A Sextet of Quartets

The PhilomusicaQuartet's next concert is called “Jewish Expressions,” aptly so since thatreligious and cultural quality is shared by all three composers on the program.Felix Mendelssohn's (1809-47) String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 44, No. 1 isone of three in this set and, though composed last, Mendelssohn moved it up tothe leadoff spotno doubt reflecting his own very high regard for the work(“more fiery and grateful for the players,” as he described). The outermovements are brilliantly virtuoso, so much so that Mendelssohn replaced theusual scherzo (fast) movement with a throwback minuet.

The Quartet in C Minoris one of only a handful of works by Ukraine-born American composer SholomSecunda (1894-1974), the composer of the old popular song “Bei Mir Bist DuSchoen” (1932). Though four years younger than Secunda, Viktor Ullmann diedsome 30 years sooner. Despite the fact that both his parents converted toCatholicism before he was born and his father was an army officer for theAustro-Hungarian Empire, this could not save Ullmann from being sent toTheresienstadt concentration camp in 1942. Of his 40-50 works, including pianosonatas, song cycles, operas and a piano concerto, only about a dozen are knownto have survived. One of these is his String Quartet No. 3, Op. 46 (1943). It'sastonishing to think that he was able to work under such circumstances, but ashe explained, “By no means do we sit and weep on the banks of waters of Babylon; our endeavorwith respect to arts was commensurate with our will to live.” Viktor Ullmannwas gassed to death at Auschwitz-Birkenau in 1944.

All three of thequartets above will be performed by the Philomusica Quartet at the WisconsinConservatory of Music on April 11.

The Fine Arts Quartetalso wraps up its season with three quartets by very divergent composers.Though Belgian composer César Franck (1822-1890) is most known for his toweringD Minor Symphony and remarkable organ works, he penned a single quartet.Franck's String Quartet in D Major (1889) came about at a time when he wasabsorbing the late works of Beethoven, a fact that most evinces itself in thequartet's complex and challenging Poco lento – Allegro first movement.

Born in Rostov, Russia,Efrem Zimbalist (1890-1985) was first violinist in his father's orchestra bythe time he was 9. Indeed, he became one of the 20th century's great concertviolinists and, though his own compositions are few, he did manage one quartet:the String Quartet in E Minor.

American composer GeorgeAntheil's (1900-59) works fall into two categories: pre-Hollywood andpost-Hollywood. The former earned him a reputation as an avant-gardist of thefirst rank, the latter as a successful film scorer. Antheil described the newdirection as one in which he sought “to disassociate (himself) from the passémodern schools of the last half-century…” Antheil's String Quartet No. 3(1948), perhaps thankfully for concertgoers, stems from the second half of hiscareer.

This concert takes placeat the UW-Milwaukee Fine Arts Center on April 11.