Pichl String Quartet published
July 23, 2013
The first in a series of three string quartets by Václav Pichl, edited by Christopher, has just been published by Edition HH: String Quartet in A major, Op. 13/1. The other two quartets are due to be issued in
the next few months.
Czech-born
composer Václav Pichl (1741–1805) spent much of his working life in
Vienna, where the Empress Maria Theresa preferred him to Mozart. His
compositions were performed at Eszterhaza by Haydn, who had a set of
Pichl's "new quartets" copied in 1780 (he wrote over 30 quartets in
all).
Op. 13, the present set of stylish and skilfully contrasted works, were dedicated to Dittersdorf, one of his early employers. They exploit all four instruments equally (even the viola is allocated elaborate solo passages) and offer an attractive alternative to the standard Viennese works of this period.