Presents
Adalbert Gyrowetz
String Quartet in E flat Major, Op.29 No.1
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 E flat Major, Op.29 No.1 is the first of a set of three dating from 1799. Like several of his contemporaries such as Boccherini and Pleyel, his works were quite popular in his day and were published by different publishers in different countries and were often given different opus numbers. The opus 29 quartets originally published in Vienna, for example, were republished in Paris by a different firm and given the opus number of 42. To add to this confusion, yet another firm, this one in Augsburg Germany published a different set of quartets which they numbered as his Op.42.
The opening movement marked Allegro con spirito begins rather surprisingly sotto voce and is not exactly spirited. However, not long thereafter it explodes in rounsing fashion with each voice given a chance to shine. The second movement, Andantino, poco adagio is played muted and has a choral quality. Next comes a haunting Minuetto, allegretto, not at all the sort of minuet one would dance to but more in the nature of a very lively scherzo. The contrasting trio section begins rather laxly but is interrupted by fairy-dance bursts. The finale, Allegretto, is a bright, jovial Haydnesque affair.
This quartet is not only historically important because it sheds light on what other then important composers were doing at the time in Vienna but also because it is pleasing to play and hear. And this set of quartets is especially noteworthy in that many elements found here appear shortly thereafter in Beethoven's Op.18 quartets. Surely this is no accident and something for which Gyrowetz has not been given the credit he deserves.
Parts: $24.95
