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The Art of String Quartet Playing: Practice, Technique, and Interpretation

by M. Herter Norton

A practical guide to quartet rehearsal and interpretation

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Awards & Recognition

  • Critical praise

    Praised by The New York Times

    A favorable review praises the book’s practical advice, explanations, and musical examples.

AlbakiReads Editorial

A practical guide to quartet rehearsal and interpretation

M. Herter Norton’s guide addresses the practical decisions that shape string-quartet playing, from seating and music stands to questions of tempo, dynamics, and the balance between inner voices and the leading line. It connects these details to repertoire ranging from Haydn to modern composers, using specific musical examples; the description notes 132 quotations in full score. The book’s scope makes chamber music both a matter of ensemble logistics and of interpreting how musical parts relate to one another. This is a revised version of a work first published in 1925, with the revision prepared in 1961–62.

Good fit for readers who enjoy

  • String-quartet players seeking guidance on practice and ensemble decisions
  • Amateur and professional chamber musicians interested in interpretation
  • Readers who benefit from musical examples presented in full score

Themes

String-quartet techniqueChamber-music practiceMusical interpretationEnsemble balance and leadership

Based on publisher information and book metadata.

Book overview

For the rapidly growing thousands (both amateur and professional) who find the deepest satisfaction of life in playing chamber music, this is the only practical and authoritative guide.

Beginning with such elementary problems as who should sit where, what kind of music stands to use, etc., it goes on to such puzzlers as just how loud forte is, how fast an allegro, how and when an inner voice takes over the lead, and similar problems in the works of composers from Haydn to the moderns.

Every musical point is illustrated with specific examples, and there are 132 musical quotations in full score.

The idea for writing this book was evolved while Ms. Norton was training with Louis Svecenski of the Kneisel Quartet, and the manuscript was carefully gone over and heartily endorsed by Franz Kneisel, leader of the Quartet which set the highest standards of this art in the United States. The dedication of the book to members of the Quartet, three of whom had been the author's teachers, was inevitable. An earlier version of the manuscript was brought out by Carl Fischer in 1925; the present revised version was prepared in 1961-2.

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