GERALD MANNING

STRING QUARTET NO.3 in G minor, Op. 35

In the executive forms of musical performance, arguably, one of the most exacting and difficult forms is that of the string quartet; the reason being that each of the four voices must exercise the faculty of thinking �chamber-musically�. Compared with solo playing the disciplines and demands required of the players� are significantly different which may account for the fact, (with the exception of Joachim who excelled in both disciplines), that few of the great virtuosi on those instruments seem to excel in the genre. The great composers of chamber music were no exception, being pianists their performances were conspicuous by their absence in the genre; Spohr, himself an accomplished violinist on the other hand, composed a great quantity of chamber music and was an enthusiastic quartet player, however his string quartets were heavily criticized and his contemporaries often referred to them as little more than violin solos with three accompanying parts. However the work is in four movements and the inspiration for the second movement came from the 21 pieces for 5 viols and lute by the English composer John Dowland who published them in 1604, in which 7 pavans are entitled Lachrimae; each of which begins with the theme of Dowlands song ’Flow my tears’.