Performers
Tetzlaff Quartet
·· Christian Tetzlaff, Violin
·· Elisabeth Kufferath, Violin
·· Hanna Weinmeister, Viola
·· Tanja Tetzlaff, Cello
Program
HAYDN String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 20, No. 5
BERG String Quartet, Op. 3
WEBERN Five Movements, Op. 5
BRAHMS String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51, No. 2
Event Duration
The printed program will last approximately two hours, including one 20-minute intermission.This concert is made possible, in part, by an endowment fund for young artists established by Mr. and Mrs. Anthony B. Evnin and the A.E. Charitable Foundation.
At a Glance
HAYDN String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 20, No. 5
Haydn’s six Op. 20 string quartets dazzled audiences in the 1770s with their prodigal display of formal and melodic invention. In making the four players more or less equal partners, Haydn distanced himself from the top-heavy part-writing that characterized the instrumental chamber music of the Rococo period. Although it is designated a divertimento a quattro on the autograph manuscript, the F-Minor Quartet marks a sharp departure from the old-style string ensembles.
BERG String Quartet, Op. 3
Composed in 1910 but not performed in public until 1923, Berg’s first quartet was a turning point in his career. Although he acknowledged how much he had learned from his teacher, Arnold Schoenberg, he credited his wife as the primary inspiration for his Op. 3 String Quartet. In a letter Berg wrote to her after a performance of the work in Salzburg in 1923, he declared that it was she “to whom the quartet belongs and who brought it into being.”
WEBERN Five Movements, Op. 5
These delicate, highly condensed miniatures date from 1909, when Webern was refining the spare, “aphoristic” style that would distinguish him from his teacher, Arnold Schoenberg, and fellow student Alban Berg. The haunting quietude, pointillistic textures, and kaleidoscopic colors of the Five Movements influenced a host of later composers.
BRAHMS String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51, No. 2
In the second of his three string quartets, Brahms the Classicist meets Brahms the Romantic. The two Op. 51 quartets are dedicated to Brahms’s friend Theodor Billroth, a Viennese surgeon. Although the mercilessly self-critical composer dismissed his music as “mean and paltry,” Billroth knew better. “These dedications will keep our names known longer than our best work,” he predicted to a fellow dedicatee.