This quartet was completed in 1918 and combines the idioms of the late-Romantic and French Impressionist era. It is not actually his first string quartet as he began writing quartets at the age of eight. (The first one he said was based on a Czech poem called The Three Horsemen.) The quartet is in four movements: Moderato—Allegro ma non troppo, Andante moderato; Allegro non troppo, and Allegro con brio. One can clearly hear the influence of Debussy and Ravel and structurally, he follows César Franck’s cyclic format. Tonally it can perhaps be considered in the key of e flat minor, but it goes through many different keys as well as tempi changes.
Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959) was born in the Czech town of Polička. He studied violin briefly at the Prague Conservatory but was expelled for failure to diligently pursue his studies and from then on studied privately. During WWI, he worked as a teacher and then served as a violinist in the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra. In 1923 he emigrated to Paris and became a pupil of Albert Roussel. When France was invaded by Germany he emigrated to the United States, settling in New York where he continued composing and taught at the Mannes College of Music. Among his many students was Alan Hovhaness. In 1953 Martinů returned to Europe.
