ERICH HÖBARTH, VIOLIN ANDREA BISCHOF, VIOLIN ANITA MITTERER, VIOLA CHRISTOPHE COIN, CELLO QUATUOR MOSAÏQUES DENVER OCTOBER 18, 2017 WOLFGANG Quartet No. 17 in B-flat major, K.458, “The Hunt” AMADEUS Allegro vivace assai MOZART Menuetto and Trio. Moderato (1756-1791) Adagio Allegro assai MOZART Quartet No. 15 in D minor, K. 421 Allegro moderato Andante Menuetto and Trio. Allegretto Allegretto ma non troppo INTERMISSION FRANZ JOSEPH Quartet in C major, Op. 20, no. 2, Hob. III:32 HAYDN Moderato (1732-1809) Capriccio. Adagio Menuet. Allegretto Fuga a quattro soggetti. Allegro ERICH HÖBARTH QUATUOR MOSAÏQUES violin Quatuor Mosaïques is the most prominent period- ANDREA BISCHOF instrument quartet performing today. Formed in 1987, violin Quatuor Mosaïques’ four members met while performing with Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s Concentus Musicus Wien in ANITA MITTERER the 1980s and decided to perform on original instruments. viola The ensemble has garnered praise for its decision to use CHRISTOPHE COIN gut-stringed instruments which, in combination with its cello celebrated musicianship, contributes to its unique sound. The quartet has toured extensively, won numerous prizes, and established a substantial discography. For the first time in three years, and in celebration of their 30th anniversary season, Quatuor Mosaïques embarks on a North American tour in October 2017. The quartet performs at the Princeton University Concerts series, the Celebrity Series of Boston, Duke Performances in Durham, North Carolina, Da Camera in Houston, Friends of Chamber Music in Denver, the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Music Toronto, and the Union College Concert Series in Schenectady. European engagements this season include a two-concert Haydn series at Wigmore Hall, two recitals at Amsterdam’s lauded Concertgebouw, a series of three performances of late Schubert Quartets at the Kilkenny Arts Festival in Ireland, and three performances of Haydn, Mozart, and Donizetti Quartets at Scotland’s Lammermuir Festival. Quatuor Mosaïques is often featured at such prestigious European festivals as Edinburgh, Salzburg, Luzern, Bremen, Bath, Styriarte Graz, Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, and Oslo. The ensemble collaborates regularly with many international artists including pianist Sir András Schiff, clarinetist Sabine Meyer, and cellists Miklós Perényi and Raphael Pidoux. In 2006 Quatuor Mosaïques was invited to Spain to perform for King Juan Carlos I on the Monarch’s personal collection of Stradivari instruments. Quatuor Mosaïques has enhanced their worldwide renown through their extensive discography which includes works of Haydn, Mozart, Arriaga, Boccherini, Jadin, Beethoven, Schubert, and Mendelssohn. Recordings of the Wiener Klassik repertoire (Haydn string quartets Op. 20, 33, and 77, and the quartets of Mozart dedicated to Haydn) have been awarded numerous prizes such as the Diapason d’or, the Choc du Monde de la Musique, and a Gramophone Award. A new recording of Beethoven’s late string quartets was released on the Naïve label in September 2017. Quatuor Mosaïques’s recordings are available on the Paladino, Naïve, Laborie and L’Oiseau Lyre recording labels. North American Representation is Kirshbaum Associates Inc. NOTES Program Notes © Elizabeth Bergman IN BRIEF MOZART: QUARTET BORN: January 27, 1756, Getreidegasse, Salzburg, Austria NO. 17 IN B-FLAT DIED: December 5, 1791, Vienna, Austria MAJOR, K. 458, MOST RECENT FRIENDS OF CHAMBER MUSIC “THE HUNT” PERFORMANCE: January 12, 2017, Harlem Quartet (special event performance) ESTIMATED DURATION: 35 minutes September 1, 1785 To my dear friend Haydn… A father who had decided to send his children into the world at large thought it best to entrust them to the protection and guidance of that famous man who fortunately happened to be his best friend as well. Behold here, famous man and dearest friend, friendsofchambermusic.com 1 Program Notes my six children. They are, to be sure, the fruit of long and arduous Continued work, yet some friends have encouraged me to assume that I shall see this work rewarded to some extent at least, and this flatters me into believing that these children shall one day offer me some comfort. You yourself… have shown me your approval of them during your last sojourn [in Vienna]. Your praise, above all… makes me hope that they shall not be entirely unworthy of your good will… – W.A. Mozart So reads Mozart’s extraordinary dedication of his six new string quartets to the elder statesman of the Classical style, Franz Joseph Haydn. Dubbed the “Haydn Quartets,” Mozart’s “six children,” composed in Vienna between 1782 and 1785, were inspired by Haydn’s own revolutionary quartets of Op. 33 (1781). Haydn had declared that those quartets represented “an entirely new manner” in that all four instruments participated equally in the musical exchange. Mozart followed Haydn’s example by also giving each instrument interesting and important musical material. Thus the two composers set and solidified the notion of a quartet as a lively conversation among equals. Mozart’s “The Hunt” Quartet, K. 458 (1783) is the fourth in the set of six “Haydn Quartets.” The nickname was not chosen by the composer, yet is apt. The rich, throaty, opening horn-calls kick off a rollicking gallop of a first movement. (Note that Mozart was at this same time also writing the Horn Concerto, K. 417.) Similarly ebullient are the second movement minuet and the unpretentious, charming finale, both in the gracious style of the Classical galant. Yet the third movement Adagio seems of another world entirely. Serene and stately, the first violin seems to take a surprisingly operatic solo turn. Impassioned dissonances and long- breathed melodies anticipate the new Romantic style to emerge in the 19th century. (Consider that Beethoven, the icon of early Romanticism, was 14 years old in 1785.) Haydn himself heard the six quartets dedicated to him in a concert in January 1785. 2 friendsofchambermusic.com IN BRIEF MOZART: QUARTET BORN: January 27, 1756, Getreidegasse, Salzburg, Austria NO. 15 IN DIED: December 5, 1791, Vienna, Austria D MINOR, K. 421 MOST RECENT FRIENDS OF CHAMBER MUSIC PERFORMANCE: October 27, 1965, Netherlands Quartet ESTIMATED DURATION: 34 minutes Mozart composed his Quartet in D minor, K. 421, around the same time as K. 458, the “The Hunt.” Yet he did not finish the K. 421 until 1784, a year later. An analysis of the quartet penned in 1806 reveals the early Romantic tendency to find fanciful narratives in instrumental music. In the words of critic and scholar Jérome-Joseph Momigny, from Complete Course in Harmony and Composition: I believed that the sentiments expressed by the composer were those of a lover on the point of being abandoned by the hero whom she loves; Dido, who suffered such a misfortune, came immediately to my mind. Her lofty station, the ardor of her love, the familiarity of her misfortune, all these persuaded me to make her the heroine of this subject. We have no record of Mozart having such thoughts in mind, but the evocative key of D minor bears tragic associations. Long stretches of Mozart’s opera Don Giovanni are in D minor, for example, as is Mozart’s Requiem. Indeed K. 421 has justly been described as “dark and morose,” especially owing to the impassioned leaps in the first violin at the very opening. The bold gesture recurs throughout the movement, often above a descending bass line—a figure long associated with laments. The second movement Andante is gentler and more melodious, if still tinged with hints of melancholy. In the third movement Minuet the descending bass line returns, now more prominently, but the happy trio takes on the character of a folk dance. The Finale, a theme and variations, returns to the minor mode with enlivening lilting rhythms. Mozart’s inspiration here was clearly one of Haydn’s more striking quartets from Op. 33, thus linking K. 421 to the “Haydn Quartets,” even though it is not counted among the six in that set. friendsofchambermusic.com 3 Program Notes Continued HAYDN: QUARTET IN BRIEF IN C MAJOR, BORN: March 31, 1732, Rohrau, Austria OP. 20, NO. 2, DIED: May 31, 1809, Rohrau, Austria HOB. III: 32 MOST RECENT FRIENDS OF CHAMBER MUSIC PERFORMANCE: March 30, 2016, Musicians from Marlboro ESTIMATED DURATION: 26 minutes Franz Joseph Haydn spent his career in the employ of the Esterházy, a leading aristocratic Hungarian family. In 1761 he donned the blue-and-gold uniform of the court and assumed responsibility for musical activities at the palace. Early on he wrote instrumental works almost exclusively to be performed for (and even by) the Esterházy family. Later, in the 1770s, his principal task was directing opera productions. In 1790 the prince died and the musical establishment dissolved, leaving Haydn free to pursue an international career. Impresario Johann Peter Salomon arranged a visit to London in 1791. Haydn had never before been outside the vicinity of Vienna. He spent two successful seasons abroad, and two years later was again in England for a second happy visit. Perhaps he contemplated resettling there, but in 1795 he returned to Vienna, where he remained until his death in 1809. Haydn’s string quartets were not composed for the Prince Esterházy, and none was even commissioned until the 1790s after the composer had been all but released from service. Thus Haydn wrote string quartets not for his employer or other patrons but for himself—and for profit, earned not in concert but through publication. Unlike symphonies, concertos, and large-scale vocal works, string quartets were not performed at public concerts in Vienna during Haydn’s lifetime; the genre was intended for private performance. The Op. 20 quartets were written with a refined audience of connoisseurs in mind, hence Haydn’s use of fugal forms—a “learned” style favored during the Baroque era. The Quartet Op. 20, no. 2 in C major features a fugal finale with a particular twist.