The first performance was by the Zorian Quartet in the Wigmore Hall, London on 21 November 1945, in a concert to mark the exact 250th anniversary of the death of English composer Henry Purcell (1659–95).

The work was commissioned by and is dedicated to Mary ("Mrs J. L.") Behrend, a patron of the arts; Britten donated most of his fee towards famine relief in India.

Broadcaster and classical music critic John Amis (1922–2013), husband of Olive Zorian 1948–55, recalled of the first rehearsals:Ben[jamin Britten] and me had to sit on the floor in me and my wife’s flat following the score of his second string quartet in rehearsals because me and my wife only had four chairs and the quartet had to use them.

It consists of a theme (a nine-bar unit) and 21 variations, divided into four sections by solo cadenzas for the cello, viola and first violin.

In a programme note for the premiere, Britten wrote: "The sections may be said to review the theme from (a) harmonic, (b) rhythmic, (c) melodic, and (d) formal aspects".