Gewandhaus Quartet

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The Gewandhaus-Quartett (also: Leipziger Gewandhaus-Quartett ) is a string quartet ensemble that was founded in 1808. It was one of the first professional quartets in the world. In its over 200-year history, he has had many world premieres.

history

From the existing Gewandhaus Orchestra a quartet was formed in 1808 (probably following the example of the Schuppanzigh Quartet in Vienna ) to perform chamber music , which at that time was in bloom with works by Mozart , Haydn and increasingly Beethoven . Since then it has consisted of the soloists and concert masters of the Gewandhaus. This is to guarantee consistently high quality.

occupation

The original line-up consisted of Heinrich August Matthäi (1781-1835), who is considered the founder of the quartet, Bartolomeo Campagnoli (1751-1827), who was concertmaster of the Gewandhaus Orchestra at that time , and the musicians Johann Georg Hermann Voigt (1769-1811) and Friedrich Dotzauer (1783-1860). Contrary to what was to be expected, Matthäi and not Campagnoli sat at the first desk, although he was only his deputy as concertmaster (Matthäi became first concertmaster in 1816). After Matthäi died in 1835, Ferdinand David (1810–1873) took over the quartet and its position as concertmaster the following year.

The Gewandhaus Quartet around 1920 with the line-up of Edgar Wollgandt , Carl Wolschke, Carl Herrmann and Julius Klengel

In the course of its 200-year history, which was only interrupted shortly after the Second World War, the quartet had over 100 members. The occupation was far from static. So it also happened that competing formations were formed that appeared in the Gewandhaus. So z. B. under Henri Petri (1856–1914) and Adolph Brodsky (1851–1929) or Edgar Wollgandt (1880–1949) and Kurt Stiehler (1910–1981). In most cases, however, these were only short phases of transition.

Other important members of the quartet were: Carl Traugott Queisser (1800–1846), Joseph Joachim (1831–1907), Engelbert Röntgen (1829–1897), Julius Klengel (1859–1933), Gerhard Bosse (1922–2012) and Karl Suske (* 1934).

The quartet also played with other important soloists, including Clara Schumann , Johannes Brahms , Edvard Grieg , Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy , Arthur Nikisch and many more

The current line-up (2020) consists of:

World premieres

Claudius Böhm, who has researched the history of the quartet, is in favor of the Gewandhaus quartet having a high probability that the world premiere of Beethoven's string quartet in E flat major, Op. 74 is attributable. Many more chamber music pieces will be premiered afterwards. Bartholdy's quartets in E flat major, Op. 44/3 and D major Op. 32 and Robert Schumann 's Quartet in A minor Op. 41/1 as well as the piano quintet and quartet in E flat major Op. 44 and E flat major Op. 47. Other premiered compositions are by Niels Gade , Louis Spohr , Anton Rubinstein , Max Bruch , Salomon Jadassohn , Ethel Smyth , Felix Weingartner , Hermann Ambrosius , Antonín Dvořák , Siegfried Thiele , Günter Kochan and many others

Awards

literature

  • Claudius Böhm: The Gewandhaus Quartet. Kamprad, Altenburg 2008

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Gewandhaus Quartet. In: Website of the Gewandhaus Orchestra. Retrieved April 1, 2020 .
  2. International Mendelssohn Prize in Leipzig 2014