PREVIEW NOTES

Johannes Quartet w/ Harold Robinson, double bass Thursday, November 20, 2014 – 8:00 PM American Philosophical Society, 427 Chestnut Street

Program

Quartet in F Minor, Op. 80 Quintet in G Major, Op. 77 Felix Mendelssohn Antonín Dvořák Born: February 3, 1809 in Hamburg, Germany Born: September 8, 1841 in Nelahozeves, Bohemia Died: November 4, 1847 in Leipzig, Germany Died: May 1, 1904 in Prague, Czech Republic Composed: 1847 Composed: 1875 Last PCMS performance: Quatuor Ebéne in 2014 Last PCMS performance: Musicians from Marlboro in 2002 Duration: 27 minutes Duration: 40 minutes

Mendelssohn’s last great work, the Quartet in F Minor Dvořák's String Quintet in G Major was originally was written in response to the death of his beloved planned as a five‐movement work for string quartet plus sister Fanny. Completed two months before his own bass, with the order of movements being Allegro con death, the work has a noticeable darker, seemingly fuoco, Intermezzo, Scherzo, Poco Andante, and Finale. tragic tone. The lively accompaniment that All the movements except the Intermezzo were Mendelssohn is known for is replaced by slow, heavy composed in 1875; the Intermezzo was a re‐composed syncopations that are filled with grief. Overflowing with and re‐scored version of the slow movement of his turbulent emotion, it is a rare work of visceral intensity unpublished String Quartet in E Minor from 1870. from a famously reserved artist. However, in 1883, Dvořák removed the Intermezzo from the quintet, re‐composed and re‐scored it again, and Quartet No. 6 published it separately as his Nocturne for string Bela Bartók orchestra. The four‐movement version of the quintet Born: March 25, 1881 in Nagyszentmiklós, Hungary was published in 1888 as Dvořák's Op. 77. The quintet Died: September 26, 1945 in New York, New York itself is an example of Dvořák's first maturity as a Composed: 1939 composer, that is, the period after he had taught Last PCMS performance: Tokyo Quartet in 2013 himself how to compose and after he had rejected his Duration: 29 minutes youthful enthusiasm for Wagner. The work is cast in classical Viennese forms like Dvořák's models Mozart Bartók's last completed quartet exemplifies the and Schubert, with the opening movement set in sonata composer's continuing search for new forms, even as he form, the slow movements in ternary form, the Scherzo sought to distill and clarify his mode of expression. The having a central trio, and the closing movement in form he devised for the String Quartet No. 6 is rondo form. At this time Dvořák was also enthusiastic ingenious: each movement is preceded by an about Bohemian music, and as a result each of the introductory section marked "Mesto" ("sadly"), with movements contain characteristically Bohemian melting increasing complexity at each appearance. The "mesto" melodies, poignant harmonies, and vigorous rhythms. theme functions both as a motto and as the source of Although, like most of Dvořák's chamber music except much of the quartet's thematic substance. In the fourth his Piano Quintet and his "American" String Quartet, the movement, rather than giving way to a lively finale (the String Quintet in G Major is generally ignored in the original plan as indicated by Bartók's sketches), the concert hall and on disc, it is as worthy of attention as motto continues on to become the conclusion itself. the string quintets of Brahms.