International Mendelssohn Festival

Masters of chamber music

Sergei Rachmaninov and Robert Schumann lie worlds apart, but they share the status of two of the greatest piano composers of all time; they both started by writing wonderful piano music before going on to produce great melodies in other chamber-music genres. Rachmaninov developed a talent for this at a very early age, composing his First String Quartet in G minor when he was only 17. Schumann for his part hadn’t turned 32 when he wrote his String Quartet No. 1 in A minor. He was inspired by Mendelssohn, to whom he dedicated the final version »in deep admiration«.