String Quartets Book 2 - Op.16 Nos 1-6 (Full Score)

Vranicky String Quartets Book 2 - Op.16 Nos 1-6 (Full Score)

Although the works of the Czech composer Pavel Vranický (1756–1808) still await their evaluation, it is possible to acknowledge the man a place of importance in the history of music.  Apart from a number of operatic pieces, the composer’s instrumental works are especially noteworthy, and most of them survive to this day.  Vranický is the author of 51 symphonies, 5 concertos, and a large number of chamber music pieces (he wrote more than 80 string quartets).

The second volume of Vranický’s string quartets published within the Musica Antiqua Bohemica series contains six quartets Op.16.  The composer’s development in the field of quartet writing was, it seems, to some degree dependant on and influenced by Haydn’s quartets.  Similar to Haydn, Vranický’s compositions evolve from pre-Classicist figures to the developed sonata cycle form of Late Classicism.

A detailed characterisation of the quartets is included in the Preface by Olga Zuckerová and in the Editor’s Notes by Stanislav Ondrácek.