The String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18, No. 1, was written by Ludwig van Beethoven between 1798 and 1800, published in 1801, dedicated to the Bohemian aristocrat Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz. It is actually the second string quartet that Beethoven composed.

The quartet consists of four movements:

Allegro con brio (F major)
Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato (D minor)
Scherzo: Allegro molto (F major)
Allegro (F major)

According to Karl Amenda, Beethoven's friend, the second movement was inspired by the tomb scene from William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. The quartet was heavily revised between the version that Amenda first received and the one that was sent to the publisher a year later, including changing the second movement's marking from Adagio molto to the more specific Adagio affettuoso ed appassionato. Of these modifications, Beethoven wrote: "Be sure not to hand on to anybody your quartet, in which I have made some drastic alterations. For only now have I learnt to write quartets; and this you will notice, I fancy, when you receive them."[1]

The theme of the finale is almost directly borrowed from the finale of his earlier string trio, Op. 9, No. 3 in C minor; the themes are very closely related. The principal theme of the first movement echoes that of Mozart's Violin Sonata No. 32 K. 454 (1784) and Haydn's 1787 Opus 50, No. 1 quartet.[2]

Beethoven String Quartet No. 1 In F Major, Op. 18, No. 1

The collaboratively written “Dolphin Miniatures” for String Quartet was conceived from musical musings on the Dolphins’ cherished memories from their time in Blue Hill, Maine - the birthplace of the Dolphins. Although it is a string quartet, it occasionally turns to the unlikely percussion instruments of wooden frog and cowbell.

Dolphin Miniatures - Maloney, Preucil, Henderson
I. Open Waters
II. Blueberry Soda
III. Rainy Sunday
IV. Infested Garden
V. Under the Light of the Stars
VI. Sinking Sandal
VII. Old Farmer John

Performed live by The Dolphins Quartet in The Wilson Theatre at The Juilliard School
Friday, April 29th, 2023

Dolphins Miniatures for String Quartet

Dolphin Miniatures for String Quartet (2023)

Morse Hall - The Juilliard School
November 6, 2022

The Dolphins:
Luke Henderson, Isaac Park, James Preucil, Ian Maloney

String Quartet No. 5 (1931) - Heitor Villa-Lobos
I. Poco andantino
II. Vivo e energico
III. Andantino – tempo giusto e ben ritmato
IV. Allegro

String Quartet No. 5

Villa Lobos String Quartet No. 5

Paul Hall - The Juilliard School
February 8, 2023

The Dolphins:
Luke Henderson, Isaac Park, James Preucil, Ian Maloney

String Quartet (1995) - John Corigliano
I. Prelude
II. Scherzo
III. Nocturne
IV. Fugue
V. Postlude

Corigliano String Quartet (1995)

The Dolphins Quartet is an award winning string quartet currently studying at The Juilliard School in New York City.

The Dolphins Quartet

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