1936 was the most productive year of Hans Winterberg's career before the catastrophe that struck Czechoslovakia with the annexation of the Sudetenland in 1938 and the rest of Bohemia in 1939 by Nazi Germany. Winterberg lived as a freelance composer in Prague, having found his own style after studying under Alexander von Zemlinsky, and he ventured for the first time into the grand forms of tradition: piano sonata, symphony, and string quartet. Winterberg's first string quartet, the manuscript of which survived the turmoil of war and premiered only in 2024, is 'a masterpiece not only of Czech music but of the entire string quartet repertoire of the 20th century' (Michael Haas) and perhaps his most complex and demanding work from the pre-war period. In terms of interpretative challenges and the specifics of his stylistic approach, it lies at the intersection of the quartets of Janáček and his student Pavel Haas, as well as the quartet compositions of the protagonists of the Second Viennese School. Difficulty level: 4-5.