4.6: The Symphony and String Quartet- Four Movement Cycles

String Quartets and the Symphony: Four Movement Cycles

The most significant musical genres that came out of the Classical Era were the Symphony and String Quartet. Both genres are constructed in similar ways, but the difference between them lies in how large the ensemble is. The Symphony is a 4-movement work (also called a 4-movement cycle) for an orchestra, while a String Quartet is a 4-movement work for a string quartet. In other words, the term string quartet refers to the actual 4-movement piece of music and the name of the 4-person ensemble playing it!

Remember that in a string quartet, each player is a soloist -- they're the only person playing their part. In an orchestra, string players play as a group, while the wind players and brass and percussionists are all soloists.

In the previous page, you heard a movement from one of Haydn's more famous string quartets. Unlike Mozart's "Twinkle Twinkle" variations, Haydn's variations were a single movement of a larger 4-movement string quartet. This is because both the symphony and string quartet are both comprised of 4 different pieces of music, each called a movement.

The notion of compiling multiple movements together and unifying them within a single piece predates the Classical Era; composers had been doing it for centuries. Here, however, the organization of each movement is very rigid---there's certainly room for creative liberties, but composers essentially modeled their 4-movement work in similar formats.

Take a look at the handout below. You can see how there are 4 movements in a symphony or quartet. Each movement has their own tempo (or speed), and is organized in its own form.

While the 1st, 3rd, and 4th movement are typically in the same key (the tonic or home key), the 2nd movement is usually in a different key. It's also the only slow movement. Recall Haydn's "Emperor" variations---it was a slow movement, which should automatically tell you that it was the second movement of his quartet. Lastly, the 2nd movement does not have a prescribed form for it! The 2nd movement may be written in any type of form that the composer wants. As long as the movement is slow, 2nd movements may be in any form the composer desires!

Watch the first 6 minutes of this video. It describes in more detail the 4-movement structure of the Symphony and Quartet. The next three pages will discuss the other movements of the cycle. Rather than going in order of "Movements 1, 3, and 4," you'll read about Ternary Form of the 3rd movement, Rondo form of the 4th movement, and Sonata Form of the 1st movement. This is done because Ternary form is the easiest to understand --- Rondo is a little more complicated, and Sonata is by far, the most complex.