Presents
Ignaz Lachner
String Quartet No.1 in F Major, Op.43-New Edition
Ignaz Lachner (1807-1895) was the second of the three famous Lachner brothers. (there were some 16 children in all) His older brother Franz was the best known, having heavily traded on his youthful friendship with Franz Schubert, certainly more than Ignaz who also knew Schubert. Ignaz was taught (as were the others) organ, piano and violin. Upon the latter instrument, he was somewhat of a prodigy, but despite this, his father insisted he become a teacher. After his father’s death, he studied violin with Bernhard Molique, a violin virtuoso and then joined his brother Franz in Vienna where he too befriended and was influenced by Schubert, not to mention Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Though primarily known as a conductor, Lachner composed a considerable amount of music, much of it chamber music, including seven string quartets. His place in music is as a "Classicist-Romantic". His quartets achieved considerable popularity in their time by virtue of their fetching melodies and effective harmonies.
Lachner's String Quartet No.1 in F Major, Op.43 dates from 1858 and was dedicated to his friend, the German composer Ernst Pauer. Despite the fact that String Quartet No.1 was written well into the Romantic period, it is music which still is very close to Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert in spirit. The air of the Vienna Classical period permeates the work, but is filtered through and does show the evidence of the developments of early Romanticism. The expansive Allegro moderato, which serves as the opening movement, has for its main theme a lovely singing melody worthy of his friend Schubert. Along the way there are exciting operatic episodes which follow. The second movement, Adagio, has a noble folk melody which is calm and delicate. Third comes an slinky Scherzo, allegro molto, with tremendous forward motion. The lively finale, Presto non troppo in 6/8 recalls similar Schubertian movements of this type. This quartet, as well as all of Lachner's chamber music, could best be summed up by what he said at age 87, the year before he died, " To the very end I have been true to the classic composers of Vienna I admired so much."
Our new edition is based on the original Schott publication of 1858. While it ought to be heard in concert, it will surely give great pleasure to amateur quartet groups.
Parts: $24.95
Parts & Score: $33.95
