Dr. Biegel's
First (Last?) String Quartet

"Minuet in G, Opus 0"

 

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About 40 years ago (i.e., sometime around 1970), this piece began to play in my mind.  I was, at that time, at Cornell University, majoring in biology, but taking every music theory, composition and orchestration class available.

I have no idea where the piece came from, or why it chose my mind to play in.  A gift from the LORD, perhaps?

Until now I never wrote it down, I just kept it in mind (actually it kept itself in my mind).

The real title of this piece is "Throwaway #1", because, stylistically, it lies somewhere between the periods of Bach and Mozart, and no one is interested in that music anymore - no one, that is, except, those interested in Bach and Mozart themselves, and they'll have little use for "neo" string quartet music.

Nevertheless, it seems to me to be such a perfect example of a certain style of classical music that I would be remiss if I didn't record it.  So here it is: "Throwaway #1", my first, and probably last string quartet.  You could dance a Minuet to it, but I don't think anyone does that anymore either.