This string quartet is a work that did not make the cut among the great music from Vienna during the early twentieth century. It demonstrates the quality of the music being made by the musicians who were simply able composers during this period. Müller-Hermann was not a great composer, but she certainly was good. The opening movement of her Op. 6 quartet is a tasteful, well-balanced, and surprisingly refreshing work. It is clearly derivative of Zemlinsky's quartets, but the utterance itself is original. It has a beauty that makes people stop and listen. The dedication is to Zemlinsky, who advised Müller-Hermann to make many changes. Whether she did or not is unknown, but the way in which the music reflects the lighter side of serious music in turn-of-the-century Vienna suggests a keen and attentive ear. One of the very few pinpointable failings of this work is its lack of ambition; Müller-Hermann was a skilled dilettante who had married a wealthy man. She was also writing music later in life. Ultimately, there were no external needs compelling her to write great music, and he inner drive seems to have been of mere loving interest. Its four movements and 22-minute duration demonstrate a well integrated pastiche of nineteenth-century passages made more angular in order to give the whole work its contemporary flair. Nonetheless, there is no denying her fluid craft and often heartfelt ability to connect with the listener. Other times, such as the climactic passages in the third movement, the languishing, passionately yearning material is just cloying, failing to generate the unbearable emotional sweep that would be the intent. But though it does not hold together with the concision of a professional score, the interest many listeners will feel for the Op. 6 will not fade after the first listen.

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