Presents
Ferdinand Thieriot
String Quartet in g minor, Op. Post.
Ferdinand Thieriot (1838-1919), five years younger than Brahms, was not only born in Hamburg, but also studied with the same teacher, Eduard Marxein. The two knew each other from their Hamburg days and remained on friendly terms. After Hamburg, Thieriot finished his studies in Munich with Joseph Rheinberger and then moved to Vienna where his friend Brahms was instrumental in helping him obtain the position of Styrian Music Director in the provincial capital of Graz where he worked between 1870-85. Later, Thieriot held important positions in Leipzig and Hamburg where he remained from 1902 until his death. For the most part, Thieriot remained true to the classical traditions which preceded him and took Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn and Schumann as his models. Only toward the end of his life did he his work show some of the influence of the "New German Music" of Wagner and Liszt. Thieriot wrote a great deal of chamber music, most of it of very high quality. Wilhelm Altmann, one of the most influential and perceptive chamber music critics of all time, writing of Thieriot's chamber music, states: "Thieriot's chamber music is without exception noble and pure. He writes with perfect comand of form and expression." This was written nearly 20 years after Thieriot's death. During his lifetime, critics uniformly praised his chamber music works for their high quality, for his gift of melody and the effectiveness of his writing. And yet, all of this praise turned out to be ephermeral as his music quickly disappeared from the concert stage and his fine music was unjustly forgotten along with that of so many other fine composers from the Romantic era.
Only two of Ferdinand Thieriot's string quartets were ever published during his lifetime. (we have reprinted his String Quartet No.2 in C Major) He wrote at least 12 string quartets. When he retired in 1902 and moved back to Hamburg, he took all of his unpublished manuscripts with him. And shortly before his death, he made arrangements for them to be deposited in what is now known as the library of the Staats-und Universitätsbibliothek Hamburg Carl von Ossietzky. (The University Library of Hamburg generally known as the SUB). We wish to thank the librarians of the SUB who helped us to find and obtain a copy of the manuscript to this string quartet without which we could not have made it available.
It is our opinion that this quartet dates from 1867 when Thieriot was working as a music teacher in Leipzig. This surmise is based in part on the fact that Thieriot wrote Leipzig at the end of the manuscript score. It is true that he was also working in Leipzig some 30 years later in 1897, but judging from the style, it more closely resembles works from the earlier date. In four movements, the lyrical first movement Allegro moderato, has a rather heavy, somewhat melancholy main them. A second subject is brighter. The second movement, Adagio, presents a simple, almost naive, folk melody. This is interrupted by a dramatic, turbulent interlude before calm returns. A playful, upbeat Intermezzo, poco allegro comes next. The finale, Vivace, is a syncopated exotic dance-like rondo.
This quartet can be warmly recommended to amateurs as it presents no technical difficulties, is tuneful, with good part-writing for all.
Parts: $24.95
Parts & Score: $33.95
