Austral String Quartet was a string quartet ensemble based in

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

active from 1910 to 1916. The existence of some music group bearing such a name was advertised as early as 1908, but regular activity began with violinist Cyril Monk's leadership. Other members of his quartet were Anton Tschaikov (2nd violin), Stephen Vost Janssen (viola) and Gladstone Bell (cello). The first concert was held at the YMCA Hall (Sydney) on 2 June and included the Australian premiere of

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String Quartet The term string quartet can refer to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two violinists ...

. The same year Bell returned to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

and was replaced by Carl Gotsch. Early in 1911 Monk's teacher

Alfred Hill Alfred Hill may refer to: * Alfred John Hill (1862–1927), British railway engineer * Alfred Hill (cricketer, born 1865) (1865–1936), English cricketer * Alfred Hill (politician) (1867–1945), British Member of Parliament for Leicester West 19 ...

took the second violin. By 1913 season he was replaced by Ludwig D'Hage (who moved to Sydney from

Rockhampton Rockhampton is a city in the Rockhampton Region of Central Queensland, Australia. The population of Rockhampton in June 2021 was 79,967, Estimated resident population, 30 June 2018. making it the fourth-largest city in the state outside of the ...

the previous year).Ludwig D'Hage's biography
in the ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'' The quartet performed to ca.1916. Among Australian performances made by it were quartets by

César Franck César-Auguste Jean-Guillaume Hubert Franck (; 10 December 1822 – 8 November 1890) was a French Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in modern-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of his birth was p ...

Ernest Chausson Amédée-Ernest Chausson (; 20 January 1855 – 10 June 1899) was a French Romantic composer who died just as his career was beginning to flourish. Life Born in Paris into an affluent bourgeois family, Chausson was the sole surviving child of a ...

and

Maurice Ravel Joseph Maurice Ravel (7 March 1875 – 28 December 1937) was a French composer, pianist and conductor. He is often associated with Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In ...

. It is most probable that the establishing of this quartet gave Alfred Hill an impulse to finish his two ''Maori'' quartets ( No. 1 and No. 2, both premiered in 1911) and compose

the third is a light novel series, that has also been made into manga and anime series by Ryo Hoshino and illustrated by Ariko Ito. The anime series goes under the name . According to the New York Comic Convention, ''The Third'' has been licensed by ...

(1912).Lam, Y. C. (June 2006)
Analytical study of Alfred Hill’s String Quartet no. 2 in G minor (Thesis, Master of Arts)
University of Otago The most important predecessors of this quartet were the Zerbini String Quartet (founded ca.1885) and Francis Mowat Carter's Sydney String Quartet. The notable role of the Austral Quartet was taken up in Sydney by

Verbrugghen String Quartet Verbrugghen String Quartet was a string quartet founded by Henri Verbrugghen. In 1903 Verbrugghen founded in Scotland a string quartet. When in 1916 he went to Australia, he took its members with him. All of them were engaged as professors at the ...

, members of which came to the city after

Henri Verbrugghen Henri Adrien Marie Verbrugghen (1 August 187312 November 1934) was a Belgian musician, who directed orchestras in England, Scotland, Australia and the United States. Born in Brussels, Verbrugghen made his first appearance as a violinist when o ...

was appointed the director of New South Wales Conservatorium in 1916. In the late 1950s Another ensemble bearing the same name was established in Sydney.

Sources

Austral String Quartet
in the ''Dictionary of Sydney''

References

{{authority control Australian string quartets 1910 establishments in Australia