String Quartet No. 3
| Full title | String Quartet No. 3 in A Major op. 4 / 3. Streichquartett A-Dur op. 4 | |
| Date composed | 1909 | |
| Details |
Innig bewegt Kräftig bewegt Sehr langsam Stürmisch Composition completed September 1909. Weigl opens the fourth movement with a paraphrase of the rhythmic opening of the Scherzo of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. The work was awarded the Beethoven Prize by Vienna's Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in 1910. Dedication: Meinem Lehrer Alexander von Zemlinsky. Performance duration: ca. 33 min. Note: Weigl usually gave his works opus numbers only at the time of publication; in this case he assigned the opus number 4 in further homage to the work's dedicatee, Alexander Zemlinsky, whose first string quartet was in A Major and carried the opus number 4. |
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| Manuscript sources | NYPL JOB 73-134, working holograph score (34 pages), with composer's note on title page: Wien, September 1909; and a completion date after the final cadence of each movement—after movement 1: 28./V. 1909; movement 2: 13./VII. 1909; movement 3: 31./VII.; and movement 4: KW 29./IX. 1909. See also LOC-MA, box/folder 61/7, complete set of Weigl's sketches (72 pages). | |
| Publication details | Universal Edition, 1911: U.E. 2929 (miniature score); and U.E. 2930 (performance parts). | |
| Availabiity | Score and parts available from ACA and KWF. | |
| Recordings | Artis Quartet (CD: Orfeo C216901A; 1999). Chester Quartet (LP: Stolat SZM 0121; 1981). |
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| Listen |
String Quartet No. 3: movement 4, Sehr langsam |
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Performances (click
icon to expand or collapse list)| 1910*** | Vienna: Rosé Quartet (Arnold Rosé, Paul Fischer, Anton Ruzitska, Anton Walter). |
| 8 November 1919 | Vienna, Komponisten-Abend Carl Prohaska—Karl Weigl: Wiener Konzerthaus Quartet (August Jancovich, Heinrich Graeser, Karl Doktor, Hugo Kreisler). Also on program: Prohaska, String Quintet in E Minor op. 16 and Pierrot Lunaire op. 14. |
| 5 June 1928 | Vienna Musikalischer Tee im Unterrichtsministerium: Sedlak-Winter Quartet (Fritz Sedlak et al.). |
| 30 November 1979 | Rochester, NY, Eastman School of Music: Chester Quartet (Peter Matzka, Susan Freier, Melissa Matson, Thomas Rosenberg). |
| 8 December 1979 | New York, Carnegie Recital Hall: Chester Quartet (Peter Matzka, Susan Freier, Melissa Matson, Thomas Rosenberg). |
| 20 January 1980 | Rochester, NY, Eastman School of Music: Chester Quartet (Peter Matzka, Susan Freier, Melissa Matson, Thomas Rosenberg). |
| 2 October 1980 | South Bend, Indiana, University of Indiana, Roxy Grove Hall, Distinguished Artist Series, Concert 1: Chester String Quartet (Peter Matzka, Susan Freier, Melissa Matson, Thomas Rosenberg). |
| 3 September 1987 | Detroit, Michigan, Wayne State University, Community Arts Auditorium, The Karl Weigl Festival, concert 3: String Quartet No. 3 and String Quartet No. 5 (New World String Quartet [Curtis Macomber, Vahn Armstrong, Robert Dan, Ross Harbaugh]). Also on program: Berg, Lyric Suite. |
| 12 September 1987 | New York, Merkin Hall, The Unbroken Tradition—Karl Weigl in Vienna and in Exile, concert 2: String Quartet No. 3 and String Quartet No. 5 (New World String Quartet [Curtis Macomber, Vahn Armstrong, Robert Dan, Ross Harbaugh]). Also on program: Alban Berg, Lyric Suite. |
| 12 February 1988 | Cambridge, Massachusetts, Blodgett Chamber Music Series at Harvard, Compositions by Karl Weigl: String Quartet No. 3 (New World String Quartet [Curtis Macomber, Vahn Armstrong, Robert Dan, Ross Harbaugh]). Three Songs for mezzo-soprano and string quartet (Hilda Harris and New World String Quartet), Five Songs for soprano and string quartet (Nancy Armstrong and New World String Quartet), and String Quartet No. 5. |
| 15 April 1988 | London, South Bank, Purcell Room, Emigrés-A Mahler Link, A Weekend’s Celebration on the South Bank of the Music of Berthold Goldschmidt and Karl Weigl, concert 1: Three Songs for contralto and string quartet (Annemarie Sand and Hanson String Quartet); Viola Sonata (Tim Boulton and Shelagh Sutherland), Six songs for contralto—Sappho an Apoll, Liebesreime I, Ode an Salene, Encore, Liebesreime II, and Blaue Nacht (Annemarie Sand and Shelagh Sutherland); String Quartet No. 3 (Hanson String Quartet). |
| 23 August 1989 | Stift Altenburg, Austria, Karl Weigl Symposium: Österreichisches Streichquartett. Also on program: Mozart, String Quartet G Major, KV 387. |
| 30 November 1989 | Vienna, Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde, Brahmssaal: Artis Quartet (Peter Schuhmayer, Johannes Meissl, Herbert Kefer, Othmar Müller). Also on program: Mozart, String Quartet in B Major KV 458; Stravinsky, Three Pieces and Concertino. |
| 1 December 1989 | Chicago, University of Chicago, Goodspeed Recital Hall, Viennese Crosscurrents, Karl Weigl, Neo- Romanticism, and the Modernist Movement, concert 1: String Quartet No. 5 (Chester String Quartet [Fritz Gearhart, Glenn Basham, Ronald Gorevic, Thomas Rosenberg]); Five Songs for soprano and string quartet (Kati Guerra and Chester String Quartet); String Quartet No. 3 (Chester String Quartet). |
| October 1990 | Switzerland: Artis Quartet (Peter Schumayer, Johannes Meissl, Herbert Kefer, Othmar Müller). |
| 18 June 1998 | Vienna: Artis Quartet (Peter Schumayer, Johannes Meissl, Herbert Kefer, Othmar Müller). |
| 21 October 2000 | London, Wigmore Hall: Artis Quartet (Peter Schumayer, Johannes Meissl, Herbert Kefer, Othmar Müller). |
| 4 January 2008 | Long Island, New York, Mahwah Public Library: String Quartet No. 3, with the Motyl Chamber Ensemble (Julie Artzt Becker, Aleeza Wadler, Anoush Simonian, Ellen Rose Silver). Also on program: Hans Gál, Improvisation, Variations, and Finale on a Theme by Mozart op. 60b; Robert Kahn, seven songs from The Fountain of Youth op. 46; Miecyslaw Weinberg, Jewish Songs op. 17. |
| 11 January 2009 | New York, Carnegie Weill Recital Hall, Surviving Suppression, The Music of Jewish Émigré Composers: String Quartet No. 3, with the Motyl Chamber Ensemble (Julie Artzt Becker, Aleeza Wadler, Anoush Simonian, Ellen Rose Silver). Also on program: works by Gál; Mozart; Kahn; Weinberg. |
| 21 April 2009 | New York, Columbia University, Surviving Suppression, The Music of Jewish Emigré Composers: String Quartet No. 3, with the Motyl Chamber Ensemble (Julie Artzt Becker, Aleeza Wadler, Anoush Simonian, Ellen Rose Silver). Also on program: Gál, Improvisation, Variations, and Finale on a Theme by Mozart, op. 60b; Robert Kahn, Clarinet Quintet. |
| 3 May 2009 | Long Island, New York, Hewlett-Woodmere Public Library: String Quartet No. 3, with the Motyl Chamber Ensemble (Julie Artzt Becker, Aleeza Wadler, Anoush Simonian, Ellen Rose Silver). Also on program: Leo Ornstein, Nocturne for clarinet and piano; Robert Kahn, Serenade op. 73. |
| 25 October 2009 | Freeport, New Yorko, Freeport Memorial Library: String Quartet No. 3, with the Motyl Chamber Ensemble (Julie Artzt Becker, Aleeza Wadler, Anoush Simonian, Ellen Rose Silver). Also on program: Gál, Improvisation, Variations, and Finale on a Theme by Mozart op. 60b. |
| 14 August 2010 | Annandale-on-Hudson, New York, Bard College, Bard Festival Berg and His World: String Quartet No. 3, with the Daedalus Quartet (Min-Young Kim, Kyu-Young Kim, Jessica Thompson, Raman Ramakrishnan). Also on program: Zemlinsky, Fantasies on Poems by Dehmel and Five Songs; Webern, Piano Quintet. |
| 28 January 2011 | Ithaca, New York, Cornell University, Barnes Hall, Schoenberg’s Playlist Festival, concert 2: String Quartet No. 3, with the Daedalus Quartet (Min-Young Kim, Kyu-Young Kim, Jessica Thompson, Raman Ramakrishnan). Also on the program: Webern, Variations for piano; Berg, String Quartet op. 3; and songs by Schoenberg, Webern, Schreker, and Zemlinsky. |
