This is a long list of what could easily be called the 'masterpieces' of the string quartet literature. On one hand, this exercise is to familiarize you with the sounds of the ensemble, and the corpus of works within which any new string quartet will be in dialogue.

More importantly, though, this is an exercise to get you into some habits of engaged listening, to working through the multiple layers by which the works might be interpreted: the domain of technics (𝜏); of affective decisions and receptions (ε), the embrace of particular topics (T) framed both by practitioners and devotees; the historical context in which they first came to be (𝜿); and the way(s) in which the work and its 𝜿, ε, 𝜏, T are framed in the Now (Ⱶ).

So, I would like you to make a brief entry on each of these factors: as you listen.

• 𝜿 : a summary of the history

• T : if the work is 'about' or 'around' something, name it and describe the relationship.

• ε : your initial take on the 'mood' or affect

• 𝜏 : interesting technical features that you notice

• Ⱶ : anything you have uncovered regarding how people fit the work into the big context of 'string quartets', 'classical music', and 'music'.

At this point, this is simply a listening diary, but it will be more powerful as it becomes the first in a longer step of study, through comparison (dialectical thinking), deeper internal analysis (elenctic thinking), and deeper contextual work (emplotment and hermeneutics). But that's for later on.

(We will discuss methods for this in our lesson.)