The Brodsky Quartet was the second
string quartet established and led by
violin
The violin, sometimes known as a '' fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone ( string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument ( soprano) in the family in regu ...
ist
Adolph Brodsky
Adolph Davidovich Brodsky (russian: Адольф Давидович Бродский, ''Adolf Davidovič Brodskij''; – 22 January 1929) was a Russian violinist.
He enjoyed a long and illustrious career as a performer and teacher, starting ear ...
.
History
It was established in 1895 in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
, after Brodsky left
New York and came to the English city to teach at the
Royal Manchester College of Music
The Royal Manchester College of Music (RMCM) was a tertiary level conservatoire in Manchester, north-west England. It was founded in 1893 by the German-born conductor Sir Charles Hallé in 1893.
In 1972, the Royal Manchester College of Music ...
and direct the
Hallé Orchestra.
Brodsky played first violin, Rawdon Briggs played second violin, Simon Speelman played the
viola
; german: Bratsche
, alt=Viola shown from the front and the side
, image=Bratsche.jpg
, caption=
, background=string
, hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71
, hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow
, range=
, related=
*Violin family ...
, and Carl Fuchs played the
cello
The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G ...
. After the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
the membership changed several times, with Brodsky the only original member.
Brodsky and Fuchs, who both admired
Edward Elgar, met him in February 1900, when
Hans Richter introduced them following a performance of the ''
Enigma Variations
Edward Elgar composed his ''Variations on an Original Theme'', Op. 36, popularly known as the ''Enigma Variations'', between October 1898 and February 1899. It is an orchestral work comprising fourteen variations on an original theme.
Elgar ...
'' Richter conducted in Manchester. Fuchs asked Elgar to compose a string quartet for the Brodsky Quartet. Several years later, in 1918, Elgar completed his
String Quartet in E minor, Op. 83 and dedicated it to the Brodsky Quartet.
However, at the time Brodsky and Speelman were nearly seventy years of age and the remainder of the quartet in their fifties and the work premiere was given in London by the "British String Quartet", led by Albert Sammons.
Brodsky had formed the first
Brodsky Quartet in
Leipzig
Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as ...
in 1884.
Notes
References
*
*
*
*
External links
Adolph Brodsky Bio* Biography of Carl Fuchs with pointers
English string quartets
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