Opus number: 1
Title: Novelette for String Quartet
Instrumentation: two violins, viola, cello; also in a version arranged in 1994 for string orchestra
Date written: 1970, East Carolina University, Greenville, North Carolina
Length: four minutes
Premiere performance: Cavatina String Quartet, April 17, 1980, Martha Simonds, Mineko Yajima, violins, Judith Lack, viola, Robie Brown Dan, cello, Paul Hall, The Juilliard School
Important subsequent performances: Bennington Chamber Music Conference and Composers Forum of the East, August 1, 1992, Joseph Schor, Joel Berman, violins, Jacob Glick, viola, Michael Finckel, cello
Program notes: “Novelette” for String Quartet was written in 1970 when the composer was an eighteen-year-old freshman student of Gregory Kosteck at East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina. It remained unperformed for ten years. The work is essentially in three parts with an introduction and is designed for string players with limited technical ability. This four-minute piece is straightforwardly triadic and is meant to entertain.
