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The
Term "chamber
music" is an
old one, but
its sense has
changed
somewhat over
the years. Up
to and
including the
Baroque age,
the late
seventeenth to
mid-eighteenth
century,
chamber music
referred to
all music,
vocal or
instrumental,
which was
performed in
the residences
of the
nobility (who
could afford
to pay
ensembles of
musicians), as
distinct from
the music of
the church and
music which
was played
usually in the
open ait, at
pleasure
grounds and
theatrical
performances.
We recognise
the
distinction
made between
music for
church
performance
and that for
performance in
private rooms
in the terms sonata
da chiesa
(church
sonata) and sonata
da camera
(chamber
sonata).
During
the latter
half of the
eighteenth
century, as
new musical
forms
developed and
the orchestra
grew larger,
the
distinction
began to be
made between
music for big
ensembles and
music for
small ones -
trios,
quartets, etc.
At the very
beginning of
the nineteenth
century, Dr.
Burney the
music
historian
included under
chamber music:
"Cantatas,
single songs,
solos and
trios,
quartets,
concertos, and
symphonies of
a few parts."
During the
nineteenth
century, the
term chamber
music came to
acquire its
present
narrower
sense, which
excludes music
for orchestra
or large
ensembles,
vocal music,
and works for
single
instruments,
and in effect
comprises only
music written
for two or
more
instruments,
with one
instrument to
a part.
The
string quartet
is justly
regarded as
the most
highly
developed
chamber-music
form. Apart
from some
pioneering
works
by composers
of the
Mannheim
school,
including J.
Stamitz,
Filtz, and
Schobert, the
string quartet
and its form
were the
creation of
Joseph Haydn
(1732-1809).
Haydn wrote
his first
mature quartet
in 1755, one
year before
Mozart's
birth. Mozart,
Beethoven, and
Schubert went
on to give the
form greater
poetic and
dramatic
content, and
up to the
present day,
many great
composers
including
Debussy,
Ravel, and
Bartók
have further
enriched the
form.
Mozart's
String Quartet
in B flat, K.
458, is
familiarly
known as the
"Hunt"
Quartet,
because the
opening
suggests
hunting horns.
It is the
fourth of the
"Haydn"
Quartets, the
six works
which Mozart
dedicated to
Haydn in
recognition of
all he had
fearned from
his older
friend and
colleague. The
bond of
friednship
between Haydn
and Mozart,
who first met
some time in
1781 or 1872
during one of
Haydn's winter
visits to
Vienna, was
based on
mutual
admiration and
respect.
When
the Czech
composer
Kozeluch
(1752-1818)
once
criticised
Haydn's
quartets,
Mozart
replied, "And
yet sir, if
the two of us
were put
together in a
melting-pot,
we still would
not make one
Haydn." And
again, when
the same man
remarked of a
certain
passage in a
Haydn work, "I
would not have
written that,"
Mozart
retorted,
"Not, would I,
and do you
know wht out?
because
neither you
nor I would
have thought
of that idea."
The
six "Haydn"
Quartets are
among the
finest
examples of
the form in
existence.
Haydn as guest
of honour,
took part in a
home
performance of
three of them,
K. 464, K.
465, and the
"Hunt"
Quartet, K.
458, which
took place al
Mozart's new
lodgings in
the
Schulerstrasse,
Vienna, on
February 12,
1785. Leopold
Mozart the
composer's
father was
present on a
visit from
Salzburg, and
this was the
occasion of
Haydn's
memorable
remark to
Leopold: "I
tell you
before God,
and as an
honest man,
that your son
is the
greatest
composer I
know, either
personally or
by name; he
has taste, and
furtherhome,
the greatest
knowledge of
composition."
Beethoven
wrote his
String Quartet
in F minor,
Op. 95, in the
autumn of
1810, some
time after the
music for
"Egmont,"
and dedicated
it to his old
friend Baron
Zmeskall von
Domanowecz.
The title
"Serioso" was
Beethoven's
own. It is a
powerful,
sembre work,
whose mood may
have been
influenced by
the composer's
personal
sorrows at the
time, notably
Therese von
Malfatti's
rejection of
his proposal
of marriage.
He wrote to
his friend
Baron von
Gleichenstein:
"...Friendship
and like
feelings hold
nothing but
wounds for me.
So be it. For
you, poor
Beethoven,
there is no
happiness from
without." Mendelssohn
thought this
quartet the
most
characteristic
of all
Beethoven's
works.
Schubert's
Allegro in C
minor, D. 703,
is calles a
quartet
movement
because there
are extant
some 40 bars
of an Andante
in A flat
which indicate
that a
complete work
was intended.
Schubert, too,
had suffered
the experience
of being a
rejected
suitor. In
1814 he fell
in love with
Therese Grob,
who sang the
solo soprano
part on his
first mass,
but some years
later he had
to set his
hopes aside
when Therese
followed her
mother's
wishes and
married a
well-to-do
baker instead
of an indigent
musician. In
December 1820,
Schubert
allowed his
very personal
instrumental
style to be
heard for the
first time in
this first
movement of
his twelfth
string
quartet. The broad,
lyrical themes
already look
ahead to the
"Unfinished"
Symphony.
QUARTETTO
ITALIANO
The Quartetto
Italiano is
deservedly one
of the most
renowned
quartets of
our time. It
was as long
ago as 1945,
soon after
completing
their studies,
that Paolo
Borciani,
Elisa
Pegreffi,
Piero Farulli,
and Franco
Rossi,
resisting the
tempting
promise of
individual
careers as
soloists,
decided to
pool their
youthful
enthusiasm and
musical talent
and devote
themselves to
the difficult
but satisfying
art of playing
chamber music
really well.
By 1947 the
group had
established a
firm
reputation in
the musical
press and
begun giving
concerts
outside Italy.
In 1951 they
visited the
United States
for the first
time, and it
was soon
apparent that
their devotion
to their music
and the
impeccable
standards of
performances
they had set
for themselves
were earning
them fame as
well as
satisfaction.
Over the years
since 1945
they have
remained
together, a
rare example
of teamwork in
music and
something
unique as far
as quartets
are concerned.
Teamwork in
performance,
too has
contributed
greatly to
their success.
Their
principle of
thoroughly
memorising
their music
and playing
wherever
possible
without scores
has enabled
them to
perform with
astonishing
unanumity and
a precision
which is
unequalied in
their field.
To list the
group’s
wide-ranging
activities in
more than 30
years is
pointless:
they have done
everything one
might expect
of one of the
world’s finest
quartets. They
have given
hundreds of
concerts all
over Europe
and in the
United States
and in 1973
made their
first visits
to Japan and
the Soviet
Union; they
are regular
partecipants
in the
chamber-music
concours of
many
countries; and
they have
played and are
in constant
demand at the
world’s great
music
festivals.
Outside the
concert
circuit the
members of the
quartet teach
chamber music
at both the
Royal Academy
of Music in
Stockholm and
the
Conservatoire
in Vienna.
In addition to
the many words
of praise
bestowed on
them – after
their first
concert in New
York, Virgil
Thomson, the
distinguished
critic of the
“New York
Herald
Tribune,”
called them
“the finest
quartet,
unquestionably,
that our
century has
known” – they
have been
publicy
honoured by
the President
of Italy as a
more tangible
recognition of
their
outstanding
artistic
services over
the years to
Italy in
particular and
the world of
music in
general.
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