String quartet in the aspect of genre tradition: «stable» and «mobile» principles in the evolution of the genre

Abstract

The article is devoted to generalization and systematization of the methodological principles within this genre, as one of the most stable in the system of chamber-instrumental music. The author of the article emphasizes that the nature of the string quartet is revealed at the intersection of the global categories of the genre and style in music, which are adapted through the corresponding traditions. The latter within themselves are differentiated into historical, which are inherent in different schools, as well as «personal» – peculiar to a particular author. The article outlines the general and special features of how each of them projects within the genre of quartet. It is noted that the historical aspect means the crystallization of the mono- timbral set of four bowed string instruments, which gradually emerged from the baroque «style of symphonies» and gained the status of stability during the period of Classicism. The national-style features of quartet principles become especially noticeable in a romantic age, which moves away from the classical interpretations of the genre. Finally, the genre tradition of the quartet is always seen at the individual level, particularly, within the quartet styles of the «Modern Time» masters, where there are a variety of quartet models – up to free, experimental, and «liberal genre» ones. It is for the first time in the national musicology that a generalized classification of the string quartet genre features is suggested; within the classification, the dialectical ratio of stable and mobile factors is highlighted and emphasized. It was also noted that the predominance of the former does not contradict the pluralism in the interpretations of the string quartet genre by the authors of different eras and schools, where in diachrony and synchrony the various figurative semantic and technological innovations are synthesized and mixed together.