String Quartet No. 5

Full title String Quartet No. 5 in G Major op. 31 / 5. Streichquartett G-Dur op. 31
Date composed 1933
Details Sehr ruhig (Moderato)
Allegro molto
Larghetto
Allegro comodo

Composition completed July 1933; originally titled Streichquartett im leichtem Stil.
Dedication: Dem Busch-Quartett in dankbarer Verehrung.
Performance duration: ca. 26 min.

Note: The work opens with the opening theme of the first of the Five Songs for soprano and string quartet, Trost, which Weigl set in 1932 for voice and piano before including it in the chamber cycle, which was not completed until December 1934 and never published by Universal Edition (U.E.). Nevertheless, Weigl's contract with U.E. for the String Quartet No. 5, dated 9 July 1936, includes the following addendum: "Das thematische Material des Anfangs des 1. Satzes liegt einem Liede zugrunde, welches für Gesang und Streichquartett von mir gesetzt wurde. Das Verlagsrecht über dieses Lied steht der Universal-Edition zu, bezw. kann ich über dasselbe nur im Einvernehmen mit der Universal-Edition verfügen.” (The thematic material of the opening of the first movement is based on a song that I set for voice and string quartet. Copyright for this song belongs to Universal Edition, i.e., I may use it only with the permission of Universal Edition.)
Manuscript sources NYPL JOB 73-135, holograph score (29 numbered and additional loose, unnumbered pages), titled Streichquartett im leichtem Stil für 2 Viol., Viola u. Violoncello; and with composer's note on title page: Wien, Juli 1933. See also ÖNB Mus.Hs.36840, holograph [?] score.
Publication details Universal Edition, 1936: U.E. 10.794 (miniature score).
Availabiity Score and parts available from ACA and KWF.
Recordings Artis Quartet (CD: Nimbus 5646; 1999); Iowa String Quartet (LP: CRI 242 SD; 1969).
Listen

String Quartet No. 5: movement 1, Sehr ruhig
Artis String Quartet

Performances (click icon to expand or collapse list)
23 November 1934*** Vienna, Konzerthaus, Mittlerer Saal: Busch Quartet (Adolf Busch, Gösta Andreasson, Karl Doktor, Hermann Busch). Also on program: Haydn, String Quartet in Bb Major op. 76 no. 4; Beethoven, String Quartet in Eb Major op. 127.
9 May 1936 Vienna, private musicale, Frau Professor Carl Prohaska: Weiss Quartet (Lilly Weiss, Lotte Selka, Edith Steinbauer, Frida Krause). Also on program: Weigl songs, various [unidentified], with Margarethe Philipsky, alto; Käthe Schwarz-Hoffmann, soprano; Karl Weigl, piano.
29 November 1936** Reading, England: Weiss Quartet (Lilly Weiss, Lotte Selka, Edith Steinbauer, Frida Krause).
16 December 1937 Vienna, Konzerthaus, Schubertsaal: Kammerkonzert des Komponistenbundes: Weiss Quartet (Lily Weiss, Lotte Selka, Edith Steinbauer, Frida Krause). Also on program: Alexander Spitzmüller-Hamersbach, Cello Sonate; Kurt Roger, Ballade für Klavier; Max Springer, Drei Klavierstücke; Erich Zeisl, Lieder; Robert Leukauf, Zwei Gesänge.
19 May 1938 Vienna, private musicale, home of Frau Reik-Bodanzky: string quartet (Elsie Stein, Schwarz, Stwertka, Friedrich Buxbaum).
22 November 1938 New York, private musicale, home of Miss Henriette Michelson, Chamber Music Evening, Compositions by Karl Weigl: string quartet (Felix Galimir, Kurt Frederick, Lotte Hammerschlag, and Vally Gara).
18 April 1939 New York, private musicale, home of Miss Henriette Michelson, Private Performance of Prof. Karl Weigls Chamber Music: unidentified quartet. Also on program: Weigl piano works and songs.
10 April 1940 New York, private musicale Mrs. H.A. Guinzburg, Works by Karl Weigl: Elsie Stein Quartet (Elsie Stein, Jason Goldwater, Murray Pollak, Vally Gara).
8 May 1941 New York, private musicale, home of Mrs. Emil Goldmark, Compositions by Karl Weigl: Elsie Stein Quartet (Elsie Stein, Hans J. Rhones, Leo Ratner, Vally Gara).
24 September 1943** Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, Swarthmore College: Busch Quartet (Adolf Busch, Gösta Andreasson, Lotte Hammerschlag, Hermann Busch).
3 February 1946 Boston: Boston Conservatory of Music: Boston Conservatory String Quartet (Gaston Elcus, Clarence Knudson, Jean Lefranc, Jacobus Langendoen). Also on program: Frank Bridge, Novelletten for Strings; Johannes Brahms, Piano Quintet op. 34.
15 February 1948 New York, WNYC radio broadcast, New York City’s Music Festival: New York City String Quartet (Werner Lywen, Barnett Gardelle, Godfrey Layafsky, George Finckel).
11 September 1966 New York, Brooklyn Museum Concerts and simultaneous WNYC radio broadcast, Karl Weigl Memorial Program: Richmond Quartet (Stanley Hoffman, Edmund Jacobsen, Michael Barton, Gill Munguia).
21 November 1967 New York, Austrian Institute, Weigl- Mahler program: unidentified quartet.
13 February 1968 New York, Liederkranz Foundation Fifth Musicale: Margaret Groves, Stanley Hoffmann, Eugenia Dengel, Edmund Baldini.
10 July 1968 Iowa City, Iowa, University of Iowa: The Iowa String Quartet (Allen Ohmes, John Ferrell, William Preucil, Charles Wendt).
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.
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).
21 October 2000 London, Wigmore Hall: Artis Quartet (Peter Schumayer, Johannes Meissl, Herbert Kefer, Othmar Müller).
9 January 2009 Manchester, England, Royal Northern College of Music (RNCM) Chamber Music Festival, Vienna from Schubert to Schoenberg, Early Morning Concert: String Quartet No. 5, with members of RNCM Chamber Music. Also on program: Kreisler, String Quartet in A Minor; Danile Kidane, Clarinet Quintet; Zemlinsky, Humoreske for wind quintet.
29 January 2010 London, Kings Place, Vienna to Weimar festival: String Quartet No. 5, with the Artis Quartet (Peter Schumayer, Johannes Meissl, Herbert Kefer, Othmar Müller). Also on program: Wellesz, String Quartet No. 3; Berg, Lyric Suite; Zemlinsky, String Quartet No. 4.