string quartet

This week we are delving into the wonderfully strange world of Russian Futurism; a genre short-lived but produced many thought-provoking and enjoyable pieces. Alexander Mosolov (1900-1973) is a lesser-known composer today, but was a champion of the Soviet avant-garde, particularly in his early works.   Born in Kiev and raised in Moscow, Mosolov attended the Moscow Conservatory and studied piano and...

Sir Donald Francis Tovey (July 19, 1875 - July 10, 1940) was a British musicologist, composer, conductor, and pianist. He was privately tutored as a child, and showed great musical talent, which was nurtured under the guidance of Sophie Weisse, a music teacher from Scotland. Through her he met many musicians, and enjoyed a career as a pianist. Tovey secured...

Frank Bridge (Feb. 26, 1879 - Jan. 10, 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor. Born in Brighton, he attended the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903, and was active as a violist in several string quartets. He also did a bit of conducting for awhile before devoting himself to composition, with one of his most...

Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (Dec. 25, 1745 – June 10, 1799) was a composer, violinist, and conductor, born to George Bologne de Saint-Georges, a wealthy married planter, and Anne dites Nanon, his wife's African slave. Though born in Guadeloupe, his father took him to France when he was a child, where he was educated, and he became a skilled fencer. Later on he joined the Légion St.-Georges during the French Revolution, the first all-black regiment in Europe. Continue reading →

Alexander von Zemlinsky (Oct. 14, 1871 - March 15, 1942) was born in Vienna, Austria, and played the piano from a young age. Admitted to the Vienna Conservatory in 1884, and won the school's piano prize in 1890. He began writing in1892, when he started studying theory with Robert Fuchs, and composition with Johann Nepomuk Fuchs and Anton Bruckner. Continue reading →

A few weeks ago, we took a look at the Cello Sonata of Ethel Smyth, an English composer of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today we look once again at her writing for strings, this time the String Quartet in E minor, from 1914. Continue reading →

Many talented Russian composers have slid from the memories of the rest of the world over the past century, which leaves us with a lot of gems to discover in their works. Today we look at one of those works that has faded from the repertoire - Sergey Taneyev’s String Quartet No. 5, Op. 13. Taneyev was a composition student of Tchaikovsky’s at the Moscow Conservatory, as well as a piano student of Edward Langer, who created virtuosic arrangements of many of Tchaikovsky’s works for multiple piano players. While Taneyev came from an era of Russian nationalism in music, he rejected this emotional and, at times, bombastic style for a more technical language more in line with European composers of the time. His music shows the influence he had on future generations of Russians, including students Rachamaninoff and Scriabin. Continue reading →