# String Quartet fugues



## Llyranor

I'm currently listening to the Emerson Quartet playing Bach's Art of Fugue, as well some transcriptions of some of his Well-Tempered Clavier. Now I must have more!

Please introduce me to fugues within string quartets (I already adore the Grosse Fugue). I'll take transcriptions too!


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## Actor

Heres a good link to a website with Fugues by Bach:

http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/tas3/bachindex.html

Enjoy, Actor


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## SeptimalTritone

Well, Beethoven op 131 starts with a fugue, but I'm sure you knew that already.

If you're looking for fugues in string quartets in general, I highly recommend Haydn. Even with just the op 20, there are like two final movements in that set of string quartets that are fugues (not the usual sonata form or sonata-rondo form). I'm actually going through Haydn's string quartets atm myself, and the op 20 and op 76 are both very good sets.


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## EdwardBast

The first movement of Shostakovich's Quartet 14 has a fugue in it. And if you don't mind the addition of piano, his Piano Quintet has one too.


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## KenOC

The last movement of Beethoven's 3rd Rasumovsky Quartet (Op. 59 No. 3) is one of the most rip-roaring fugues every written. Well, it's not entirely a fugue, but hey, who's counting?


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## hpowders

Check out F.J. Haydn's Sun Quartets, opus 20. Three brilliant fugues conclude each of the string quartets: #2 in C Major; string quartet #5 in f minor and the string quartet #6 in A Major.


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## satoru

Hi Llyranor,

For some rare fugues for string quartet (and some popular), try "Magia Fugi: The Magic of Fugue" by the Silesian String Quartet. More than half of the album (if not the whole) is available on YouTube.

Grieg: 



Sibelius: 



Glazunov: 



Rimsky-Korsakov: 



Liadov: 



Beethoven (after Bach): 



Mendelssohn: 



Beethoven (Op 137): 



Čiurlionis: 




Enjoy!


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## Chordalrock

There's an interesting fugue in Mozart's string quartet no. 13 in D minor (k. 173), specifically the whole last movement.


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## KenOC

Well, close: Mozart, Six Preludes and Fugues for String Trio, K.404a. After JS and WF Bach.


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## hpowders

I'm too lazy to look back to see if it was mentioned, but there's also the final section of the C Major Beethoven Razumovsky opus 59, #3 quartet. I've had quite enough of it, but I'm sure others here will worship it.


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## hpowders

There's also the beautiful Fugue in E Flat Major, Opus 81, No. 4 written by the 17 year old Mendelssohn for string quartet.


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## satoru

hpowders said:


> There's also the beautiful Fugue in E Flat Major, Opus 81, No. 4 written by the 17 year old Mendelssohn for string quartet.


That the piece in the YouTube list I posted above! Indeed, it's a very nice piece 
Highly recommended.


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## Alypius

hpowders said:


> Check out F.J. Haydn's Sun Quartets, opus 20. Three brilliant fugues conclude each of the string quartets: #2 in C Major; string quartet #5 in f minor and the string quartet #6 in A Major.


Let me second hp's recommendation. Haydn's op. 20 quartets are among my favorites in the whole string quartet repertoire.

Here's a comment on them from the _Gramophone Guide to Classical Music 2010_, pp. 555-556:



> "The Op 20 String Quartets date from the composer's so-called Sturm und Drang period, though Haydn's increasingly frequent use of the more dramatic and 'serious' minor mode in these pieces can perhaps be attributed just as much to the fruitful influence of the three operatic projects he had been working on just a few years previously. Moreover, these quartets reveal a greater preoccupation with counterpoint than any of his music to that date, and the great fugal finales of Nos 2, 5 and 6 clearly herald the consummate craftsman so overwhelmingly displayed in the mature quartets to come."


The two best performances I've heard of these are from the Quatuor Mosaiques (available alone and also within a larger box set) and from the London Haydn Quartet.


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## HaydnBearstheClock

I have the London Haydn Quartet's Op. 20 - excellent record .


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## Llyranor

Thanks for the recommendations! Going to get through these slowly. Turns out I actually already have some of these recordings lying around, namely Haydn Op20 + 76, Beethoven's 59/3, and all of Sibelius' SQ work. I should starting up Mendelssohn's chamber works some more as well. I quite enjoy his 1st 2 quartets, but haven't dug further yet.


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## Bluecrab

Try Bartok's Quartet 1. The melodic figure that opens the first movement on the two violins evolves into a fugue a handful of measures later as the cello and viola enter. Following a somewhat turbulent passage, the fugue figure is reprised, beginning in measure 53, an octave higher on the violins. It's a beautiful movement.


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## hpowders

^^^Yeah. That's one of my favorite passages in Bartok. I love the entire first movement.


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