26 November 2024 | Bohuslav Martinů Days 2024 | Zemlinsky Quartet

Tuesday 26 November 2024, 7.30 pm
Fortna, Monastery of the Discalced Carmelites, Prague

Alexander ZEMLINSKI:  String Quartet Nr. 2 Op. 15
Bohuslav MARTINŮ:  String Quartet Nr. 2 H 150
Bohuslav MARTINŮ:  String Quartet Nr. 3 H 183

Zemlinsky Quartet
     František Souček (violin)
     Petr Střížek (violin)
     Petr Holman (viola)
     Vladimír Fortin (cello)

The String Quartet no. 2 op. 15 was written by the composer, pianist, and conductor Alexander Zemlinsky in Prague, whilst he was employed as the musical director of the New German Theatre, during which time he devoted two years of work to this composition from 1913 to 1915. The Quartet is a part of the apex of Zemlinsky’s work and is dedicated to his former Viennese student of composition and a lifelong friend Arnold Schönberg. It will be performed by an ensemble that proudly bears the composer’s name along with the consistently expanding yet still undervalued legacy.

Bohuslav Martinů’s String Quartet no. 2, H 150 was created conversely in Paris in 1925 and the author obtained for this composition not only acclaim from composer colleagues, but also his first contract with an eminent foreign publishing house – Viennese Universal Edition. In contrast his String Quartet no. 3, H 183 from 1929 can be considered an experimental work bordering between tonality and atonality, which defies all conventions regarding Martinů’s work. It was written for Roth Quartet – an ensemble known for its interpretation of contemporary music, and the work premiered in 1932 in the USA.

More information: https://martinufestival.cz/en/koncert/zemlinsky-quartet