod.com/~thechamberplayers/January_Program_Notes.htm Program notes] on the quartet (and other works) by Wayne Shirley

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[[Category:Compositions by Anton Webern]]
[[Category:Compositions for string quartet|Webern]]
[[Category:Music commissioned by Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge]]
[[Category:Twelve-tone compositions]]
[[Category:1938 compositions]]