The Loewenguth 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 ...

music 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, ...

led by the French

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 regular ...

ist Alfred Loewenguth. It was particularly famous for performances of classical repertoire such as

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

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 (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his ra ...

and

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have led ...

quartets, and was active from the 1930s to the 1970s.

Personnel

The founding line-up of the Loewenguth Quartet was: *1st violin: Alfred Loewenguth *2nd violin: Maurice FuériPerformer in the early 1950s Deutsche Grammophon recordings. *Viola: J. George; later, Louis Martini. *Cello: Pierre Basseux. From the early 1960s the desks were occupied thus: *1st violin: Alfred Loewenguth (1929–1983) *2nd violin: Jacques Gotkovsky (before 1963-1967); Jean-Pierre Sabouret (1967–1975); Philippe Langlois (1976–1983). *Viola:

Roger Roche Roger Roche was a French political activist in Senegal. In 1925 he, along with two other persons, founded a cell of the French Communist Party The French Communist Party (french: Parti communiste français, ''PCF'' ; ) is a political party ...

; Jean-Claude De Waele;

Jacques Borsarello Jacques Borsarello (born 1951) is a French classical violist. Life Born in Toulon, Borsarello was a student of Serge Collot and Bruno Pasquier at the Conservatoire de Paris. A member of the Loewenguth Quartet for four years, he was a member of ...

(1979–1983) *Cello: Roger Loewenguth (to 1983). (brother of Alfred) The quartet was dissolved in 1983 at the death of the founder.

Origins

Alfred Loewenguth was born in Paris in 1911. He formed his first string quartet in 1929, but appeared in public as a violinist first in 1936. Loewenguth began to study the violin at 8 years old, and had his first pupil when he was 12. At 16, he entered the

Conservatoire National de Paris The Conservatoire de Paris (), also known as the Paris Conservatory, is a college of music and dance founded in 1795. Officially known as the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris (CNSMDP), it is situated in the avenue ...

, and he set up his own Violin School when he was 17. At 19 he won the first prize at the Conservatoire, and principal medals for

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small numb ...

and solfeggio. For chamber music he was a pupil of

André Tourret André — sometimes transliterated as Andre — is the French and Portuguese form of the name Andrew, and is now also used in the English-speaking world. It used in France, Quebec, Canada and other French-speaking countries. It is a variation o ...

and

Jean Roger-Ducasse Jean Jules Aimable Roger-Ducasse (Bordeaux, 18 April 1873 – Le Taillan-Médoc ( Gironde), 19 July 1954) was a French composer. Biography Jean Roger-Ducasse studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Émile Pessard and André Gedalge, and was t ...

. In 1959 he founded the ''Alfred Loewenguth Youth Orchestras'', and in 1969 he set up the Music Festival of the Orangerie de Sceaux. He both founded and directed the Conservatoire of the

9th arrondissement of Paris The 9th arrondissement of Paris (''IXe arrondissement'') is one of the 20 arrondissements of the capital city of France. In spoken French, this arrondissement is referred to as the neuvième (; "ninth"). The arrondissement, called Opéra, is loc ...

, and taught at the Conservatoire of

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, at the

Schola Cantorum de Paris The Schola Cantorum de Paris is a private conservatory in Paris. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Bordes, Alexandre Guilmant and Vincent d'Indy as a counterbalance to the Paris Conservatoire's emphasis on opera. History La Schola was founded i ...

, and at the Académie Internationale at

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. Although he devoted the core of his musical work to teaching and to chamber music - with his quartet or in duo (for more than fifty years with the pianist

Françoise Doreau Françoise Doreau (born 2 March, 1910 – died 20 July 2011 at age 101), was a French classical pianist. Life Doreau began studying piano at a very young age and entered the Conservatoire de Paris in Marguerite Long's class at the age of 13, wh ...

), he also had a career as soloist. The cinematographer

Benoît Jacquot Benoît Jacquot (; born 5 February 1947) is a French film director and screenwriter who has had a varied career in European cinema. Life and career Born in Paris, Jacquot began his career as assistant director of Marguerite Duras films, inclu ...

devoted a documentary called "Enfance Musique" to him in 1979. The Loewenguth Quartet appearances in Southern Africa were hugely successful, and they completed three tours, in 1955, 56, and 64. Alfred Loewenguth died in 1983. The quartet performed the complete quartets of Beethoven in a series of 6 concerts over three consecutive weekends in November 1948 in New York. On 12 November 1948 they gave the premiere of the 6th quartet, op. 64 (1947) of

Egon Wellesz Egon Joseph Wellesz CBE (21 October 1885 – 9 November 1974) was an Austrian, later British composer, teacher and musicologist, notable particularly in the field of Byzantine music. Early life and education in Vienna Egon Joseph Wellesz was ...

at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is the research library that officially serves the United States Congress and is the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It is the oldest federal cultural institution in the country. The library is ...

. In the same year they also performed the complete Beethoven series for the Casavant Society in Montreal. The quartet performed

Priaulx Rainier Ivy Priaulx Rainier (3 February 190310 October 1986) was a South African-British composer. Although she lived most of her life in England and died in France, her compositional style was strongly influenced by the African music remembered from he ...

's string quartet at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of arts and cultural festivals regularly taking place in Edinburgh, Scotland. The city has become known for its festivals since the establishment in 1947 of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Edinburgh Fe ...

in 1949.

Recordings

The Loewenguth Quartet made many recordings on 78rpm and 33rpm discs, for various labels including Deutsche Grammofon (and Archiv), Vox, Philips, Westminster, Les Discophiles Français, Club National du Disque and some smaller French and American labels. *Beethoven: Op 18 no 4 (1947) & No 16 (1946). *Beethoven: Complete Quartets (Vox Box SVBX 543/4/5). (published 1962?) *Mozart: Quartets K387 & K428 (1951), K458 (DGG 18315) (1950) also (Decca 10", DL 7517), K465 (c.1945) (another version live 1972), Clarinet quintet K581 (live 1972 with

Georgina Dobrée Georgina Dobrée (8 January 1930 – 27 April 2008) was an English clarinettist. She firstly played the violin and piano in her childhood years but dropped the violin and later took up the clarinet as a second instrument while studying in London. ...

). (DOREMI reissue vol 1) *Haydn: Quartets op 64 no 5 (DGG 18315), op 76 no 2 and 74 no 3 (Oriole Eurodisc SMG 20066). (DOREMI reissue vol 1) *

Hugo Wolf Hugo Philipp Jacob Wolf (13 March 1860 – 22 February 1903) was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Ro ...

: Italienische Serenade. (Opera label) *

Jean Françaix Jean René Désiré Françaix (; 23 May 1912, in Le Mans – 25 September 1997, in Paris) was a French neoclassicism (music), neoclassical composer, piano, pianist, and orchestration, orchestrator, known for his prolific output and vibrant style. ...

: Quatuor à cordes; Juvénalia. (Opera label) * Roussel: String Quartet in D major op 45. (1953).Review by Richard F. Goldman, ''Musical Quarterly'' XXXIX (2)(1953), p.338-39.(Decca DL 4026) *

Claude Debussy (Achille) Claude Debussy (; 22 August 1862 – 25 March 1918) was a French composer. He is sometimes seen as the first Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influential composers of the ...

: String quartet op 10 (DGG 18312) (Club National du Disque CND 75) *

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 ...

: String quartet in F (DGG 18312) (Club National du Disque CND 75) *

Gabriel Fauré Gabriel Urbain Fauré (; 12 May 1845 – 4 November 1924) was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers ...

: Quartet (and Roussel quartet), (Vox TV34014S). Complete Chamber Music, (VOX QSVBX 5152). *

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 ...

: Quartet in D major. *

Émile Goué Émile Goué (13 June 1904 – 10 October 1946) was a French composer. Life Born in Châteauroux (Indre), with a father inspector of primary education, a mother head teacher of a teacher-training school for young girls in Guéret (Creuse) and ...

: Third quartet, Sonata for piano and violin (with Doreau).(Azur Classical CD AZC 081) *

J. S. Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his orchestral music such as the '' Brandenburg Concertos''; instrumental compositions such as the Cello Suites; keyboard w ...

: The Art of Fugue - Contrapunctus 9. (1945) *

Jacques Ibert Jacques François Antoine Marie Ibert (15 August 1890 – 5 February 1962) was a French composer of classical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first ...

: String Quartet. (1945) *

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 ...

: String Quartet No.14 "Der Tod und Das Mädchen". (Les Discophiles Francais DF 203).(1956) *Schubert: No.12 'Quartettsatz'. (Discophiles Francais DF 203).(1956) *

: String Quintet D. 956 * with Roger Loewenguth, cello. (Les Discophiles Francais DF 214).(1958) *

: String quartet no 2. *

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''., group=n (27 April .S. 15 April1891 – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, p ...

: 2nd Quartet (& Roussel Quartet) (DGG). (1955) *

Pierre Vachon Pierre Vachon (3 June 1738 – 7 October 1803) was a French composer. Vachon was born in Avignon, France. He wrote around thirty string quartets, various chamber works, operas, and orchestral pieces. He studied the violin with Carlo Chiab ...

: Quartets Op 11 no 1, 5. (DGG Archiv SAPM 198033) *

Nicolas Dalayrac Nicolas-Marie d'Alayrac (; bapt. 13 June 175326 November 1809), nicknamed the Musician poet, more commonly Nicolas Dalayrac, was a French composer of the Classical period. Intended for a military career, he made the acquaintance of many mu ...

: Quartets Op 7 no 3, op. 1 no 3 (5). (Archiv SAPM 198033)

References

External links

The Alfred Loewenguth Youth OrchestrasFestival de l'Orangerie de SceauxExample of 1964 Loewenguth Quartet concert bill for University of the Pacific
{{DEFAULTSORT:Loewenguth Quartet French string quartets