ANOTHER MASTERPIECE!

STRING SEXTET No.1 Op. 18


The String Sextet No. 1 in B-flat major, was composed in 1860 by Johannes Brahms. It was published in 1862 by the firm of Fritz Simrock.
The sextet is scored for two violins, two violas, and two cellos.
The sextet has four movements:
- I. Allegro ma non troppo, in 3/4 time.
- II. Andante, ma moderato, in D minor and 2/4 time (and in variation form).
- III. Scherzo: Allegro molto (3/4, in F major, with a central, Animato trio section).
- IV. Rondo: Poco Allegretto e grazioso, in 2/4.


There are earlier examples by Luigi Boccherini about string Sextets. Between the time of Brahms and Boccherini, there weren't written many pieces for musical ensembles without piano. 
But the decades following the examples of Brahms, a number of composers like Antonín Dvořák, Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky,  Joachim Raff,  Max Reger and  Arnold Schoenberg, all wrote string sextets.


There is one good perfomance of the 2nd mov:
II. Andante ma moderato.