ABOUT ARTARIA
Described as an “exceptional ensemble with impressive confidence in its interpretations” and “Minnesota's foremost teaching and performing string quartet”, the Artaria String Quartet recently celebrated its 30 year of chamber music concerts. Winners of the 2004 McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians, and named 2013-14 Minnesota Public Radio Artists-in-Residence, Artaria was also featured on Twin Cities Public Television as part of the "Minnesota Originals" series.
Artaria's refined and thoughtful playing has brought them to major venues throughout the United States and Europe, on national television and public radio stations, and at top summer festivals including the Banff Centre in Canada, Festival de L’Epau in France, and the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, MA.
Artaria has earned numerous awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, and the Minnesota State Arts Board for excellence in performance and educational outreach. Directors of the Artaria Chamber Music School, a premiere weekly string chamber music program in Saint Paul; and Stringwood Chamber Music Festival, featuring the ASQ and renowned guest artists every June in Lanesboro, MN; they are founders of the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, which showcases the nation’s top high school age string quartets each April.
Described as an “exceptional ensemble with impressive confidence in its interpretations” and “Minnesota's foremost teaching and performing string quartet”, the Artaria String Quartet recently celebrated its 30 year of chamber music concerts. Winners of the 2004 McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians, and named 2013-14 Minnesota Public Radio Artists-in-Residence, Artaria was also featured on Twin Cities Public Television as part of the "Minnesota Originals" series.
Artaria's refined and thoughtful playing has brought them to major venues throughout the United States and Europe, on national television and public radio stations, and at top summer festivals including the Banff Centre in Canada, Festival de L’Epau in France, and the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, MA.
Artaria has earned numerous awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, and the Minnesota State Arts Board for excellence in performance and educational outreach. Directors of the Artaria Chamber Music School, a premiere weekly string chamber music program in Saint Paul; and Stringwood Chamber Music Festival, featuring the ASQ and renowned guest artists every June in Lanesboro, MN; they are founders of the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, which showcases the nation’s top high school age string quartets each April.
Concert 1 - Wednesday, July 24, 2019 @ 7:00pm
Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3
Ludwig van Beethoven - Große Fuge in B-flat Major, Op. 133
Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1
Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3
Ludwig van Beethoven - Große Fuge in B-flat Major, Op. 133
Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1
PROGRAM & NOTES
String Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Allegro
Andante con moto
Allegro
Presto
The number of quartets comprising his Opus 18 is but one of Beethoven’s nods to tradition, for sets usually included six works. Also, in Nos. 2 and 5, Beethoven seems to confront his predecessors directly, and as a result, moves to another level of composition. In his Opus 18 quartets we find Beethoven both mastering the styles of his predecessors and forging into new territory. For instance, the independence of the four parts is much greater than in the works of his predecessors, which may be attributable to the fact that Beethoven developed his skills during a time freed from the hitherto ubiquitous basso continuo. Despite the numerous recent models, and despite the fact that the String Quartets, Op. 18, are clearly a product of their time, they could not have been written by any composer other than Beethoven. Dedicated to Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz, the six quartets of Op. 18 constitute Beethoven's most ambitious project of his early Vienna years.
The quartet in D major (No. 3) was the first composed. Its opening, with nearly all of the motion in the first violin supported by sustained harmonies, resembles the beginning of Haydn’s Quartet, Op. 50/6, also in D major. The first movement begins with an emphasis on the dominant-seventh chord, while the second theme group flirts with the minor dominant, allowing an unusual excursion into C major. The rest of the quartet comprises a conventional movement pattern, but the Presto finale is a sonata, not a rondo. Although it is not labeled as such, the third movement is a minuet, albeit with some unusual, forward-looking touches. For example, the return of the minuet after the trio is not the standard da capo repeat, but is completely written out, with additional repetitions of and variations on the original material. – ©John Palmer, for ALLMUSIC
String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Allegro
Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando
Adagio molto e mesto
Allegro
Beethoven wrote three quartets in 1806 and dedicated them to Russian nobleman Count Rasumovsky. This F major effort is generally regarded as the greatest of the trio, as well as one of the composer's finest chamber works. A lot has been made of the fact that it was one of the compositions that heralded his second period. The "Eroica" Symphony, coming slightly earlier, is generally viewed as the starting point. All three quartets are lengthy works and considerably difficult to execute. That they were all written in a six-month period beginning in April 1806 divulges the speed and mastery Beethoven possessed. The String Quartet No. 7 was first performed in February 1807, and published in Vienna the following year.
The first movement is marked Allegro and begins on the cello with one of those powerful themes by Beethoven that seem to encompass the world. One senses its greatness and growth potential almost immediately, as it emerges from the depths. The second subject consists of an attractive theme for cello and a lyrical melody. When the lengthy and profound development section begins, one is reminded of the corresponding section in the "Eroica" Symphony. Both are massive and full of developmental ideas. Here there is much contrapuntal activity in the manner of a massive double fugue. This is the heart of the movement, full of drama and divulging much brilliant writing. The recapitulation is not in any way a mere restatement of the exposition, but itself a section that involves further thematic transformations. The extended coda, triumphant and powerful in contrast to the tragedy suggested in the recapitulation, is also deftly conceived.
The second movement is nearly as brilliant and complex as the first. It is marked Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando. It has a sonata-like structure, and Beethoven seems to fashion the movement from a rhythmic scrap. The form of this movement is quite unique: after the first scherzando section, Beethoven follows, not unexpectedly, with a brilliant trio, after which comes development of the themes. But then there ensues a second scherzando section, trio, and finally a third scherzando.
The movements that follow are also on a high artistic plane, but may seem anticlimactic by comparison. The third, marked Adagio molto e mesto, is dark and tragic, profoundly so. One is reminded of the second movement of the "Eroica" here, even though its character is more funereal and less tragic. This Adagio is emotional, too, with its main theme of sadness, maybe even pity. The second subject does not break the dark atmosphere that grips the movement.
The finale is marked Allegro and subtitled "Thème Russe." Its use of a Russian theme is in deference to its dedicatee, who was the Russian ambassador. This cheerful melody appears at the outset and is based on a folk song. There is some canonic and contrapuntal activity surrounding it almost from the beginning. The finale also features a development section and recapitulation. In general, this movement is light and not quite as complex as the others. Some have found that it does not fit the character of the quartet. In a sense, it is the least persuasive panel in the work, not because of some intrinsic weakness, but owing to its more genial nature. – ©Robert Cummings for ALLMUSIC
String Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
Allegro
Andante con moto
Allegro
Presto
The number of quartets comprising his Opus 18 is but one of Beethoven’s nods to tradition, for sets usually included six works. Also, in Nos. 2 and 5, Beethoven seems to confront his predecessors directly, and as a result, moves to another level of composition. In his Opus 18 quartets we find Beethoven both mastering the styles of his predecessors and forging into new territory. For instance, the independence of the four parts is much greater than in the works of his predecessors, which may be attributable to the fact that Beethoven developed his skills during a time freed from the hitherto ubiquitous basso continuo. Despite the numerous recent models, and despite the fact that the String Quartets, Op. 18, are clearly a product of their time, they could not have been written by any composer other than Beethoven. Dedicated to Prince Franz Joseph von Lobkowitz, the six quartets of Op. 18 constitute Beethoven's most ambitious project of his early Vienna years.
The quartet in D major (No. 3) was the first composed. Its opening, with nearly all of the motion in the first violin supported by sustained harmonies, resembles the beginning of Haydn’s Quartet, Op. 50/6, also in D major. The first movement begins with an emphasis on the dominant-seventh chord, while the second theme group flirts with the minor dominant, allowing an unusual excursion into C major. The rest of the quartet comprises a conventional movement pattern, but the Presto finale is a sonata, not a rondo. Although it is not labeled as such, the third movement is a minuet, albeit with some unusual, forward-looking touches. For example, the return of the minuet after the trio is not the standard da capo repeat, but is completely written out, with additional repetitions of and variations on the original material. – ©John Palmer, for ALLMUSIC
String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1 by Ludwig van Beethoven
Allegro
Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando
Adagio molto e mesto
Allegro
Beethoven wrote three quartets in 1806 and dedicated them to Russian nobleman Count Rasumovsky. This F major effort is generally regarded as the greatest of the trio, as well as one of the composer's finest chamber works. A lot has been made of the fact that it was one of the compositions that heralded his second period. The "Eroica" Symphony, coming slightly earlier, is generally viewed as the starting point. All three quartets are lengthy works and considerably difficult to execute. That they were all written in a six-month period beginning in April 1806 divulges the speed and mastery Beethoven possessed. The String Quartet No. 7 was first performed in February 1807, and published in Vienna the following year.
The first movement is marked Allegro and begins on the cello with one of those powerful themes by Beethoven that seem to encompass the world. One senses its greatness and growth potential almost immediately, as it emerges from the depths. The second subject consists of an attractive theme for cello and a lyrical melody. When the lengthy and profound development section begins, one is reminded of the corresponding section in the "Eroica" Symphony. Both are massive and full of developmental ideas. Here there is much contrapuntal activity in the manner of a massive double fugue. This is the heart of the movement, full of drama and divulging much brilliant writing. The recapitulation is not in any way a mere restatement of the exposition, but itself a section that involves further thematic transformations. The extended coda, triumphant and powerful in contrast to the tragedy suggested in the recapitulation, is also deftly conceived.
The second movement is nearly as brilliant and complex as the first. It is marked Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando. It has a sonata-like structure, and Beethoven seems to fashion the movement from a rhythmic scrap. The form of this movement is quite unique: after the first scherzando section, Beethoven follows, not unexpectedly, with a brilliant trio, after which comes development of the themes. But then there ensues a second scherzando section, trio, and finally a third scherzando.
The movements that follow are also on a high artistic plane, but may seem anticlimactic by comparison. The third, marked Adagio molto e mesto, is dark and tragic, profoundly so. One is reminded of the second movement of the "Eroica" here, even though its character is more funereal and less tragic. This Adagio is emotional, too, with its main theme of sadness, maybe even pity. The second subject does not break the dark atmosphere that grips the movement.
The finale is marked Allegro and subtitled "Thème Russe." Its use of a Russian theme is in deference to its dedicatee, who was the Russian ambassador. This cheerful melody appears at the outset and is based on a folk song. There is some canonic and contrapuntal activity surrounding it almost from the beginning. The finale also features a development section and recapitulation. In general, this movement is light and not quite as complex as the others. Some have found that it does not fit the character of the quartet. In a sense, it is the least persuasive panel in the work, not because of some intrinsic weakness, but owing to its more genial nature. – ©Robert Cummings for ALLMUSIC
Concert 2 - Thursday, July 25, 2019 @ 7:00pm
Franz Joseph Haydn - String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2
George Rochberg - String Quartet No. 3 (1971)
Franz Joseph Haydn - String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2
George Rochberg - String Quartet No. 3 (1971)
PROGRAM & NOTES
String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2 by Franz Joseph Haydn (1732 – 1809)
Allegro moderato
Menuet. Presto & Trio
Andante
Finale. Vivace assai
This is Haydn's final full string quartet. He initially intended his Opus 77 to include the usual six quartets, but the two years he labored on his oratorio The Creation left him no time to complete this commission from Prince Lobkowitz. The later, so-called Opus 103 quartet is merely a two-movement torso.
The quartet at hand, not surprisingly at this point, is full of surprises. Haydn begins with a disarmingly simple, graceful tune carried by the first violin with minimal accompaniment. This is the first subject, and the second, too-Haydn keeps elaborating on it, initially with a mere saturation of notes in the melody line, but before long with richer inner voices as well. The development brings shifting harmonic tension to the theme, completing the metamorphosis of its initially sweet nature-a character that returns, of course, in the straightforward recapitulation.
The quartet's inner movements reverse their usual order. Here the Minuet comes second. It begins with four bars of rough, irregular peasant dancing, providing all the material for the movement's outer sections. In the middle is a lyrical trio that at a slightly slower tempo and with less involved curlicues at the ends of phrases could be a fine lullaby. Unusually for Haydn, this section never comes to a full stop; it wanders into fragments of the Minuet theme, which open up into an abbreviated restatement of the opening section.
The long Andante is not the soothing slow movement we've come to expect by now, but an only slightly low-key piece built from a faintly martial melody. Haydn proceeds to put this theme through its paces, sending it to a genteel boot camp of development, embellishment, counterpoint, and even a few harrowing modulations. Despite all this, the theme itself remains intact throughout and never suffers any significant alteration; all the development takes place in the voices surrounding it.
A polonaise seems to have inspired the finale, Vivace assai, although that rhythm is hard to identify if you're not on the alert. This is another monothematic movement in sonata form, although Haydn's technique of development alternating with repeats of the subject in its original form could also count as a monothematic rondo. The composer manipulates the vigorous theme according to the standards he established in the Andante, keeping the melody clearly audible at all times while thickening its surroundings with counterpoint, imitation, and syncopation. The brief coda takes its leave without much ado, two utilitarian bars of moderate loudness capping a passage that had been growing softer by the phrase. Haydn had no idea this would be his last finished quartet, and had no reason to provide a valedictory ending. – ©James Reel for ALLMUSIC
String Quartet No. 3 (1971) George Rochberg (1918 – 2005)
Part A - I. Introduzione: Fantasia II. March
Part B – III. Variations
Part C - IV. March V. Finale: Scherzos and Serenades
George Rochberg is an important American composer who served as chairman of the music department at the University of Pennsylvania and taught there until 1983. His collected essays were published by the University of Michigan in 1984, and his A Dance of Polar Opposites: The Continuing Transformation of Our Musical Language in 2012 by the University of Rochester Press (edited by composer Jeremy Gill). When George Rochberg died in 2005, The New York Times noted him as “an American composer who broke ranks with the rigorous modernism of the mid-century to write music of rare urgency and candor.” That statement was inspired by Rochberg’s turning away from the Minimalism that he championed in the early 1960s with other composers such as Steve Reich, Philip Glass, and Terry Riley. As its name suggest Minimalism required stripping down music to its bare essentials and focusing instead on its sonic power. While Minimalism has its own emotional effectiveness, it did not suffice for Rochberg to express his grief when his son died of a fatal brain tumor in 1961. He turned instead to what might be called Neo-Romanticism. In Rochberg’s own words, he described this change as “the most potent and effective way to translate my musical energy into the clearest and most direct patterns of feeling and thought.”
Rochberg’s String Quartet No. 3, composed in 1971 and premiered on May 15, 1972 by the Concord String Quartet, is considered an important piece of American music, but its initial reception by musical afficionados was controversial because of its break from Serialism. In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer concerning the Quartet, Rochberg commented: “I was accused of betraying...I was a traitor, a renegade.” He defended his position by saying in his biography, “If you’re going to be a composer, you have to have an iron stomach, fire in the belly, and fire in the brain.” Those comments display themselves in the String Quartet No. 3. Interestingly, composer Jeremy Gill in his introduction to Rochberg’s A Dance of Polar Opposites describes the Quartet as finding “common ground between the tonal and atonal worlds.”
While the Rochberg Quartet No. 3 is often seen as simply having five movements, it is also accurately recognized as being in three parts, with the first two movements as Part A, the third movement Variations as Part B, and the second March and the Finale as Part C. The first two movements of Part A and last two movements of Part C are played without pause.
Despite his claims of rejecting Serialism in his String Quartet No. 3, Rochberg is still notably modern in the first movement Introduzione: Fantasia with its atonalities and demanding string techniques. Modern indeed but with an emotional thrust and a hint of Beethoven. The following March again contains dissonances but also recognizable melodies that might be heard as funereal. The third movement, the longest of the five, is a definite turn from Serialism with its theme and variation form, and it is this movement that is both clearly tragic in its searing effects but also suggestive of happier memories in its melodic moments. Dissonance returns, however, in the fourth movement March which is related to the earlier March of the second movement but with entirely new explorations including the hint of a tragic waltz reminiscent of Ravel. This March might be heard as triumphant rather than funereal. The contrasting notions of a scherzo and a serenade are evident in the Finale where we are disconcertedly pulled back and forth between tragedy and a sense of healing. Oddly, the melodic qualities included in the Serenades come as a surprise. Without question, emotionalism is redefined in Rochberg’s String Quartet No. 3.
©2018 Lucy Miller Murray
Lucy Miller Murray is the author of Chamber Music: An Extensive Guide for Listeners published by Rowman & Littlefield.