Quartets by Villa Medici residents

Once they were at the Villa Medici, the resident composers had to produce works. These 'consignments from Rome' complied with very precise instructions that evolved during the nineteenth century. Although some artists were already writing string quartets in the 1810s (such as Hérold in 1814), the genre did not become compulsory until 1894. Henri Rabaud (in 1895) and Max d’Ollone (in 1898) were among the first composers to submit to the new rule, albeit reluctantly: 'All I need is for someone to ask me for a quartet for me to have ideas for a symphony, an opera, a chorus – anything but a quartet' (Rabaud).