Janacek Quartet No. 1

Chantel Charis, violin
Carolyn Van De Velde, violin
Kayla Patrick, viola
Aaron Fried, cello

Leoš Janáček - String Quartet No. 1 “The Kreutzer Sonata”
The nickname “The Kreutzer Sonata” stems from the inspiration of the piece, Leo Tolstoy’s short story of the same name. In this story, the narrator begins a long journey via train, and he nds himself in conversation with a distraught man who recounts the events in his troubled marriage and his wife’s alleged a air with a violinist. At the crux of this story, which he tells through the night, the man’s wife and the irtatious violinist perform Beethoven’s Violin Sonata No. 9, “The Kreutzer Sonata”. From this point on, the husband’s suspicions turn to jealous rage, which leads the man to murder his own wife. Janàček was inspired by the extreme emotions conveyed in this story, and how quickly the tone shifts from one emotion to another. This is re ected throughout this piece, and one might also hear the momentum of the train throughout each movement.
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