Frank Bridge : the string quartets.

This study traces the stylistic development of the string
quartets. The opening chapter shows the way that his personal idiom
emerged in the earliest works. It also explains the analytical
approach that has been used. The concept of symmetrical orderings
fusing separate elements has been evident in music from all stages of
Bridge's output. Overall tonal relationships have linked with inner
tonal relationships as well as thematic ideas and chord structures.
In addition, symmetry has drawn together the two aspects of Bridge's
language, the traditional and the radical, and shown how the way that
they are balanced is subtly changed in the course of his development
as a composer.
The music is explained from two approaches to symmetry, linear
and circular. The ascending chromatic scale can be divided
symmetrically by a number of intervals, notably seconds and thirds and
tritones. Symmetrical orderings of two or more of these intervals are
commonly found. The twelve semitones can also be arranged as a circle
of fifths and it is this that has been most significant to the study.
By adding tonal definition to these pitches, the circle of fifths
explains this aspect of the music and also how certain pitches are
interchangeable with one another. Therefore, the circle of fifths has
also been a useful tool in explaining Bridge's concept of extended
tonality.
The main part of the study discusses the second and third
quartets in depth as they represent the peak of Bridge's creative
output and are at the centre of important stylistic changes. The
final chapter briefly shows the way that his language continued to
develop in the abandoned work and the fourth, and last. quartet.