The Stross-Quartett (formerly "Quartet of the Cologne Student Period" and "Grümmer Quartet") was an important German

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 ...

from Cologne (1922-1931) and Munich (1934-1966) respectively. The quartet was named after the long-time primarius

Wilhelm Stross Wilhelm Stross (5 November 1907 – 18 January 1966) was a German violinist and composer. He was professor at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München and the Hochschule für Musik und Tanz Köln as well as first violin of the Stross Quarte ...

History

It was in the tradition of Joseph Joachim and, like the Klingler Quartet, the

Busch Quartet The Busch Quartet was a string quartet founded by Adolf Busch in 1919 that was particularly noted for its interpretations of the Classical and Romantic quartet repertoire. The group's recordings of Beethoven's Late String Quartets are especiall ...

, the Havemann Quartet, the

Amar Quartet The Amar Quartet, also known as the Amar-Hindemith Quartet, was a musical ensemble founded by the composer Paul Hindemith in 1921 in Germany and was active in both classical and modern repertoire until disbanding in 1933. It made several recording ...

, the Wendling Quartet and the

Strub Quartet The Strub-Quartett was a well-known German string quartet from Berlin (1929–1945) and Detmold (1945–1965), named after primarius Max Strub. History The first Strub Quartet was formed from the chamber orchestra of Edwin Fischer and was supp ...

, influenced decisively the German string quartet scene in the first half of the 20th century. During the Second World War the members of the quartet were exempted from military service, which was a rarity. From 1940 the string quartet often played at Wehrmacht concerts. It also performed at

NSDAP The Nazi Party, officially the National Socialist German Workers' Party (german: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei or NSDAP), was a far-right politics, far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that crea ...

and

Kraft durch Freude NC Gemeinschaft (KdF; ) was a German state-operated leisure organization in Nazi Germany.Richard Grunberger, ''The 12-Year Reich'', p. 197, It was part of the German Labour Front (german: link=no, Deutsche Arbeitsfront), the national labour org ...

events and in military hospitals. The ensemble was also able to continue its activities in

Allied-occupied Germany Germany was already de facto occupied by the Allies from the real fall of Nazi Germany in World War II on 8 May 1945 to the establishment of the East Germany on 7 October 1949. The Allies (United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France ...

. After the Second World War, the Stross Quartet became the most important German string quartet alongside the

Koeckert Quartet The Koeckert Quartet was a well-known German string quartet. Origin and activity It was first founded in 1939 under the name of the "Sudeten German Quartet", later renamed the "Prague String Quartet". It consisted of members of the German Philha ...

. Stross-Quartett
on MGG online International concert tours led the ensemble through Europe as well as to Asia, Africa and South America. In the early 1960s the

Goethe-Institut The Goethe-Institut (, GI, en, Goethe Institute) is a non-profit German cultural association operational worldwide with 159 institutes, promoting the study of the German language abroad and encouraging international cultural exchange and ...

organized concerts in Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Cyprus and Greece. The quartet also performed with important foreign actors such as the Paris

Loewenguth Quartet The Loewenguth Quartet was a string quartet music ensemble led by the French violinist Alfred Loewenguth. It was particularly famous for performances of classical repertoire such as Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn quartets, and was active from the 1930s ...

and the Vienna Philharmonic Wind Ensemble. After the death of the founder in 1966, Ingo Sinnhoffer wound up the Stross Quartet.Jürgen Stegmüller: Das Streichquartett. Eine internationale Dokumentation zur Geschichte der Streichquartett-Ensembles und Streichquartett-Kompositionen von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart'' (''Quellenkataloge zur Musikgeschichte''. Vol. 40). Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2007, , p. 226 f. The violinist

Josef Märkl Josef Märkl (16 January 1928 – 14 October 2010) was a German violinist, composer and music educator. He was a member of the radio orchestras in Munich, Stuttgart and Baden-Baden. Most recently he was concertmaster of the Deutsche Oper am Rhein ...

and the cellist Rudolf Metzmacher founded the Märkl Quartet in 1968, continuing the tradition of the Stross Quartet.Jürgen Stegmüller: ''Das Streichquartett. Eine internationale Dokumentation zur Geschichte der Streichquartett-Ensembles und Streichquartett-Kompositionen von den Anfängen bis zur Gegenwart'' (''Quellenkataloge zur Musikgeschichte''. Vol. 40). Noetzel, Wilhelmshaven 2007, , . The repertoire of the ensemble was very broad (among others Bach, Bartók, Reger, Blacher, Brahms, Bruckner, Dvořák, Fasch, Gál, Grieg, Haydn, Hindemith, Humperdinck, Pfizner, Ravel, Respighi, Smetana, Schumann, Verdi and Viotti). Above all, the cyclical performances of the works of

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 ...

Ludwig van 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 ...

and

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 ...

are of particular importance. Throughout its history the string quartet has performed

premiere A première, also spelled premiere, is the debut (first public presentation) of a play, film, dance, or musical composition. A work will often have many premières: a world première (the first time it is shown anywhere in the world), its first ...

s of modern compositions by

Martin Karl Hasse Martin Karl ''Woldemar'' Hasse (20 March 1883 – 31 July 1960) was a German university lecturer, composer and music writer. Life Born in Dohna, Hasse was the son of the pastor Martin Hasse (1852-1915) and his wife Cora († 1922), ''née'' Wit ...

, Oscar von Pander, Richard Trunk and Mordechai Sheinkman. The Stross Quartet has made several recordings and radio broadcasts.

Members

The string quartet was recast several times, with Wilhelm Stross almost always being Primarius: * 1. Violin: Wilhelm Stross (1922–1929 and 1929–1966), Hans-Detlev Grümmer (1929) and Ingo Sinnhoffer (1966) * 2. Violin: Otto Holm (1922–1929), Wilhelm Stross (1929), Hermes (1929–1931),

Anton Huber Anton Huber was a sailor from Germany, who represented his country at the 1928 Summer Olympics in Amsterdam, Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , su ...

(1934–1937), Franz Schmidtner (1937/38), Richard Heber (1938–1944), Karl-Albrecht Hermann (1944–1949), Heinz Endres (1949–1952), Kurt-Christian Stier (1952–1961), Oskar C. Yatko (1961–1964) and Josef Märkl (1964–1966) * Viola: Fritz Lang (1921–1929), Hermann Zitzmann (1929), Otto Holm (1929–1931),

Valentin Härtl Valentin Georg Härtl (20 Juny 1894 – 13 August 1966) was a German violist and violinist. Life Born in Aschaffenburg, Härtl was the son of a train driver, ''August Härtl'' and ''Elisabeth Härtl, geb''. After his Abitur at the humanistic gra ...

(1934–1948 and 1952–1958), Siegfried Meinecke (1948–1952), Georg Schmid (1958–1961), Ingo Sinnhoffer (1961–1963) and Gérard Ruymen (1963–1966) * Violoncello: Kurt Friedrich (1922–1929),

Paul Grümmer Paul Grümmer (26 February 1879 – 30 October 1965) was a German-born cellist and teacher. Grümmer was born in Gera in Thuringia. He studied at the Leipzig Conservatory with Julius Klengel. He was well known as a member of the Busch Quar ...

(1929 and 1937–1940), A. Johnen (1929–1931),

Anton Walter Gabriel Anton Walter (5 February 1752 – 11 April 1826) was a builder of pianos. The ''Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'' describes him as "the most famous Viennese piano maker of his time".Latcham (2009) Life Walter was born in Neuhaus ...

(1934–1937) and Rudolf Metzmacher (1940–1966)

Discography

* Ludwig van Beethoven: String quartets op. 18/2 (1939) and op. 59/2 (Deutsche Grammophon, 1942) *

: Streichquintett KV 516 (with Philipp Haaß, Deutsche Grammophon, 1942) * Franz Schubert: String Quintet D 956 (with Heinz Decker, 1949 / with Oswald Uhl, Sound Star-Tonproduktion, 1964) * Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet No. 16 op. 135 (Aarton-Music, 1965)

References

External links

* {{Authority control German string quartets Musical groups established in 1922 Musical groups disestablished in 1966

History

Members

Discography

Further reading

References

External links