Savannah Music Festival LIVE 603 – Miami String Quartet

Some historians believe that the origins of the string quartet can be traced back to the Baroque trio sonata, in which two solo instruments performed with a continuo section consisting of a bass instrument and a keyboard. Others suggest that the widespread practice of playing works written for string orchestra with just four players, covering the bass part with cello alone, helped formulate the idea of the string quartet. But everyone agrees that the string quartet rose to prominence through the work of Joseph Haydn, and that ever since, the string quartet has been prestigious, and considered a true test of a composer’s art. In this program, we listen to string quartets by Haydn, Mozart and Mendelssohn, performed by the Miami String Quartet at the 2013 Savannah Music Festival.