Quartet for Clarinet, French Horn, Violoncello and Snare Drum [H 139], by Bohuslav Martinů (1890–1959), came into existence in the spring of 1924, thus being one of the first documents of the turning which occurred both in life and production of the Czech master after his arrival in Paris. In the autumn of 1923, he namely come there to study with Albert Roussel. It was, however, the musical Paris of the twenties giving in to the hegemony of Igor Stravinsky, which exercised an impact on his personal and musical attitudes of those years much more than his belated study. The original and in the development of Mr. Martinů definitely new idiom of the Quartet with Snare Drum is a charming evidence of this new start in his artistic growth. The invigorating and musically attractive nature of an unusual ast makes, however, the Quartet with Snare Drum to be much more than a mere experiment of a probe into unknown spaces of sound.
Jaroslav Mihule, Bohuslav Martinů: Kvartet pro klarinet, lesní roh, violoncello a malý bubínek (score). Praha: Panton, 1985, p. 3.