The String Quartet No. 3 in B flat major, Op. 67, was composed by Johannes Brahms in the summer of 1875 and published by the firm of Fritz Simrock. It received its premiere performance on October 30, 1876 in Berlin.The work is scored for two violins, viola, and cello, and has four movements:
 |
| Johannes Brahms (Photo credit: pixelschubser.de) |
I. Vivace
II. Andante
III. Agitato (Allegretto non troppo) - Trio - Coda
IV. Poco Allegretto con Variazioni
Brahms composed the work in Ziegelhausen, near Heidelberg, and dedicated it to Professor Theodor Wilhelm Engelmann, an amateur cellist who had hosted Brahms on a visit to Utrecht. Brahms was at the time the artistic director of the Vienna Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde.The work is light-hearted and cheerful, "a useless trifle," as he put it, "to avoid facing the serious countenance of a symphony".
Takács Quartet
Edward Dusinberre, first violin
Károly Schranz, second violin
Geraldine Walther, viola
András Fejér, cello.
