Giuseppe Verdi composed Aida, a tragic opera in four acts, set in the Old Kingdom of Egypt, and commissioned by Ismail Pasha Khedive of the Cairo’s Khedivial Opera House. The Libretto was written by Antonio Ghistanzoni. It was premiered in Cairo on December 24, 1871, conducted by Giobanni Bottesini. The costumes and accessories were designed by Auguste Mariette, who also oversaw the construction of the stage sets, which was made in Paris by the Opera’s scene painters Auguste-Alfred Rube and Philippe Chaperon, Edouard Desplechin and Jean-Baptiste Lavastre, before they were shipped to Cairo. Today, Aida holds a central place in the operatic canon, receiving performances every year around the world. The New York Metropolitan Opera had performed it over 1,100 times since 1886. 

Three of the best renditions are:
Verdi Aida, Antonio Pappano and Orchestra e Coro dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, with Anja Harteros, Jonas Kaufmann, Ekaterina Semenchuk, Ludovic Tezier, Erwin Schrott, Marco Spotti, Paolo Fanale, and Eleonora Buratto. Label: Warner Classics.

Verdi Aida, Riccardo Muti and New Philharmonia Orchestra and Royal Opera Chorus, with Montserrat Caballe, Placido Domingo, Florenza Cossotto, Piero Cappuccilli, Nicolai Ghiaurov, Luigi Roni, Nicola Marinucci and Esther Casas. Label: Warner Classics.

​Aida Verdi, Sir Georg Solti and Orchestra del Teatro dell’Opera di Roma, with Leontyne Price, Jon Vickers, Rota Gorr, Robert Merrill, Plinio Clabassi, Giorgio Tozzi, Franco Ricciardi, and Mietta Sighiele. Label: Decca.

Reference: (2024), The Story Behind the Opera “Aida” by Guiseppe Verdi, Galaxy Music Notes.
https://galaxymusicnotes.com/pages/the-story-behind-the-opera-aida-by-guiseppe-verdi

Franz Schubert composed this string quartet in 1824, after he discovered that he was dying from a serious illness, in poverty and depression. The somber title is derived from a song he wrote in 1817 of the same title, based on a poem by Matthias Claudius, and is the theme for the second movement in this four movements quartet. The string quartet was first performed at the Vienna home of Karl and Franz Hacker, amateur violinists with Schubert on the viola in 1826. It remained unpublished, until three years after Schubert’s death. 

These are albums for you:
Schubert Death and the Maiden, Takacs Quartet. Label: Hyperion.

​Schubert Death and the Maiden, String Quintet in C major, Pavel Haas Quartet. Label: Supraphon.

Schubert Der Tod und das Madchen, Jerusalem Quartet. Label: Harmonia Mundi.

​Schubert String Quartets No. 14 & No. 9, Chiaroscuro Quartet. Label: BIS.

​Reference: Christiansen, K., (2024), Franz Schubert String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D 810 ‘Death and the Maiden,’ Earsense. https://www.earsense.org/chamber-music/Franz-Schubert-String-Quartet-No-14-in-d-minor-D-810-Death-and-the-Maiden/

Joseph Haydn composed his last six string quartets, Op. 76, between 1798 and 1798, dedicating them to the Hungarian Count Joseph Georg von Erdody. Haydn was then employed at the court of Prince Nicolaus Esterhazy II. These six quartets were Haydn’s most ambitious chamber works. Charles Burney, a music historian and composer, commented that “… they are full of invention, fire, good taste, and new effects, and one of highly-cultivated talents, who had expended none of his fire before.” The four movements String Quartet No. 62 was nicknamed ‘Emporer’ or ‘Kaiser’ due largely to its second movement’s variations on ‘Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser’ (God save Emperor Francis). This anthem was written for Emperor Francis II, which later became the national anthem of Austria-Hungary, and is the melody in the German national anthem, the Deutschlandlied, during the Weimarer Republik era.

These are four albums to listen to:
Haydn The Complete String Quartets, The Angeles String Quartet. Label: Philips.

Joseph Haydn String Quartets Op. 76 Nos. 1 – 3, Chiaroscuro Quartet. Label: BIS.

Haydn String Quartets Op. 76 Nos 1 – 3, The Lindsays. Label: ASV.

​The Teldec Recordings, Alban Berg Quartett. Label: Teldec.

Reference: Lotha, G., Gorlinski, G & Schwarm, B., (2019, August 2019), Emperor Quartet Work by Haydn, Britannica. ​https://www.britannica.com/topic/Emperor-Quartet

Ludwig van Beethoven wrote 16 quartets in all. He completed his favourite, the penultimate quartet of 7 movements, lasting about 40 minutes, String Quartet No. 14, in 1826. Beethoven dedicated it to Baron Joseph von Stutterheim, as a gesture of gratitude for taking his nephew, Karl, into the army, after the latter’s suicide attempt. Schumann extolled “the grandeur ….. of human art and imagination” in the composition of this piece of music. And Schubert requested that it be played to him during the final days of his illness. Beethoven passed on before this work was published. Part of the String Quartet was featured in the movies “A Late Quartet” and “Band of Brothers.” 

These are four albums to start with:
Beethoven Complete String Quartets, Quartetto Italiano. Label: Decca.

Beethoven Complete String Quartets, Takacs Quartet. Label: Decca.

Beethoven Around the World, Quatuor Ebene. Label: Erato.

Beethoven The Late Quartets, Calidore String Quartet. Label: Signum Classics.

Reference: Henken, J., (2024), String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131. LA Phil.
https://www.laphil.com/musicdb/pieces/3698/string-quartet-no-14-in-c-sharp-minor-op-131