Presentation Slides

The String Quartet
A LIFE Institute Course
Session Three
Bob Fabian
http://LIFEcourses.ca/Quartet
Carryover – The Baryton
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zl6yZL4XqDE
Focus: 2 Troubled Giants
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“The two most played string quartet composers” ...
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Franz Schubert 1797-1828
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Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827
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Troubled family background
Great lyrical power
Father a drunken tyrant
Great emotional depth
Not just Germans – also French Jadin brothers
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Hyacinthe Jadin 1776-1800
Louis-Emmanuel Jadin 1768-1853
World Events 1811 - 1820
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1811: Independence declared in Venezuela, Bolivia & Columbia
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1812: Luddites begin to destroy English spinning machinery
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1812: War between England (Canada) and the United States
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1812: Napoleon's disastrous invasion of Russia begins
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1813: Laura Secord walks 20 miles to warn Canada
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1814: Negotiated treaty ends North American War of 1812
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1815: Russian and Prussian forces enter Paris
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1815: Mount Tambora, Indonesia, spews enough ash to cause
famine during the next year (serious temperature drop)
1819: 60,000 English gather to demand universal suffrage
Franz Schubert 1797-1828
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Father ran an Austrian boy's school
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Musical talent not respected by his father
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Rebelled, left teaching at age 21
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Nicknamed Schwammerl (A Little Mushroom)
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Only small circle of musical admirers
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Appreciation came only after death
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Composed
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600+ songs (piano & voice)
20 stage works
7 complete symphonies
20 string quartets
Documentary
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZtXp0iwCDQ
Death & the Maiden, Matthias Claudius
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Das Mädchen:
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The Maiden:
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Vorüber! Ach, vorüber!
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Pass me by! Oh, pass me by!
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Geh, wilder Knochenmann!
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Go, fierce man of bones!
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Ich bin noch jung! Geh, lieber,
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I am still young! Go, rather,
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Und rühre mich nicht an.
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And do not touch me.
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Und rühre mich nicht an.
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And do not touch me.
Der Tod:
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Death:
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Gib deine Hand, du schön und
zart Gebild!
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Give me your hand, you beautiful
and tender form!
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Bin Freund, und komme nicht, zu
strafen.
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I am a friend, and come not to
punish.
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Sei gutes Muts! ich bin nicht wild,
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Be of good cheer! I am not fierce,
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Sollst sanft in meinen Armen
schlafen!
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Softly shall you sleep in my arms!
Death & the Maiden, song
Schubert, Op. 7, No. 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DgvM0g4fGBE
Quartet Explained & Illustrated
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Obz-GP6_q2U
Just the quartet ...
String Quartet No 14 D minor Death and the Maiden Alban Berg Quartet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udeeqbCI9mM
Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827
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Grandfather, Ludwig van Beethoven, was successful
musician
Father, Johann van Beethoven, was much less
successful
But Johann had visions of his Ludwig being a second
Mozart
1792 studied with Joseph Haydn in Vienna; played JS
Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier at van Swieten's salon
1793 established reputation as piano virtuoso
Became increasingly deaf and increasingly
cantankerous
Revered as one of Europe's most profound composers
Fiercely Independent Romantic
“What you are, is by accident of birth;
What I am, I created myself.
There are, and have been, thousands of princes;
There is only one Beethoven.”
Ludwig van Beethoven
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The artist exists to serve his art (and mankind)
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He may need patronage, but the art comes first
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A new 19th century view of art and the artist
BBC Explains Beethoven
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNoZw6Im86k
Beethoven late String Quartets
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Opus 127: String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat major (1825)
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Opus 130: String Quartet No. 13 in B-flat major (1825)
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Opus 131: String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor (1826)
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Opus 132: String Quartet No. 15 in A minor (1825)
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Opus 133: Große Fuge in B-flat major for string quartet
(1826), originally the finale to Op. 130
Opus 135: String Quartet No. 16 in F major (1826)
His last major, completed compositions
Great Fugue (animated score)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s0Mp7LFI-k
from Royalty-Free Classical Music (dot com)
Great Performance of Great Fugue
Alban Berg Qurrtet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XEZXjW_s0Qs
And a version for orchestra ...
NDR Sinfonie-Orchester
Christoph von Dohnányi, conductor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_weEGDmtpSI`
Vienna was the centre, but ...
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Musicians did travel widely
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London featured Handel, Haydn & Mendelssohn
The Russian court drew artists to St. Petersburg
Example: The Jadin brothers
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Louis-Emmanuel Jadin 1768 -1853
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Hyacinthe Jadin 1776 – 1800
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Born in Versailles, head of Paris Conservatory
Born in Versailles, moved to Paris
Two of five musically gifted brothers
Louis-Emmanuel Jadin
String Quartet No. 2 in F minor (published 1814)
Quartetto Manfredi
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=arcbfhIkr4o
Hyacinthe Jadin
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String Trio in G-Dur Op.2/2 (1797)
members of Takeuchi String Quartet
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mPehAjh6rjM
Coming … (current plan)
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Next week – Feb 24
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Week Five – Mar 2
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Felix & Fanny Mendelssohn
Robert & Clara Schumann
Johannes Brahms
Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky
Week Six – Mar 9
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Benjamin Britten
Heitor Villa-Lobos
plus a few extras
Ending Bon-Bon ...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT3SBzmDxGk