String Quartet F Major

Description

With the movements following the sequence allegro moderato, scherzo allegro, andante cantabile, allegretto finale, the slow movement is the third. It is an extended variation movement modelled on a cantus firmus variation in the style of the 14th century Ars nova.
The fact that Mayer, whose compositions were usually classically oriented, draws on the 14th century in formal terms gives this string quartet an experimental character. For the first violin in particular, the variation movement is more technically demanding than the other movements