The Kolisch Quartet was a

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 ...

musical ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group or musical group, is a group of people who perform instrumental and/or vocal music, with the ensemble typically known by a distinct name. Some music ensembles consist solely of instrumentalists, ...

founded in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

, originally (early 1920s) as the New Vienna String Quartet for the performance of Schoenberg's works, and (by 1927) settling to the form in which it was later known. It had a worldwide reputation and made several recordings. The quartet disbanded in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

during the early 1940s.

Personnel

violin 1: *

Rudolf Kolisch Rudolf Kolisch (July 20, 1896 – August 1, 1978) was a Viennese violinist and leader of string quartets, including the Kolisch Quartet and the Pro Arte Quartet. Early life and education Kolisch was born in Klamm, Schottwien, Lower Austria and ra ...

violin 2: *Jaromir Czerny (1921−1922) *Gustav Kinzel (1922) *Oskar Fitz (1922−1923) *

Fritz Rothschild Fritz originated as a German nickname for Friedrich, or Frederick (''Der Alte Fritz'', and ''Stary Fryc'' were common nicknames for King Frederick II of Prussia and Frederick III, German Emperor) as well as for similar names including Fridolin ...

(1924−1927) *

Felix Khuner Felix Khuner (1906– June 10, 1991) was the second violinist of the Kolisch Quartet. He joined the quartet, then the Wien Quartet, in 1926 when the quartet needed a new second violinist. Khuner was reluctant, but when he visited Rudolf Kol ...

(1927−1941) * Daniel Guilevitch (1941−1943) *Lorna Freedman (1943−1944) viola: *

Othmar Steinbauer Othmar Steinbauer (6 November 1895 – 5 September 1962) was an Austrian composer and music theorist. He progressed developments in twelve-tone composition ('). His own teachers included Joseph Marx, Anton von Webern, Arnold Schönberg and Josef ...

(1921−1922) *Herbert Duesberg (1922−1923) * Marcel Dick (1924−1927) *

Eugene Lehner Eugene Lehner (1906 – 13 September 1997) was a violist and music educator. Lehner, as he preferred to be addressed, was born in the Austro-Hungarian Empire in 1906. Originally named Jenö Léner, he performed as a self-taught violinist from th ...

(1927−1939) *Jascha Veissi (1939−1941) *Kurt Frederick (1941−1942) *Ralph Hersh (1942−1943) *Bernhard Milofsky (1943−1944) violoncello: *Erik Skeel-Görling (1921−1922) *Wilhelm Winkler (1922−1923) *

Joachim Stutschewsky Joachim-Yehoyachin Stutschewsky, ( he, יהויכין סטוצ'בסקי, russian: Иоахим Стучевский, 7 February 1891 – 14 November 1982) was a Ukraine-born Austrian and Israeli cellist, composer, musicologist. Biography Joachim- ...

(1924−1927) * Benar Heifetz (1927−1939) * Stefan Auber (1939−1941) *

Fritz Magg Fritz Magg (April 18, 1914 – July 20, 1997) was a renowned Austrian-American cellist, known for his career spanning over six decades as a soloist, symphony and chamber ensemble performer, and educator. Biography Magg was born in Vienna to Pa ...

(1942−1943) *Janos Scholz (1943−1944) * Stefan Auber (1944)

Origins

In the early 1920s, the Viennese violinist

began to study composition with

Arnold Schoenberg Arnold Schoenberg or Schönberg (, ; ; 13 September 187413 July 1951) was an Austrian-American composer, music theorist, teacher, writer, and painter. He is widely considered one of the most influential composers of the 20th century. He was as ...

, who also put Kolisch to work in the composer's "Society for Private Musical Performances" (Verein fuer musikalische Privatauffuehrungen). This led to the creation of a string quartet ("Neue Wiener Streichquartett") dedicated to performing Schoenberg's music, but also to performing the classical string quartet repertoire in a manner which would take into account the principles of Schoenberg's teaching. The quartet consisted initially of Kolisch and Fritz Rothschild (alternating first and second violins), Marcel Dick (viola) and Joachim Stutschewsky (cello). This ensemble began to concertize and tour in central Europe. By 1927, the membership of the ensemble had settled: Kolisch played first violin, Felix Khuner played second violin,

played viola and Benar Heifetz played cello; this group became known as the Kolisch Quartet. Numerous works were written for them by composers including

Alban Berg Alban Maria Johannes Berg ( , ; 9 February 1885 – 24 December 1935) was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with the twelve-tone technique. Although he left a relatively sma ...

Anton Webern Anton Friedrich Wilhelm von Webern (3 December 188315 September 1945), better known as Anton Webern (), was an Austrian composer and conductor whose music was among the most radical of its milieu in its sheer concision, even aphorism, and stea ...

, Arnold Schoenberg, and

Béla Bartók Béla Viktor János Bartók (; ; 25 March 1881 – 26 September 1945) was a Hungarian composer, pianist, and ethnomusicologist. He is considered one of the most important composers of the 20th century; he and Franz Liszt are regarded as H ...

. The Quartet's tours extended eventually to include all European countries including Scandinavia, and also (by the mid-1930s) North and South America. One notable aspect of the Quartet was that they generally performed from memory, including difficult modern works such as the ''Lyric Suite'' of Berg. This was not intended as a demonstration of any special powers of memorization, but rather of an approach which involved such careful rehearsal that by the time a piece was ready for performance, the musicians no longer required the score. The quartet used eye contact and were more able to respond musically to one another without music stands interfering. The Quartet was on tour in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

in 1938 when Nazi Germany annexed Austria. Because of their association with Schoenberg (whose music had been banned by the Nazis) and because most of the members of the Quartet were considered Jewish according to the Nazi legal definition, they did not return to Vienna. They set up their headquarters in Paris and toured from there.

's String Quartet No. 6 is dedicated to the Kolisch Quartet, and it was they who gave its premiere at The Town Hall in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

on 20 January 1941. They were on tour in the United States when that country entered the war and civilian transport across the ocean suddenly became unavailable. Rather than continue with the Quartet in the face of great uncertainty about the future, the cellist and violist soon took jobs with major U.S. orchestras (

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

and

Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...

, respectively). The Quartet continued to play concerts with replacement players for some time, but when the second violinist left to join an orchestra in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, the Quartet finally disbanded.

Recordings

The Kolisch Quartet recorded several albums of string quartets of

Franz Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical and early Romantic eras. Despite his short lifetime, Schubert left behind a vast ''oeuvre'', including more than 600 secular vocal wor ...

and

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 17565 December 1791), baptised as Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart, was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition r ...

on 78s for the

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

and

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

record labels. In 1937 they recorded the four string quartets of Arnold Schoenberg privately under the composer's supervision; these were re-issued several years later as LP recordings on the "Alco" label. All the commercial recordings of the Kolisch Quartet are currently available on compact discs. * Bartók: Quartet No. 5 * Mozart: Quartet in C major, K 465; Jascha Veissi, viola; Stefan Auber, cello (Columbia M439) * Mozart: Quartet in D major, K 575 'Cello' or 'Solo' (Columbia LX 337-8). * Schoenberg: Quartets 1-4 * Schubert: Quartet in A minor, Op. 29 (Columbia LX 286-9). * Schubert: Quartettsatz in C minor (Columbia LX 289). * Schubert: Quartet in G major, Op. 161 (Columbia LX 357-60).

Sources

*R.D. Darrell, ''The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music'' (New York 1936).

External links

Stefan Auber papers, 1920-1982
Music Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. {{Authority control

Kolisch Quartet The Kolisch Quartet was a string quartet musical ensemble founded in Vienna, originally (early 1920s) as the New Vienna String Quartet for the performance of Schoenberg's works, and (by 1927) settling to the form in which it was later known. It h ...