When we think of the string quartet as a type of chamber music and some composers who have written in this genre, the names of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven immediately come to mind. There were other composers of quartets, too, in fact the rage for string quartets was so great during the middle and late 18th century, that nearly every composer wrote at least a dozen, and some, like Boccherini, wrote over a hundred. So great was the demand for quartets that operas, symphonies and piano sonatas were arranged for the string quartet.

In the early 19th century, the public continued to clamor for quartets and composers did their best to satisfy that need. Even Donizetti succumbed to the quartet fever, and wrote sixteen of them (several, in fact, are of considerable merit and worthy of performance--excluding the two that have already been recorded), Rossini wrote six (his though, are for two violins, cello and bass, not for the traditional two violins, viola and cello), and Onslow wrote thirty-six.

The greatest consumers of string quartets during the late 18th and early 19th century were the middle-class and minor nobility, many of whom were excellent performers (and composers), who had studied with Beethoven, Salieri, Cherubini and other well-known composers. For this reason many of the quartets and chamber music of the "minor masters" such as J. C. Bach, Giordani Saint­Georges are in two and three movements-­because it was believed the attention-span of the dilettanti was not as great as that of the nobility and "professori" --instead of four such as were found in the more serious works of Mozart, for example.

Frequently these two and three movement quartets were dedicated to a wealthy amateur, one finds, for example, dedications to Lord Abingdon (an excellent flute player) by J. C. Bach, Haydn and Giordani, and to "Monseigneur le Prince de Robecq'' (Montmorency)--also an amateur musician--by Saint-Georges.

Saint Georges was a mulatto (like Beethoven's friend, the composer/violinist George Bridgetower), who was born on the land of Guadalupe in 1739, but educated in Paris. He was a virtuoso on the violin, but given to performing all manner of (unspecified) theatrics during his performances, which caused him to be regarded as something of an eccentric. During his varied career as composer­violinist-political spy and leader of a regiment he raised in the cause of the French Revolution, he amassed a considerable fortune. He was falsely accused of squandering his troops' money, for which he was relieved of his command and jailed. When he was freed he went to Santo Domingo to help the slaves in their revolt against the French, and returned to Paris in 1797, where he died penniless in 1799.

Saint Georges wrote in all the musical style of the time, including sonatas, quartets, symphonies and an opera. His music is generally fast moving, tuneful and uncomplex. His string quartets were composed in 1777 and like similar works by Giordani, Giardini, Abel and J. C. Bach, they are tuneful, and easy to play; the kind of music that was challenging to the amateur without being too difficult, and pleasing to the listener. In their own way Saint-Georges' string quartets reflect the musical climate of the homes of the French aristocracy, and also helped to build a tradition of amateur music-making which reached its peak a hundred years later.