Arnold. The vocal line was originally sung by Rose Bampton in its premiere in Curtis Hall and recorded in this form, but as the composer was dissatisfied with the work's dramatic impact given the male personage of the text, Samuel Barber chose to sing it himself for its recording in 1935. An earlier piece, the Serenade, was also written for the Curtis String Quartet, though it fell quickly from the composer's favor and is rarely played today. The Curtis Quartet The Curtis String Quartet was a pioneer in its time and earned great acclaim: as the foremost string quartet in America during the prewar years; the first touring quartet to be trained entirely in the United States; and as the first American quartet to tour Europe, including a command performance before Mary of Teck, Queen Consort of George V of the United Kingdom. The ensemble undertook two extensive and triumphant tours of the United Kingdom and the European continent during the seasons 1936-37 and 1937–38, and were scheduled to continue the same until the outbreak of World War II. At a time when gramophone recordings were still a rarity and chamber music had not yet taken hold in the United States, the Curtis String Quartet served as ambassadors, giving over 5000 concerts in its career and often presenting the first quartet performances heard by the communities in which they played. Before disbanding in 1981 due to the death of Max Aronoff, the founding nucleus of Brodsky, Aronoff, and Cole remained intact. The quartet was formalized in 1932 with members Jascha Brodsky, Benjamin Sharlip, Max Aronoff, and Cole, but shortly after, Sharlip resigned and they engaged Charles Jaffe as their second violinist; it was with him that they achieved many of the aforementioned milestones. Cole's primary instrument, the 1739 'Sleeping Beauty' by Domenico Montagnana, was a gift to him which had been purchased for $17,000 in 1952. It was with this instrument that the Curtis String Quartet's best known recordings for Westminster Records were made, among them Dvořák's American Quartet and Smetana's Quartet in E Minor From My Life; Mendelssohn quartets, opp. 12 and 44, no. 1; Schumann quartets, op. 41, nos. 1 and 3; Debussy and Ravel quartets; the Franck Piano Quintet; and two works of Ernő Dohnányi, the Quartet in Db-Major, and the Piano Quintet No. 2. In the two works with piano, the Curtis String Quartet was joined