String Quartet No. 9 (Simpson)
The String Quartet No. 9 by Robert Simpson was written in response to a commission by the Delme Quartet in 1982 to mark their 20th anniversary, one which coincided with the 250th anniversary of the birth of Joseph Haydn. Simpson was among five British composers to write works to mark this dual occasion, producing a very large set of variations on a Haydn theme, a work of some fifty-seven minutes in duration. Its first performance was given in the Wigmore Hall in London on 6 October 1982. Structure The String Quartet No. 9 consists of thirty-two variations on a theme from the minuet from Joseph Haydn's Symphony No. 47 in G, followed by a large scale fugue. An aspect of this theme worth noting is that it is a palindrome – the second half of it is the first half played backwards. Each of Simpson's thirty-two variations on this theme is also palindromic. There is also an overall tonal plan – the theme is in G, and so are the first fourteen variations. Variations XV to XIX descend in pitch by tones – F, E flat, D flat, B, A – regaining the original G for variations XX to XXII.