Presents
Franz Lachner
String Quartet No.2 in A Major, Op.76
Franz Lachner (1803-90) was born in Rain am Lech, a small Bavarian town and trained in Munich. He is the older brother of Ignaz, whose works we also publish. In 1823, by winning a musical competition, Lachner was awarded a position as an organist in a church in Vienna. In Vienna, he met Schubert. “We two, Schubert and I, spent most of our time together sketching new compositions. We were the closest of friends, mornings performing for each other and discussing in depth every imaginable topic with the greatest of candor.” It should come as no surprise then that Schubert influenced Lachner’s musical compositions more than anyone else. He left Vienna in 1834 and returned to Munich where he remained the rest of his life, serving as Conductor of the Royal Bavarian Orchestra from 1834 to 1868. He also held the position of Professor of Composition at the Royal Conservatory. Lachner's string quartets were much admired and often performed. Mendelssohn was fascinated by them and Schumann called Lachner the most talented composer in southern Germany. Writing twenty years later, Tchaikovsky noted that Lachner had to be placed near the pinnacle of fine composers.
String Quartet No.2 in A Major, Op.76 dates from 1844. The opening Allegro reveals how Lachner, like his friend Schubert, was clearly a child of the Viennese classical school. The writing is straight-forward and melodious. There is a certain Schubertesque naiveté to the music. The calm Adagio, though exhibiting no great depth of feeling, is nonetheless very beautiful. The chromatic and exciting Scherzo, Allegro assai is a kind of moto perpetual. A marvelous, singing solo graces the trio section. This is a superb movement. The main theme of the finale, an Allegro in 2/4, exhibits a rolling motion of the sort Schubert employed in his last quartet, D.887. A more lyrical subject serves as the second theme.
This early-mid Romantic quartet is sure to appeal to amateur and professional alike and would certainly not be out of place in the concert hall where a fresh work from this era is required.
Parts: $24.95
Parts & Score: $34.95
