Saturday, March 19 at 8pm

Vogler Quartett

Tim Vogler, violin
Frank Reinecke, violin
Stefan Fehlandt, viola
Stephan Forck, cello

Ludwig van Beethoven
(1770-1827)
String Quartet Op 18, No. 3
Allegro
Andante con moto
Allegro
Presto

Erwin Schulhoff
(1894-1942)
String Qaurtet No. 1
Presto con fuoco
Allegretto con moto e con malinconia grotesca
Allegro giocoso alla slovacca
Andante molto sostenuto

INTERMISSION

Antonin Dvořák
(1841-1904)
String Quartet No. 10, Op. 51
Allegro ma non troppo
Dumka (Elegie): Andante con moto - Vivace
Romanza: Andante con moto
Finale: Allegro assai

Program Notes

Ludwig van Beethoven ( 1770-1827)
String Quartet Op. 18, No. 3 [ca. 1798]

When Beethoven arrived in Vienna from Bonn, he had high hopes of studying with the greatest living master and his own idol—Haydn.  According to Count Waldstein, Beethoven’s friend and supporter, the composer wanted to “receive the spirit of Mozart at the hands of Haydn.”  Things did not work out quite the way Beethoven wanted, however, as Haydn really didn’t take him on as special project.  The relationship between the rough-edged, somewhat provincial, and liberal-thinking Beethoven and the staid, refined, and ever-proper Haydn was not an especially close one.  Haydn was inclined to dwell on exercises that were not too enlightened, and he was hesitant to support young Beethoven’s ideas.  Beethoven studied with others in Vienna, from the renowned court composer Salieri to the less well-known Albrechtsberger, and a few others, and each seemed to do more for him than Haydn.  Still, it is not a stretch to say that Beethoven really came to Vienna already armed with most of the tools he needed to change the course of music history.

The string quartets of both Mozart and Haydn (numbering about 100 between the two composers) were the premiere examples—the very prototypes—of the genre, and those were the works that Beethoven most wanted to emulate.  It took courage on Beethoven’s part, but by 1798, after several years of growing success in Vienna, he finally was ready to commence on his quartet journey.  In a telling piece of chronology, Beethoven was beginning his Opus 18 quartets at the same time that Haydn was writing his last.  In a further twist, both composers were commissioned by the same patron, Prince Lobkowitz, to write quartets.  Dedicated to the Prince, Beethoven’s new works were carefully arranged to appear in a certain order; although the piece on tonight’s program is designated the third quartet in the group, Beethoven’s own sketchbooks reveal that the composer wrote it before the others.  Much has been published about how to listen to this particular set of quartets, and, indeed, the fashion of interpretation has shifted over the last two centuries.  It is possible to find critics who advocate a more tepid evaluation of the music, claiming that Beethoven’s youth and inexperience show through quite perceptibly in the works.  That, combined with the obvious deferential treatment that Beethoven showed to the quartets of his predecessors, relegate Opus 18 to the category of a “good first effort,” or even a very accomplished student work.  The opposite tack instructs that we must try to forget Beethoven’s later—and last—quartets when listening to Opus 18.  Proponents of that school of thought insist that, observed without “corruption” from the later masterpieces, Beethoven’s first foray into the world of the string quartet was fully mature and astonishingly new.  It seems reasonable to consider both stances:  Beethoven was mindful of Haydn and Mozart, to be sure, in parts of his formal outline, in the order of works and key relationships (and comparisons between Op. 18, no. 5 in A major and Mozart’s quartet in A Major, K. 464, are common), but his own innovative voice was strong throughout Opus 18—in the recapitulations, in the quantity of thematic material, in the codas.

Beethoven worked hard on his first quartets, revising and editing them heavily.  He gave a copy of the quartet called No.1 to his friend Karl Amenda, but then sent a letter asking that the manuscript be suppressed because he had reworked the piece completely, “having now learned how to write string quartets properly.”   The Op. 18, no. 3, quartet in D Major, is capped by opposites, with a tranquil opening movement and a “perpetual motion” finale.  The first movement Allegro toys with the listener from a harmonic perspective, arriving at keys in unexpected ways.  The next movement, marked Andante con moto, is eloquent in its final delivery of syncopations and fragmented rhythms, which become sharper and more off center in the opening of the third movement Allegro.  The first violin starts the Presto finale on its own, setting up a movement of extreme energy and amusing harmonic uncertainty, the joking continuing through to the end.

Erwin Schulhoff (1894-1942)
String Quartet No. 1 [1924]

Erwin Schulhoff was a musician on the cutting edge of cultural thought and practice, perpetually riding the tides between the Czech and Germanic traditions that were his by birth and upbringing, but picking up accents of French and American art and Soviet politics along the way.  Born in Prague in 1894, Schulhoff was a child prodigy at the piano, landing the endorsement of Dvořák when the boy was just seven years old.  He began studies at the Prague Conservatory, but had moved on to studies in Vienna by the time he was twelve; Leipzig for composition with Reger at fourteen; Cologne for conducting at seventeen.  Schulhoff continued playing piano throughout his school years, even taking a year off from formal studies in order to make a concert tour of Germany.  He also composed throughout his youth, winning a coveted prize for a piano sonata written in 1918. 

Schulhoff’s musical influences and allegiances followed a fairly logical path, from the German Romantics he first learned as a child at the keyboard (Schumann and Brahms); to the revered Czech master who offered his blessing to the boy (Dvořák); to the Russian Scriabin, whose unorthodox harmonic language had won over the faculty, and thus the students, at the Leipzig conservatory, along with the towering Richard Strauss; to the French Impressionists, whose aesthetic Schulhoff learned first-hand during some lessons with Debussy in 1913.  Later, after serving in the Austrian military during World War I, Schulhoff lived in Germany, where he became absorbed in the vibrant, if sometimes caustic, artistic circles that were a prevailing part of life in the Weimar Republic.  On the one hand, the composer embraced the ideas of atonality and Expressionism of the Second Viennese School, championed by Schoenberg, Berg, and Webern.  On the other hand, he became well acquainted with proponents of the Dadaist movement, particularly the painter George Grosz, whose New Objectivity practices at the time helped seal the images of depravity in post-war Berlin.  It was through Grosz that Schulhoff first learned jazz.  The painter had an insatiable appetite for that most American type of music, and he was one of the first in Europe to collect sound recordings of jazz, which he eagerly shared with Schulhoff.  Over the course of his career, the composer shifted from camp to camp, at times synthesizing ideas from each with his early Czech and Germanic influences to produce a voice distinctively his own.  In the early 1930s, Schulhoff took off on yet another stylistic avenue; swayed by his new political sensibilities, he began to score a musical setting of the Communist Manifesto: a cantata for four soloists, three choirs, and a brass band. 

Schulhoff continued to be known as a virtuosic pianist, but, like his compositions that reflected the new ideas around him, his playing gravitated towards the avant garde.  He became the premiere interpreter of the music of contemporary Czech composer Alois Hába, who wrote microtonal works—music that divides even further the closest traditional Western interval of the half-step.  In the 1920s, Schulhoff was a frequent participant in the active sphere of contemporary music festivals across Europe. During the difficult 1930s, the he patched together a living by playing piano in a jazz orchestra and working as a radio musician.  His focus changed irrevocably when he visited the Soviet Union for the first time in 1933, a trip that firmed his commitment to Stalinist socialist principles.  He eventually became a Soviet citizen in 1939, but was unable to secure a Soviet visa before the non-aggression pact between Hitler and Stalin dissolved.  Schulhoff, who had Jewish roots, and who now was a citizen of an adversary, had failed in his attempts to leave Prague.  He was arrested there in 1941 and sent to the concentration camp in Wülzburg, where he died of tuberculosis less than one year later.

Of the String Quartet No. 1, perhaps Schulhoff’s best-known work, the Czech critic Erich Steinhard offered the following analysis in the journal Die Musik (1927):

 “[The piece is] a fiery outburst of temperament…and one has the feeling that the composer’s pen could hardly keep pace with his inspiration, though this is in no way to decry the quality of the invention and its intellectual elaboration…I defy anyone…to equal him in the tempestuous pace of the first movement, and its natural musicality, its clarity and its homophony…A catchy melody with simple accompaniment, which often flows along in stereotyped figures, characterizes the next movement, while the third arouses rhythmic interest with a playful Slovak theme and presents the appearance of folk music.  All three movements are fast moving.  Not until the last section does an Andante-like passage, where the accompaniment mimics the earlier Allegretto melody, introduce a sensitive and contemplative mood, at the close of an otherwise boisterous and cheeky piece of writing.”

 

Antonín Dvořák (1841-1904)
String Quartet No. 10 in E-flat Major, Op. 51 [1878-1879]

Dvořák’s Op. 51 quartet is among his best work in that form, of fourteen string quartets, melding the popular tendencies of his Slavonic Dances, written just one year before, with his sure-handed use of rhythm, texture, and tone.  This work is more colored with nationalist expression than Dvořák’s earlier compositions, but it works as a better outlet for the composer’s personal take on his country’s music.  The result is a highly personal take on traditional dance and song.  A Polka appears in the opening movement, while the second movement flips from minor to major mode, setting up the Slavonic cry.  A Czech dance appears in the finale.    

The E-flat quartet dates from an especially fruitful and profitable period for Dvořák.  Up until that time, however, the composer had been through a difficult period, both professionally and personally.  Dvořák was frustrated that his music was not known outside of Bohemia.  He had tried unsuccessfully to win some money with a composition prize, and he desperately wanted his works to gain a wider following through international publication.  Far worse than these concerns, however, were the family tragedies that afflicted Dvořák and his wife in 1877.  Their little daughter, not quite a year old, slipped away from watchful eyes and drank a poison used for making matches.  She died in August, just weeks before the couple’s three- year- old son succumbed to smallpox —on the composer’s thirty-sixth birthday.   Somehow, Dvořák was able to continue with his work at the time, the orchestration of his Symphonic Variations.  He soon turned to his Stabat Mater, a work that surely expresses the parent’s grief over the loss of his children.

Happily, Dvořák’s life took a sudden step in a better direction at the end of 1877.  In mid-December, he was informed that he had received an award from the Ministry of Education, carrying with it a cash award.  This was a significant event for Dvořák because Brahms had served on the prize committee.  Brahms was now firmly interested in supporting Dvořák by making the valuable connection to the publisher Simrock, who in turn was convinced that the Czech composer’s music, and his particular touch with nationalistic traits,  was just the sort of thing that would take off with the public.  The publisher wanted to exploit Dvořák’s extraordinary manner of representing the melodies and rhythms of his homeland, first by publishing Dvořák’s Moravian Duets, and then by commissioning  different arrangements of a set of Slavonic dances.  Simrock wanted short, easy pieces that he knew would sell; the composer wanted to publish his longer works that did not necessarily speak to nationalist tendencies.  Nevertheless, a glowing review in an influential Berlin paper predicted worldwide success for Dvořák, and performances then from Germany to France, England, and the U.S. soon followed.  The only thing better than this much-deserved and longed-for recognition was the fact that the Dvořáks now had another daughter, born in June of 1878.

Dvořák actually was criticized in some circles for “writing to order,” fulfilling the publisher’s demands for commercially viable pieces that would satisfy the popular cravings for anything “Slav.”  In later years, Dvořák himself remarked that he thought he had “composed too much,” referring to the many small works that he was contractually obliged to hand over to Simrock for publication.  Still, he also believed that he had done nothing to compromise his artistic integrity.  Taken in the broader context of Dvořák’s, career, his frequent use of Slavic material was an honest reflection of his surroundings.  As the composer traveled abroad, he also was moved by the music he encountered in other parts of the world.  During his stay in the United States, a reviewer for an American newspaper wrote that “Dr. Dvořák is the apostle of national music,” summarizing the composer’s ability to tap into the spirit of a population.  Extending Dvořák’s belief that “American music is music that lives in the heart of the people,” we can conclude that all music—Slavic and otherwise—lived in the heart of this Czech composer.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

Formed in East Berlin in 1985 and still with its original members, the Vogler Quartet quickly established itself as one of the finest quartets of its generation. Mastering a repertoire of over two hundred works from all periods and musical styles, they are widely recognized for their uncommon musical intelligence, homogeneous sound, insightful interpretations and unconventional programming. They now pursue an international schedule of concerts and master classes in prestigious venues all over the world.   In 2008, the Vogler Quartet returned to North America for their seventh tour in as many years, which included recitals at Carnegie Hall and in Washington, D.C. 

In 1993, the Vogler Quartet instituted its own concert series at the Konzerthaus in Berlin; because of its great popularity, they now offer a parallel series in Neubrandenburg. The quartet founded the Vogler Spring Festival in Sligo, Ireland in 1999, which brings together international artists for chamber music and workshops every spring.  Ongoing collaborations are important to the quartet and have included artists such as Philippe Cassard, Angela Cheng, David Geringas, Markus Groh, Isabelle van Keulen, Daniel Mueller-Schott, Ian Parker, Alfredo Perl, Menahem Pressler, Jan Vogler, Antje Weithaas, Jörg Widmann, baritone Dietrich Henschel, and the Artemis, Pellegrini and Petersen quartets.

The Vogler Quartet is also strongly committed to the performance of contemporary music.  They performed Morton Feldman’s five-hour second string quartet with tremendous success at the MusikBiennale in Berlin in 1999. At EXPO 2000, all of Wolfgang Rihm’s string quartets were performed by the Vogler and Arditti Quartets. The Vogler Quartet regularly commissions and premieres new works, recently including quartets by Frank Michael Beyer (2004), Jörg Widmann (2005) and Mauricio Kagel (2007).

Trained at the Hanns Eisler Music Institute in Berlin, the Vogler Quartet first attained recognition in 1986 after winning First Prize at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France. Shortly thereafter, BMG/RCA produced the first of many recordings for the quartet, later followed by Nimbus Records, Col Legno and CPO.  Since 2005, they have recorded for Profil/Edition Günter Hännsler and in April 2008, released a CD of works by composers from the “New Jewish School” with clarinetist Chen Halevi and pianist Jasha Nemtsov.

In 2007, the Vogler Quartet assumed the prestigious Chamber Music Residency at the Stuttgart Conservatory, a position previously held by the Melos Quartet.

 

For more information, please visit www.voglerquartet.com