Book contents
- Elizabeth Maconchy in Context
- Composers in Context
- Elizabeth Maconchy in Context
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Editors’ Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Permissions and Publications
- Bibliographic and In-Text Abbreviations
- Part IEnvironments
- Part IIIntersections
- Part IIIWorks and Legacy
- Chapter 22Elizabeth Maconchy’s Genres in Context
- Chapter 23‘Vital Aspects of the Complete Composer’
- Chapter 24Place and Genre in Maconchy’s Choral Music
- Chapter 25Maconchy and Song
- Chapter 26Operatic Transformations
- Chapter 27Elizabeth Maconchy’s Operas for Children
- Chapter 28Counterpoints and Arguments in Maconchy’s String Quartets
- Chapter 29The Orchestral Music
- Chapter 30Maconchy’s Chamber Music
- Chapter 31Feeling the Fever
- Chapter 32Curating my Mother’s Legacy
- Coda
- Bibliography
- Index
Chapter 28 - Counterpoints and Arguments in Maconchy’s String Quartets
Developmental Phases
from Part III - Works and Legacy
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 April 2026
Book contents
- Elizabeth Maconchy in Context
- Composers in Context
- Elizabeth Maconchy in Context
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Figures
- Tables
- Notes on Contributors
- Editors’ Preface
- Acknowledgements
- Permissions and Publications
- Bibliographic and In-Text Abbreviations
- Part IEnvironments
- Part IIIntersections
- Part IIIWorks and Legacy
- Chapter 22Elizabeth Maconchy’s Genres in Context
- Chapter 23‘Vital Aspects of the Complete Composer’
- Chapter 24Place and Genre in Maconchy’s Choral Music
- Chapter 25Maconchy and Song
- Chapter 26Operatic Transformations
- Chapter 27Elizabeth Maconchy’s Operas for Children
- Chapter 28Counterpoints and Arguments in Maconchy’s String Quartets
- Chapter 29The Orchestral Music
- Chapter 30Maconchy’s Chamber Music
- Chapter 31Feeling the Fever
- Chapter 32Curating my Mother’s Legacy
- Coda
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Maconchy made one of the most significant contributions to the string quartet by a British twentieth-century composer and always regarded her thirteen quartets as being the pulsing heart of her ‘impassioned argument’ artistry. Why was Maconchy so drawn to the string quartet, and in what ways did she stretch the medium to new heights?
Rhiannon Mathias reveals how Maconchy’s early encounters with the music of Vaughan Williams, Bartók and Janáček helped her to forge her own original and distinctive compositional voice and examines the new frontiers that she explored in her string quartets.
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- Elizabeth Maconchy in Context , pp. 278 - 284Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2026
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