Among the composers of string quartets who in the second half of the 20th century and at the beginning of the 21st century faced the "memory of the genre" was Rafał Augustyn. The composer's output includes as much as six quartets, the first of which was composed in 1973, during his composition studies in Wrocław, and the last one in 2015. Augustyn's quartets contain both classicist tendencies (String Quartet No. 1, Do ut des for string quartet, Dedication for string quartet and soprano) and references to tradition counterpointed with modern solutions (String Quartet No. 2). Grand jeté. Quartet No. 2 1⁄2 with electronics is a collage of various idioms, quotes, instrumental sounds, and concrete sounds. The piece takes the form of a journey through the capitals of Europe. Augustyn's last quartet – Monadologia. (String Quartet No. 3) freely refers to Leibniz's concept of monads – philosophical atoms. It consists of short compositions joined together by static bridges. When creating this composition, Augustyn was inspired by Webern and Kurtág. Facing the tradition of the genre in the 21st century is an important artistic challenge for the artist. In a paper, I will be presented, on selected examples, how Rafał Augustyn reinterprets the string quartet genre.
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