STRING QUARTET IN B-FLAT MAJOR, OP. 50, NO. 1, HOB.III:44 (1787)

Josef Haydn (b. Rohrau, Lower Austria, March 31, 1732; d. Vienna, May 31, 1809)

Composed 1787; 22 minutes

From 1761 to 1790 Josef Haydn wore the official livery of the Esterházy family in the town of Eisenstadt and at their country estate, Esterháza, in the Burgenland east of Vienna. For the first four years he served as vice-Kapellmeister, and upon the death of his supervisor, Haydn assumed the role of Kapellmeister to Prince Nicholas’ Esterházy court.

The private, 400-seat theater at Esterháza hosted several performances weekly, keeping Haydn and his orchestra, which he conducted either from the keyboard or the first violinist’s chair, in a constant flurry of rehearsals and performances. The Prince’s resident orchestra comprised ca. two dozen instrumentalists, including a flutist, pairs of oboists and bassoonists, two hornists, five violinists, two cellists and a bassist, with many of them doubling on other instruments as needed.

In addition to serving as music director, administrator, teacher, librarian and general music factotum, Haydn was contractually obliged to compose fresh music every week, year in and year out. During his tenure the already well-stocked Esterháza music library (Prince Nicholas was an avid amateur baryton player) grew significantly: most of Haydn’s 83 string quartets, scores of other chamber works, about 80 of his 104 symphonies, many works for keyboard, most of his operas (composed for Esterháza’s two opera houses) and other music dramas (including works for the private marionette theater) stem from that period.

Small wonder, then, that Haydn’s reputation grew enormously during his three decades in residence at Esterháza. Although the estate was out in the country, it was by no means isolated from the world. Its royal elegance and hospitality attracted countless wealthy and sophisticated visitors, all of whom returned to their far-flung homes with admiring reports of Josef Haydn and his music.

To the north, King Frederick William of Prussia, like Prince Nicholas of Esterháza, was an avid amateur musician. He so admired Haydn’s music that he sent the composer an enthusiastic letter praising his “Paris” symphonies. In the letter, King William enclosed a golden ring as a token of his regard. In response, Haydn contacted his publisher Artaria in Vienna, requesting that upon completion, he would like to dedicate his most recent set of six string quartets to the Prussian king. As a result, that set of pieces (published as Op. 50 and now cataloged as Hoboken III:44-49) has acquired the title, “Prussian Quartets.”

In tribute to the Prussian king’s considerable ability as a cellist, Haydn included in the Op. 50 quartets a number of significant passages for that instrument. He assigned to the cello alone, in fact, the first two measures of the first quartet’s opening movement. King Frederick surely recognized the great compliment that Haydn intended.

Like the other five quartets of Op. 50, the B-flat major No. 1 is cast in four movements, slow-fast-slow-fast. Three of the four are firmly based in the tonic key of B-flat, with the second movement, Adagio non lento, moving to the sub-dominant key of E-flat major. The quartet as a whole exhibits Haydn’s skill in excavating the rich potential buried in his primary thematic materials. His melodic and harmonic inventions belie the fact that he derives much of the quartet’s substance from the tonic key, B-flat.

MAYFLOWER FOR STRING QUINTET

Xavier Dubois Foley  (b. Marietta, Georgia, 1994)

Composed 2024

Mr. Foley will speak about his new composition from the stage.

Chamber Music Pittsburgh, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, Rockport Music, Spivey Hall and the Howard Hanson Institute for American Music at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester commissioned Mayflower for String Quintet for the Ying Quartet.

STRING QUINTET NO. 2 IN G MAJOR, OP. 77 (1875, rev. 1888)

Antonín Dvořák (b. Nelahozeves, near Prague, Bohemia, September 8, 1841; d. Prague, May 1, 1904)

Composed 1875, revised 1888; 36 minutes

Antonín Dvořák’s reputation grew from an inauspicious birth and upbringing in a small Bohemian town a few miles north of Prague to international renown and worldwide respect. Largely self-taught and lacking local support for his talents, he left Nelahozeves at the age of sixteen and entered the Prague Organ School, intending to become a professional church musician.

Supporting himself as an organist and an orchestra violist, Dvořák began to compose music. In July 1874 at age 33, he submitted fifteen of his compositions for a competition promoted by the Austrian State Stipendium to “assist young, poor and talented artists.” The competition’s panel awarded the not-so-young Bohemian a cash prize of 400 gulden, considerably more than his annual salary as the organist at St. Adalbert’s church. Dvořák’s music so impressed Johannes Brahms, one of the jurors, that he became Dvořák’s enthusiastic, lifelong champion and friend. He later recommended Dvořák to his own publisher, Simrock, in Berlin.

Buoyed by his success, Dvořák once again entered a competition, this one specifically designated for submissions of chamber music. He began work on the G-major String Quintet in January 1875 and completed it within two months, in time to meet the March 15 deadline. Although he had composed a string quintet previously, this time Dvořák dared a new combination of instruments. Instead of writing for the more familiar quintet ensemble of two violins, two violas and a cello, he composed his G-major quintet for two violins, viola, cello and double bass. He won first prize, and the new work received its premier performance in Prague in 1876.

Simrock, in Berlin, published the G-major Quintet twelve years later in 1887. Since Dvořák had already added it to his own works catalog as Op. 18, some confusion arose about the age of the quintet. By labeling it “Opus 77,” Simrock had hoped to convince the public that this was a new composition. (This was not the only time Dvořák had reason to quarrel with Simrock, but that is a story involving Dvořák’s Bohemian ire vs. the German publisher’s resistance for another day.) The reliable income that Simrock generated spoke its own language.

In 1888, Dvořák revised his second quintet by deleting one of its original five movements, the Intermezzo. He felt that this slow movement, in addition to the Poco andante, made the performance too long. (Dvořák later re-arranged the deleted Intermezzo as a Nocturne for Strings.) Despite its increased length, some ensembles still include the Intermezzo in performing the Op. 77 Quintet.

The rich depth of the double bass in the ensemble makes for a unique sound throughout the work. In its opening statement the brooding bass engages the livelier strings in a brief conversation. The bright G major turns dark through occasional digressions into the minor mode, but the first movement closes with a joyous coda.

As a lively dance in folk style, the Scherzo bears Dvořák’s unmistakable signature. The Poco andante, beginning in C major, settles into a rocking, gentle lullaby mood. The upper strings trade lyrical phrases over the bass’s steady support. Finally, the fourth movement, a rondo, plays with the rhythmic figures from the first movement to create a lively Finale.

— Program notes by Sandra Hyslop