Presents
Adalbert Gyrowetz
String Quintet in C Major, Op.36
For 2 Violins, 2 Violas and Violoncello
To paraphrase Bruce Lamott, Adalbert Gyrowetz (1763-1850) was the "Zelig" of music history. Like the lead character of Woody Allen's movie Zelig, Gyrowetz was everywhere and knew everyone worth knowing. He was born in the Bohemian town Budweis, then part of the Austrian Habsburg empire and today known as Budějovice in the Czech Republic. He is sometimes, though not often, known by the Czech form of his name Vojtěch Jírovec. 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. Among his friends and acquaintances were Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin, Goethe and Napoleon to name but a few. His style closely resembles that of Haydn and several of his 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 at 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 60 string quartets. While today, he has been forgotten and his music consigned to oblivion, this was not always the case. A close friend of both Haydn and Beethoven--he was a pallbearer at Ludwig's funeral--his music was held in respect and frequently performed on the same programs with theirs throughout Europe and even in North America.
Haydn when asked why he never wrote a string quintet is supposed to have replied that he had never been asked for one. His friend Adalbert Gyrowetz wrote at least two that we know of and perhaps as many as six. It is not a stretch by any means to consider Gyrowetz'shis String Quintet in C Major, Op.36 as the kind of work that Haydn might have written had he actually written a quintet. The work dates from the late 1790s and, like so many of Gyrowetz's works, was in its time immensely popular as evidenced by the fact that it was brought out by at least three of Europe's leading music publishers--Sieber in Paris, Andre in Offenbach and Gombart in Augsburg. The first movement begins with a somber Adagio introduction which leads to the main section, a lively Allegro which features lengthy running passages in all of the voices. The second movement is a noble, march-like Andante, played sotto voce. Third is a typically Viennese Minuetto, featuring an interesting pizzicato accompaniment in the lower voices. The finale, Allegretto, is playful and full of energy with tinges of Italian melody.
This quintet is historically important because few other important composers active in Vienna in the 1780s and 1790s, other than Mozart, were writing string quintets. Gyrowetz's quintets, along with those of Franz Krommer and also Paul and Anton Wranitzky, were really the only others of any significance from this period. This is pleasing work to play and hear. Concert performance would not be amiss and it can be warmly recommended to home music makers.
Parts: $29.95
