Program Notes:

Haydn:

The idea of writing music for four stringed instruments - two violins, viola, and cello - did not originate with Joseph Haydn. In that he was preceded by several Italian composers, including Scarlatti and Tartini. However, Haydn’s seventy or so string quartets are the foundation on which rest all later quartets from Mozart to Bartok. He was the first to recognize and to at least partially fulfill the artistic potential of this grouping.

In 1796, after returning to Austria from London, Haydn composed a series of masses for the new Kaiser, but still had time on his hands. Napoleon was threatening the Hapsburg Empire and Haydn was driven into a burst of nationalism. Having been impressed by "God Save the King" in England, he composed an Austrian national anthem, using the poem "Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser" (God save the Emperor Franz) by Leopold Haschka. It was sung for the first time on February 12, 1797 in Vienna and in the provinces. Haydn had an immediate hit on his hands and decided to write all the "popularized" arrangements himself, including one for string quartet. Later that year he used the theme for a set of variations in the second movement of his C major Quartet, which was promptly nicknamed the "Emperor Quartet;" and has become the most popular of Haydn’s string quartets. After the Austrian empire collapsed the anthem was no longer performed, but the melody is in Germany’s national anthem.

All of the first movement's principal thematic matter is derived from the notes in the first measure. The development section includes a surprise typical of Haydn, a Hungarian folk dance with a gypsy-like accompaniment of strong accents on weak beats. This was Haydn's nod to the Hungarian aristocrats who commissioned the Opus 76 quartets; they also were paying a big part of the bill for the emperor's unsuccessful war against Napoleon.

The second movement begins with a sweet statement of the Emperor Hymn and then puts it through four variations. The first is a quiet but ornate elaboration for the first violin, while the second violin plays the theme in its original form. The next variation shifts the theme down to the cello, with the viola and second violin providing harmony and the first violin offering counterpoint. The viola finally gets chance in the third variation while the top and bottom instruments wind around it. Finally comes a richly harmonized version of the theme with more elaborate inner voices than in the beginning.

The Minuetto is a good-humored dance, marked especially by a slightly mocking downward-drifting figure in the first violin. The trio is a cautious-sounding variation of the Minuet's main theme. A bit of drama is introduced in the finale, where three chords announce the key of C minor. Rapid passages in triplets figure prominently before the movement is brought to a close in C major.

Zemlinsky:

Alexander Zemlinsky’s four numbered string quartets span some four decades, moving from the conservatism of his Brahms-inspired youth to the experimental works of his mature years. He was born in Vienna in 1871, three years before Arnold Schoenberg with whom his life would intertwine in a variety of ways. Zemlinsky had met Schoenberg when they played together in the Polyhymnia orchestra. Schoenberg married Zemlinsky's sister Mathilda and the two brothers-in-law cultivated a mutual appreciation of all things musical and were close friends throughout much of their lives.

Zemlinsky revealed his musical talents early. At age four a family friend invited young Alexander to accompany him to piano lessons; he soon surpassed his friend, and thus warranted private study on his own. Zemlinsky began formal training at the Vienna Conservatory at the age of 13 and eventually blossomed into a first-rate composer, conductor and teacher. As a conductor, he was a respected interpreter of the emerging works of Mahler and Schoenberg drawing admiration from Kurt Weill and Stravinsky.

As a young composer, Zemlinsky won praise from the elderly Brahms who recommended Zemlinsky's music to his publisher Simrock starting with his Clarinet Trio, Op. 3, of 1896. A few years previous, Brahms had attended and “reviewed” Zemlinsky’s piano quintet. As reported by the young composer,

            Brahms asked for the score and with a brief and somewhat ironic interjection—“Of
            course, only if you are interested in discussing it”— invited me to call on him. It was a
            decision not to be taken lightly...a conversation with Brahms was no easy matter.
            Question and answer were curt, gruff, seemingly cold, and often highly sarcastic. He
            read my quintet through at the piano, at first making light corrections, examining one
            passage or the other in greater detail, but with no actual word of praise or
            encouragement, eventually growing more vehement. Having reduced me to a state of
            utter despair, he soon restored my good humor, asked about my material needs, and
            offered me a monthly grant, which would enable me to reduce my teaching schedule and
            spend more time composing.

Brahms’s financial support enabled Zemlinsky to focus on his first string quartet. The summer of 1896 was devoted exclusively to its completion. In the fall, Zemlinsky’s String Quartet No. 1 in A Major, op. 4, received its first performance at the conservatory, to critical praise.

This quartet is unquestionably one of the most important quartets written before the advent of the Second Vienna School and 12-tone music. The bright Allegro con fuoco opens almost abruptly and is characterized by highly accented and syncopated rhythms. A more lyrical second theme smooths some of the rough edges away. The main theme of the second movement, Allegretto, begins with a simple folk melody. Suddenly, a stormy middle section full of excitement and interesting rhythms blossoms forth into a wild and ferocious gypsy dance. The third movement, Breit und Kraftig, is exactly as described by the title, broad and powerful. The first theme bursts upon the listener, only to proceed in a rather soft and diffident fashion, leading to a lovely and highly romantic second theme. The heroic and buoyant finale, Vivace e con fuoco, is one of the glories of late romantic chamber music, full or original thematic ideas.

Both Zemlinsky and Schoenberg had many great achievements in Vienna before World War II, with Schoenberg eventually far outshining if not completely overshadowing Zemlinsky. As each came from a Jewish heritage, each fled Europe upon the rise of the Nazis, settling in the United States as rather awkward old-world immigrants in a strange new world. Schoenberg fared well as a celebrated academic in Los Angeles. Zemlinsky landed in Larchmont, New York where he ceased composing and sank into oblivion, dying in 1942 at the age of 70. For several decades after his death Zemlinsky’s music was more or less disregarded. It was not until the 1970s that his central works were performed and recorded.

Dvořák:

Antonín Dvořák won the Austrian State Prize fellowship prize three times in four years (1874, 1876, and 1877). After the third success, Brahms, one of the members of the committee responsible for awarding the stipend, referred Dvořák to his own publisher. Like Schubert, Dvořák composed works for string quartet early in his career, for a practical reason: it was relatively easy to get quartet music played. Winning this award three times launched the career of the man identified as the quintessential Bohemian composer, both in his native land and beyond Czech borders.

Dvořák’s operas, songs, and symphonic works met with great success, but his most frequent and steadily produced works were in the field of chamber music, which includes fourteen string quartets composed from 1862 until 1895. His deeply personal String Quartet in D minor was composed in 1877, a year of tragic loss for his family, with the death of two very young children. Ruzena had died 13 August 1877 at age 10 months and Otakar had died 8 September 1877 at 31⁄2 years old). Their deaths threw the composer into a deep depression. Nevertheless, by Christmas, he was composing again. If we go by the dates Dvořák indicated in the manuscript, the piece was completed in only twelve days.

The Quartet is dedicated to his benefactor, Brahms. Although the second movement contains glimpses of folk revelry, the composition as a whole remains melancholic and wistfully meditative. The first movement, Allegro, is lovely and sensuous, which could be said of most of Dvořák's chamber music. The second movement has a lilting rhythm which is quite infectious. The third movement, an Adagio, is hauntingly beautiful. The final Poco Allegro sometimes has a kind of semi-fugal quality not often found in Dvořák‘s music.

Dvořák (Encore):

From 1892 to 1895 Antonín Dvořák was quite a novelty in the American music scene. At the invitation of Jeannette Thurber, who presided over the fledgling National Conservatory of Music in New York City, Dvořák accepted the position of artistic director and professor of composition for the institution. These years, known as the “American period,” produced some of his most popular works: the Symphony no. 9 in E minor, “From the New World” (1893), “The American” quartet and the Quintet in E-flat major, for two violins, two violas and violoncello (1893).

(Program notes compiled by Tom Geballe)