HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

The London String 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 violinist ...
founded in London in 1908 which remained one of the leading English chamber groups into the 1930s, and made several well-known recordings.


Personnel

The personnel of the London String Quartet was: 1st Violin: * Albert Sammons (1908–1917) *
James Levey James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...
(1917–1927) * John Pennington (1927–1934) 2nd Violin: * Thomas W. Petre (1908–1916, 1919–1934) *
H. Wynne Reeves H is the eighth letter of the Latin alphabet. H may also refer to: Musical symbols * H number, Harry Halbreich reference mechanism for music by Honegger and Martinů * H, B (musical note) * H, B major People * H. (noble) (died after 1 ...
(1916) * Edwin Virgo (1917–1918) * Herbert Kinsey (1918) Viola: * Harry Waldo Warner (1908–1929) * Philip Sainton (1930) *
William Primrose William Primrose CBE (23 August 19041 May 1982) was a Scottish violist and teacher. He performed with the London String Quartet from 1930 to 1935. He then joined the NBC Symphony Orchestra where he formed the Primrose Quartet. He performed ...
(1930–1934) Cello: *
Charles Warwick Evans Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...
(1908–1934; he later made his career in America)


Origins

The viola player and composer Harry Waldo Warner (1874–1945) had trained at the London
Guildhall School of Music The Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a conservatoire and drama school located in the City of London, United Kingdom. Established in 1880, the school offers undergraduate and postgraduate training in all aspects of classical music and j ...
under Alfred Gibson and
Orlando Morgan Robert Orlando Morgan (1865 – 16 May 1956) was an English music teacher, composer and musicologist. He is best remembered as an influential teacher at the Guildhall School of Music in London, where he taught for 64 years, from 1887 to 1951, as ...
. After giving some violin recitals he concentrated on viola. Charles Warwick Evans (1885–1974) had studied for 6 years at the
Royal College of Music The Royal College of Music is a music school, conservatoire established by royal charter in 1882, located in South Kensington, London, UK. It offers training from the Undergraduate education, undergraduate to the Doctorate, doctoral level in a ...
and became principal cello in the Beecham Opera Company, then leading cello in the
Queen's Hall The Queen's Hall was a concert hall in Langham Place, London, Langham Place, London, opened in 1893. Designed by the architect Thomas Knightley, it had room for an audience of about 2,500 people. It became London's principal concert venue. Fro ...
Orchestra. He resigned that post to devote himself to the String Quartet. In 1908 Warwick-Evans was leader of the Queen's Hall violoncellos and Waldo Warner was first viola in the New Symphony Orchestra. Warwick-Evans formed the idea of a string quartet worked up to the standard of a solo virtuoso, and approached Waldo Warner. He was enthusiastic, and then Petre was found and finally Albert Sammons, the new Concertmaster of
Thomas Beecham Sir Thomas Beecham, 2nd Baronet, Order of the Companions of Honour, CH (29 April 18798 March 1961) was an English conductor and impresario best known for his association with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, London Philharmonic and the Roya ...
's orchestra, to lead the quartet. They rehearsed four times a week for nearly two years before giving their first concert. There was to be no 'boss': if anyone disagreed with tempo or phrasing he spoke out, the point was discussed, and the decision made if necessary by voting. The first concert was on 26 January 1910, at Bechstein (Wigmore) Hall, as the 'New' Quartet, playing Dohnanyi in D flat, Tchaikovsky in D, and a Fantasy Quartet (No. i) of Waldo Warner's. Reviews were excellent: the second concert was in June 1910, of Debussy in G minor, Beethoven Op. 59 no. 1, and a ''Fantasy'' of Balfour Gardiner's. Warwick-Evans suggested the name 'London String Quartet' and in 1911 it was adopted.


Wartime and after

The British premiere of
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 ...
's '' Verklärte Nacht'' took place on 23 January 1914 at the Bechstein Hall in the presence of the composer. The London String Quartet was supplemented by James Lockyer on viola and
Cedric Sharpe Cedric Sharpe, ARCM, Hon RAM (13 April 1891 – 1978) was a British cellist, composer and music professor of the early to mid-20th century. He studied cello at the Royal College of Music later becoming professor of cello at the Royal Academy ...
on cello. At the outbreak of war later in 1914, Petre was called up to serve in France and his place was taken successively by Wynn Reeves, Herbert Kinsey, and Edwin Virgo. Warwick-Evans and Waldo Warner could not serve for health reasons. Albert Sammons, meanwhile, was building a solo career and had less time for essential rehearsals. In May 1915 the quartet began to give chamber music 'Pops', much liked in wartime London. By May 1917 they had given 50 concerts. At about that time Sammons left and was replaced (July 1917) by James Levey, a pupil of Ferdinand Hill's. The last of these concerts, the 117th, was on 14 July 1919. In 1920 the suggestion was made that they should perform a one-week cycle of the complete Beethoven quartets, and this was done first in Edinburgh, then in London, then Stockholm, Christiania, and variously in America, in all ten cycles including three in London. In September 1920 they were introduced to America by Mrs
Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge aka Liz Coolidge (30 October 1864 – 4 November 1953), born Elizabeth Penn Sprague, was an American pianist and patron of music, especially of chamber music. Biography Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge's father was a wea ...
at
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, playing
Frank Bridge Frank Bridge (26 February 187910 January 1941) was an English composer, violist and conductor. Life Bridge was born in Brighton, the ninth child of William Henry Bridge (1845-1928), a violin teacher and variety theatre conductor, formerly a ...
's E minor (Bologna) Quartet, Beethoven in E minor, and Waldo Warner's ''Folk-song Fantasy''.


International touring

In addition to a great number of concerts in London and England they undertook many international tours, notably to
America 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 territor ...
, France,
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, In recognized minority languages of Portugal: :* mwl, República Pertuesa is a country located on the Iberian Peninsula, in Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Macaronesian ...
, Spain (twice),
Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...
(thrice), (Germany) and Canada. From November 1922 to April 1924 they conducted a world-tour. Their prestige in America, North and South, was very considerable, and they travelled from Canada to Buenos Aires, performing much new music as well as Beethoven quartet cycles. By the late 1920s they had introduced around one hundred new pieces of music to the repertory. Their disbanding, in November 1934, was prompted by John Pennington having been appointed to the concertmaster's chair in San Francisco. Thereafter all but violist Primrose – who joined Toscanini's NBC Symphony Orchestra as co-principal – moved to Hollywood studios. In 1941 the quartet reformed for concerts in Los Angeles and performed at summer concerts and other recitals. Primrose pursued his distinguished career as a soloist and was replaced by Cecil Bonvalot, and subsequently Edgardo Acosta. The quartet formally disbanded in 1952. The quartet was one of the most important international groups of its time. Numerous premieres, Beethoven cycles, widespread concertising, and eminent recordings marked out its trajectory. The 'live' Library of Congress recordings demonstrate its most vital, sensitive and convincing musicianship in ways that even its studio discs occasionally fail to show. They provide irrefutable evidence that the quartet was one of the very greatest of its time. Irving Kolodin wrote:
'In the Flonzaley's later years,... they seemed to have become a committee of experts matching exquisite swatches of tonal texture rather than performers of music. For young ears, the rise of the London String Quartet (with the incomparable James Levey as leader, and the enduring partnership of Thomas Petre, H. Waldo Warner and C. Warwick Evans participating) dimmed the Flonzaley star even as it was waning. A more vibrant enthusiasm, a stronger sense of tonal colours, a refinement that was not ''raffiné'', gave them pre-eminence as long as this personnel endured. This, in truth, was not long, and though Levey's successor was John Pennington of the honeyed tone, and William Primrose first showed his prowess as a violist in Waldo Warner's place, it was not the same thing.'
As live Library of Congress recordings irrefutably demonstrate, Kolodin's implication that the Levey-led quartet declined when Pennington and Primrose took their places in the ensemble is very much wide of the mark.


Waldo Warner

Harry Waldo Warner also won distinction as a composer of chamber music, including six published string quartets and a trio. Many of his quartets were premiered by the London String Quartet. The first two quartets were one-movement works described as Phantasies for the purposes of the Cobbett Prize, which was won by both. The third in C minor is in four movements, though the slow movement and scherzo are linked: the fourth is a Phantasy based on an English folk-song, with many variations. The fifth is a Suite called 'The Pixy Ring', each movement being concerned with
fairy A fairy (also fay, fae, fey, fair folk, or faerie) is a type of mythical being or legendary creature found in the folklore of multiple European cultures (including Celtic, Slavic, Germanic, English, and French folklore), a form of spiri ...
lore, and the sixth is a Suite of four movements described as being in the 'Olden Style'.


Recordings

The group made prolific early recordings in the days of the pre-electric recording horn, when it was difficult to obtain clear sound from string chamber groups. The 1917 premiere recording (made in this way) of the
Vaughan Williams Ralph Vaughan Williams, (; 12 October 1872– 26 August 1958) was an English composer. His works include operas, ballets, chamber music, secular and religious vocal pieces and orchestral compositions including nine symphonies, written over ...
song-cycle ''
On Wenlock Edge ''On Wenlock Edge'' is a song cycle composed in 1909 by Ralph Vaughan Williams for tenor, piano and string quartet. The cycle comprises settings of six poems from A. E. Housman's 1896 collection '' A Shropshire Lad''. A typical performance la ...
'', with Gervase Elwes (tenor) and
Frederick B. Kiddle Frederick B. Kiddle (1874 6 December 1951) was a prominent English pianist, organist and accompanist. Kiddle was born at Frome, Somerset, and studied at the Royal College of Music under Sir Walter Parratt, Rockstro and Higgs. In 1902 he became pri ...
(piano) is deservedly famous, and has James Levey as first violin (
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 ...
, Purple label, 7363–7365). This remained in the catalogue until at least 1933. Acoustic recordings also include the following works: * Beethoven: Quartets Nos. 1 (Columbia 1919): 2 (Columbia 1916): 3 (Vocalion 1921): 6 (Vocalion 1924): 8 (Columbia 1924 and 1925): 14 (Vocalion 1924). * Brahms: Quartet No. 2 (Vocalion 1923). * Elgar: String Quartet in E minor (Vocalion 1921). * Haydn: Quartet in B, Op. 64, No. 3 (Vocalion 1921): Quartet in D, Op. 64, No. 5 (Lark) (Columbia 1919): Quartet in C, Op. 76, No. 3 (Emperor) (Columbia 1924): * Kreisler: Quartet (Vocalion 1921). * Mendelssohn: Quartet No. 1 (Vocalion 1922). * Mozart: Quartets Nos. 14 (Columbia 1916): 15 (Columbia 1918): 21 (Vocalion 1920): Quintet 4 (Columbia 1917). * Schubert: Quartet No. 13 (Columbia 1921 unissued): Trout Quintet (Columbia 1924) (coupled with a Glazounov movement): Quartet in D minor 'Tod und das Mädchen'. (Col Light Blue, 78rpm, L1751-1754). (20 November & 24 December 1925). * Schumann: Quartet No. 1 (Columbia 1917): Piano Quintet (Vocalion 1921). * Smetana: Quartet No. 1 (Vocalion 1923). * Warner: Quartet in C (Vocalion 1923). In 1928 the
Columbia Graphophone Company Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. was one of the earliest gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1917 as an offshoot of the American Columbia Phonograph Company, it became an independent British-owned company in 1922 in a managem ...
sponsored and organised a
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 ...
Centenary event, which included a Composer's Contest and two other phases of awards, and was completed with an issue of over seventy records of Schubert's music, including chamber recordings by various groups. The London String Quartet was invited to record the following Schubert items (these electrical-microphone recordings feature John Pennington at the first violin desk): * Schubert: Quartett-satz in C minor (Col Light Blue, 78rpm, L1679R). (4 November 1927) his was an electrical recording made to replace L1679 recorded 18 December 1924 * Schubert: Quintet in A major 'The Trout', with Ethel Hobday (piano) and
Robert Cherwin The name Robert is an ancient Germanic given name, from Proto-Germanic "fame" and "bright" (''Hrōþiberhtaz''). Compare Old Dutch ''Robrecht'' and Old High German ''Hrodebert'' (a compound of '' Hruod'' ( non, Hróðr) "fame, glory, honou ...
(double-bass). (Col Light Blue, 78rpm, L 2098–2102). (9–10 January 1928). * Schubert: Quintet in C major op 163 with
Horace Britt Quintus Horatius Flaccus (; 8 December 65 – 27 November 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace (), was the leading Roman lyric poet during the time of Augustus (also known as Octavian). The rhetorician Quintilian regarded his '' ...
(cello). (Col Dark Blue, 78rpm, 9485–9490). (18–19 April 1928). These items were also available: *
Franck Franck can refer to: People * Franck (name) Other * Franck (company), Croatian coffee and snacks company * Franck (crater), Lunar crater named after James Franck See also

* Franc (disambiguation) * Franks * Frank (disambiguation) * Fran ...
: Quartet in D major (Columbia Light Blue, 78rpm, L2304-2309). (26–27 October 1928). *
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 classic ...
: Quartet in A minor op 132 (Columbia 78rpm LX 332–336). (2–3 April 1934).R. D. Darrell, ''The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music'' (New York 1936)& Se
The AHRC Research Centre for the History and Analysis of Recorded Music Discography


Sources and notes

* A. Eaglefield-Hull, ''A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians'' (Dent, London 1924). * R. Elkin, ''Queen's Hall 1893–1941'' (Rider, London 1944).


External links



{{DEFAULTSORT:London String Quartet Musical groups established in 1908 English string quartets 1908 establishments in England