Presents
Adalbert Gyrowetz
String Quartet No.3 in B flat Major, Op.1 No.3
Adalbert Gyrowetz (1763-1850) was born in the Bohemian town Budweis, then part of the Austrian Habsburg empire and today known as Budějovice in the Czech Republic. He was also known by the Czech form of his name Jirovec. He studied violin and voice with his father, a choirmaster. Gyrowetz traveled throughout Europe, residing for periods in Vienna, Paris, London, Rome, Naples and several other major European cities. He knew and was friendly with Haydn and Mozart, the former whose style his closely resembles. Several of Gyrowetz's symphonies were published under Haydn's name by unscrupulous publishers trying to make an extra buck. Mozart thought enough of Gyrowetz's symphonies to perform several of them in concerts in Vienna. Gyrowetz, like most of his contemporaries, was a prolific composer writing some 400 works, among them 60 symphonies, and hundreds of chamber works including approximately sixty string quartets. While today, he has been forgotten and his music consigned to oblivion, this was not always the case. A friend of both Haydn and Beethoven--he was a pallbearer at Ludwig's funeral--his music was held in respect and frequently performed with theirs throughout Europe and even in North America.
The String Quartet in B flat Major, Op.1 No.3 is the third of a set of six he composed while living in Rome and working for Prince Alessandro Ruspoli. It dates from the mid-late 1780s. As the opus number suggests this is an early work. Interestingly, on the first edition by the publisher Janet et Cotelle, the title page of the work states " élève de Haydn", i.e. pupil of Haydn. Neither Gyrowetz in his detailed autobiography nor any other source lists him as having studied with Haydn, although it is not impossible and the two were very good friends. If anything, it may mean in the spirit of Haydn. Interestingly, the quartet is only in three movements, fast-slow-fast with no minuet, following the practice of the Mannheim School of Stamitz, rather than in four which was pioneered by Haydn and Mozart around 1780. But this innovation did take a while to catch on and composers, other than Beethoven who did study with Beethoven in the 1780s, was not adopted by other leading composers in Vienna such as the Wranitzky and Franz Krommer until around 1800. The Quartet begins with a Haydnesque Allegro moderato, of the type Haydn was composing in the 1770s. However, there are certain difference that Haydn did not generally employ such as the use of pizzicato in such movements. In the middle is a singing Adagio cantabile. The finale is simply marked Rondo, but it is clearly a lively, tuneful allegro.
Gyrowetz composed quartets over much of the course of his life and his style did evolve from the Mannheim School to the late Viennese Classical as espoused by Mozart and Haydn. As such it is not only important because it sheds light on how he would develop but also on its own because it is pleasing to play and hear. It would make a fine substitute for an early Haydn work in concert.
Parts: $19.95
