In-Depth - Jerusalem Quartet Program

On the Jerusalem Quartet program:

String Quartet in C Major, Op. 54, “Tost”, No. 2 (1788) …………………………………...Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)

String Quartet No. 1, “Kreutzer Sonata” (1923)……………………………………………..Leoš Janáček (1854–1928)

String Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, “Razumovsky,” No.1 (1806) …………………………Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)

ABOUT THE JERUSALEM QUARTET

As noted above, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven all wrote works in related “sets,” including the “Sun,” “Haydn,” and “Razumovsky” string quartets, respectively. Many received nicknames from people other than the composers for various reasons. Haydn, “father of the string quartet,” wrote 68, so he was able to create many more sets.

His Op. 20 “Sun,” Op. 33 “Russian”, Op. 50 “Prussian,” and Op. 76 “Erdoddy,” all with six each, are the most highly regarded. The Op. 50 set was dedicated to King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, an amateur cellist. No. 1 in B-Flat opens with the cello and gives it many great moments.

Highlights of the 2023/2024 season included tours of Sweden, Great Britain, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Paris, Lisbon, and Amsterdam. Beyond their regular programs, they brought back the “Yiddish Cabaret” and performed a Bartok cycle. North American tours included concerts in Montreal, Pittsburgh, Houston, Tucson, Palm Beach, Miami, New Orleans, Denver, Los Angeles and New York.

ABOUT THE PROGRAM

Quartet in B-Flat Major, Op 50, “Prussian,” No. 1 (1787)
Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)

As noted above, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven all wrote works in related “sets,” including the “Sun,” “Haydn,” and “Razumovsky” string quartets, respectively. Many received nicknames from people other than the composers for various reasons. Haydn, “Father of the String Quartet,” wrote 68 and so created many more sets. His Op. 20 “Sun,” Op. 33 “Russian”, Op. 50 “Prussian,” and Op. 76 “Erdoddy,” all with six each, are the most highly regarded. The Op. 50 set was dedicated to King Friedrich Wilhelm of Prussia, an amateur cellist. No. 1 in B-Flat opens with the cello and gives it many great moments.

Quartet No. 15 in E-Flat Minor, Op. 144 (1974) Dmitri Shostakovich (1906–1975)

For many, Shostakovich’s fifteen string quartets represent a cycle of artistic devotion and intense, intimate expression second only to Beethoven’s. For him, they were an escape from the public and highly scrutinized genres of opera, symphony, ballet, or film score where a negative judgment by Soviet authorities threatened danger. Here, he could express himself more naturally and honestly, and as with late Beethoven, the music is often deeply personal, introspective, and vividly autobiographical. He planned a set of twenty-four quartets, one in each major and minor key, but ran out of time. Suffering from an aggressive cancer and frequently hospitalized, Shostakovich completed his 15th and last string quartet at the age of 68 in 1974, less than a year before he died.

Quartet No. 19 in C Major, K. 465 “Dissonance” (1785)
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756–1791)

Gramophone ranks the “Dissonance” among the ten greatest string quartets ever written. It is the sixth and last of a set completed in early 1785 and dedicated to Haydn, who had published his milestone Op. 33 set three years before. “Dissonance” comes from a lack of harmony early in the first movement. His publisher returned the score to Mozart, imagining that there were mistakes. On hearing them play it, a Count called his musicians incompetent. Haydn famously said, “If Mozart wrote it, he must have meant it.”