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Home , Karen Tuttle, String quartet, String Quartet (Berg), String Quartet (Webern)

HUGO WOQuartett LF MARCH 6 LOEB PLAYHOUSE Hugo Wolf Quartett AT A GLANCE Thursday, March 6, 2014 / 7:30 PM / Loeb Playhouse

With respect to the musicians and your fellow patrons, we request your participation in the tradition of withholding applause between movements of a selection. To the same end, we also ask that you silence and discontinue use of all electronic devices.

Sebastian Gürtler, Régis Bringolf, Violin Thomas Selditz, Florian Berner,

Joseph Haydn String in E-flat Major, Op. 33, No.2, (1732-1809) “Joke” (1781) Allegro moderato : Allegro Largo e sostenuto Finale: Presto

Alban Berg (1925-1926) (1885-1935) Allegro gioviale Andante amoroso Allegro misterioso Adagio appassionato Presto delirando

Intermission

Franz Schubert in G Major, D. 887 (1826) (1797-1828) Allegro molto moderato Andante un poco mosso Scherzo: Allegro vivace Allegro assai Hugo Wolf Quartett AT A GLANCE Thursday, March 6, 2014 / 7:30 PM / Loeb Playhouse

JOSEPH HAYDN String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 33, No. 2, “Joke” Prolific and endlessly imaginative, Haydn virtually invented the string quartet as we know it. In the democratic spirit of the Enlight- enment, he gradually worked out a style in which all four instru- ments were more or less equal partners, thus laying the founda- tion for the carefully balanced of Mozart and Beethoven. Haydn’s chamber style is compounded of elegance and humor, both of which are on display in the “Joke” Quartet, with its radiant slow movement and whimsical Finale. String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 33, No.2, “Joke” (1781) Allegro moderato Lyric Suite Scherzo: Allegro Berg was in his mid-40s when he wrote his best-known piece of Largo e sostenuto as a cryptic love letter to his paramour, Hanna Finale: Presto Fuchs-Robettin. Like Berg’s opera and other works, the Lyric Suite fuses a strict, modernist 12-tone idiom with a freer Romantic impulse. The suite’s “secret program” made headlines Lyric Suite (1925-1926) Allegro gioviale around the world when it was brought to light by American com- Andante amoroso poser and musicologist George Perle in the June 1977 issue of the Allegro misterioso International Alban Berg Society Newsletter. Adagio appassionato Presto delirando String Quartet in G Major, D. 887

Schubert completed a total of 15 quartets, the first when he was Intermission barely 13, the last some two years before his untimely death. In the mid-1820s, he became fixated on the idea of writing a “grand sym- phony” on the order of Beethoven’s Ninth. Although that ambitious String Quartet in G Major, D. 887 (1826) project never came to fruition, his last three quartets—the G-Major Allegro molto moderato Quartet of 1826 and the quartets in A minor (“Rosamunde”) and D Andante un poco mosso Scherzo: Allegro vivace minor (“Death and the Maiden”), both written in 1824—were clearly Allegro assai conceived on a symphonic scale.

Management for the Hugo Wolf Quartet: Marianne Schmocker Artists International, 25 Madison Street, Huntington, NY 11743 THE PROGRAM

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732–1809) String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 33, No. 2, “Joke”

About the

Haydn’s reputation as the “father of the string quartet” reflects not only his extraordinary productivity—he wrote no fewer than 68 quartets, as well as a number of quartet —but also his pivotal place in music history. In 1732, the year Haydn was born, Bach and Vivaldi were still in their prime. By the time he died 77 years later, Beethoven was diligently ushering in the Romantic era. Haydn’s lifetime thus neatly encapsulated the Classical era, and his music reflects the “Classical” virtues of equilibrium, clarity, and se- riousness of purpose, tempered with a playfulness and often earthy humor that have delighted audiences ever since.

About the Work

Haydn’s influence was felt throughout Europe, although he spent virtually his entire career either in Vienna or in the idyllic seclu- sion of Prince Nikolaus Esterházy’s country estate in Eisenstadt. His earliest quartets, dating from the mid- to late-1750s, are closely related to the string , sinfonias, and popular with midcentury European audiences. In these works, the cello was largely confined to continuo-style harmonic , but in Haydn’s hands both the line and the two inner voices became increasingly independent. In the second of his six Op. 33 quartets, written in 1781 and dedicated to Grand Duke Paul of Russia, the cello still plays a mostly supporting role. But Haydn turns convention on its head in the slow movement by allowing the two lower instru- ments to introduce the sweetly majestic theme.

A Closer Listen

The first violin starts the ball rolling with an amiable melody in E- flat major, whose signature motif—a brisk upbeat figure comprised of two rising 16th-notes—underpins the entire Allegro moderato. With characteristic economy, Haydn ingeniously varies and extends THE PROGRAM this simple thematic idea, transferring it from one voice and register to another in a lighthearted game of hide and seek. The jovial Scher- zo is equally sophisticated in its unassuming way: Haydn plays with the eight-bar phrase structure by repeatedly inserting “extra” bars that thwart the listener’s expectation of predictable regularity.

The Largo e sostenuto picks up the triple meter of the Scherzo, but this time in a radiantly lyrical vein, with sudden dynamic contrasts and sharply accentuated syncopations that provide a hint of drama. Listen for the half-step oscillations in the accompanying voices, an- other subtle thematic link to the Scherzo. The high-spirited Finale is the first violin’s show from start to finish, right up to the whimsical false endings that give the quartet its nickname, “Joke.”

Performance Time: approximately 22 minutes

Premiere: Composed in 1781, Haydn’s String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 33, No. 2, “Joke,” received its Carnegie Hall premiere in Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Recital Hall) on February 12, 1978, Haydn Quartet (Marvin Morgenstern and Alvin Rodgers, ; Karen Tuttle, viola; and , cello).

ALBAN BERG (1885–1935) Lyric Suite

About the Composer

In May 1925, Berg traveled to Prague to attend a performance of ex- cerpts from his opera Wozzeck. “My brain is on fire,” he wrote excit- edly to his wife, Helene, in Vienna. His heart would soon be burning, as well. Although Berg repeatedly reassured Helene that there was nothing between him and Hanna Fuchs-Robettin, the wife of a well- to-do Czech industrialist, in reality they were conducting a torrid affair that would end only with the composer’s death in 1935. Helene would go to her own grave in 1976 innocent of her husband’s infidel- ity. Unknown to her, American composer and musicologist George Perle had already tracked down an early published score of the Lyric Suite that Berg had inscribed to Hanna as “a small monument to a great love.” The work’s “secret program” created a sensation when Perle published it in 1977. About the Work

The printed preface to the miniature score that Berg presented to Fuchs-Robettin misleadingly stated that the suite’s structure was “mostly lax,” the six movements being “but loosely connected.” Nothing could have been farther from the truth. In page after page of handwritten annotations, the infatuated composer provided a comprehensive key to the love story that inspired his work. Berg meticulously mapped out every bar of music, down to the level of in- dividual pitches, , and even note durations. As an organizing principle, he relied not only on the 12-note method of composition developed by his teacher, , but also on the num- bers 23 and 10 (which had special significance for the lovers) and the musical equivalent of his and Hanna’s initials: In German notation, the notes A, B, H, and F correspond to A, B-flat, B-natural, F.

A Closer Listen

To the average listener, of course, neither the arcane formal struc- ture of the Lyric Suite nor its elaborate “secret program” is as impor- tant as the visceral impact it makes in performance. Whatever com- plexities lie beneath the surface, the warm-blooded sensuality and rhapsodic lyricism of Berg’s richly colored score make it eminently accessible, even on first hearing. The composer helpfully provided a roadmap to the listener’s emotional journey in the Italian adjectives attached to the movement titles: jovial, amorous, mysterious, pas- sionate, delirious, and desolated. The music limns these changing moods, its fevered intensity unrelenting until, at the end, the four instruments fade out one by one, the musical staves literally disap- pearing from the printed page.

Performance Time: approximately 25 minutes

Premiere: Completed in 1926, Berg’s Lyric Suite received its Carn- egie Hall premiere in Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Recital Hall) on May 21, 1973, with the (Mark Sokol and Andrew Jennings, violins; John Kochanowski, viola; and Norman Fischer, cello). Berg’s version for string received its US premiere at Carnegie Hall on October 22, 1931, by the New York Philharmonic conducted by Erich Kleiber. FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828) String Quartet in G Major, D. 887

About the Composer

By the time he reached his late 20s, Schubert had moved far beyond the prodigious facility of his teenage years. Toward the end of his short life, he became fixated on the idea of writing a “grand sym- phony” on the scale of Beethoven’s Ninth. Although that project never got off the drawing board, he hinted at its nature in the three great that he produced between 1824 and 1826. The G-Major Quartet, like its two companions—D. 804 in A Minor (“Ro- samunde”) and D. 810 in D Minor (“Death and the Maiden”)—is a work of majestic proportions, elaborate thematic development, and considerable emotional complexity. Schubert’s capacity for work and concentrated inspiration remained undiminished, in spite of the deteriorating health, debilitating bouts of depression, and financial worries that had plagued him since he contracted syphilis in late 1822.

About the Work

The last of Schubert’s 15 string quartets is arguably the greatest. In its epic proportions and intensity of expression, the G-Major Quar- tet stands in the rarefied company of Beethoven’s late-period quar- tets. Ironically, most of Schubert’s contemporaries found the work too challenging—or perhaps simply too exhausting—for their taste. The composer had no luck finding a publisher and only the first of the four movements was performed in public during his lifetime. Not until 1850, nearly a quarter-century after it was composed, did this late masterpiece receive its long-overdue premiere.

A Closer Listen

Clocking in at nearly 50 minutes, the G-Major Quartet demands considerable stamina on the part of both listeners and players. To modern ears, however, the music is hardly “difficult” in the sense that, say, Beethoven’s knotty C-sharp–Minor Quartet, Op. 131 (also written in 1826), is. Schubert’s seemingly bottomless fund of melody and the supple piquancy of his harmonies never fail to leave one hankering for more. It is true that a tendency to latch onto a musical THE ARTISTS idea and repeat it at “heavenly length,” with only subtle variations, was one of Schubert’s shortcomings as a composer of large-scale works. Yet his ideas are so inspired that they rarely become stale with repetition.

The G-Major Quartet has more than its share of inspired ideas. In the Allegro molto moderato, for example, the jaunty dotted rhythms of the opening bars are seamlessly absorbed into the first violin’s gently insistent tune, wafted above the shimmering in the lower voices. Fluid oscillation between major and minor modes— one of Schubert’s stylistic trademarks—enhances the sense of drama and tension within a fundamentally lyrical framework. The slow movement, with its plangent E-minor theme introduced by the cello, is even more intensely dramatic. After a helter-skelter Scherzo with a waltz-like trio section inserted by way of contrast, the quartet culminates in a brilliant finale characterized by nervously propulsive triplet rhythms.

Performance Time: approximately 45 minutes

Premiere: Composed in 1826, Schubert’s String Quartet in G Ma- jor, D. 887, received its Carnegie Hall premiere in Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Recital Hall) on March 8, 1959, with the .

—Harry Haskell

© 2014 The Carnegie Hall Corporation Reprinted with permission. THE ARTISTS

Hugo Wolf Quartett Sebastian Gürtler, Violin Régis Bringolf, Violin Thomas Selditz, Viola Florian Berner, Cello

For 20 years, the Hugo Wolf Quartett has been a fixture on the inter- national chamber music scene and has fascinated audiences around the globe. Through training with the Alban Berg, Smetana, Amadeus, and LaSalle quartets, as well as with pianist Ferenc Rados, the en- semble laid the cornerstone for a highly successful career. Founded in Vienna in 1993, the Hugo Wolf Quartett soon won such coveted awards as the Special Prize of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and the European Chamber Music Prize, followed by the Interna- tional String Quartet Competition in Cremona in 1995—the same year that the ensemble made its debut in the Vienna Konzerthaus.

In 1998, Vienna’s Musikverein and Konzerthaus elected the four members as Rising Stars. Since then, the quartet has regularly per- formed in Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, London’s Wigmore Hall, New York’s Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, and Berlin’s Phil- harmonie, as well as at the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, Colmar International Festival, La folle journée de Nantes, and the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg. For five years, the Hugo Wolf Quartet has also performed its own concert series in the renowned Vienna Konzerthaus.

The quartet equally emphasizes the Classical/Romantic and con- temporary repertoire. Choosing Hugo Wolf as its namesake is telling in this regard, for Wolf was a composer on the cusp between Ro- manticism and Modernism, with an inquisitive artistic mindset that remained open to the past and future alike. Numerous compositions have been written for and premiered by the Hugo Wolf Quartet, including Friedrich Cerha’s String Quartet No. 4; Johannes Maria Staud’s Dichotomie; string quartets by Erich Urbanner, Dirk D’Ase, and Otto M. Zykan; and a quartet and by jazz guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel.

Its recordings of string quartets by Beethoven (released by Gramola in 2001) and Franz Schubert (released by VMS Records in 2009) each won Austrian radio station Ö1’s Pasticcio Prize. The quartet’s close collaboration with legendary jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler and pianist John Taylor is documented on the recording Other Peo- ple (2006, CAM Jazz). Other offerings from the Hugo Wolf Quartet on the VMS label include a live performance of Haydn string quar- tets at the Lockenhaus Chamber Music Festival, the complete works for string quartet by Hugo Wolf, a live recording of the Schubert D. 803 Octet, and 2013’s Tristans langer Schatten.

In June 2013, Thomas Selditz, for many years a member of Streich- trio Berlin and a professor at the University of Music and Perform- ing Arts in Vienna, joined the Hugo Wolf Quartet as its new violist. The quartet knows him well through earlier collaborations and is happy to welcome him into the ensemble. At this time, the Hugo Wolf Quartet would also like to thank Gertrud Weinmeister, who left the quartet for personal reasons, for her contribution to many wonderful years of successful concerts. March 29 March 30 Hamlet at LOEB pLayHOusE at 8pM Rosencratz & Guildenstern are Dead at LOEB pLayHOusE at 3pM

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