The Flonzaley Quartet was a

string quartet The term string quartet refers 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 Violin, violini ...

organized in

Manhattan, New York City Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the smallest county by area in the U.S. state of New York. Located almost entire ...

, in 1902. The group disbanded in 1929.

Personnel

The personnel of the group were as follows: *1st violin: (Bagni di Lucca, 21 March 1875 – Lucca, 2 December 1950). *2nd violin:

Alfred Pochon Alfred Pochon (30 July 1878 – 26 February 1959) was a Swiss musician. Biography He was born on 30 July 1878 in Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland. It was in his hometown Yverdon that at the age of seven, Pochon first began learning the violi ...

(Yverdon, 30 July 1878 – Lutry, 26 February 1959). *viola: Ugo Ara (Venezia, 1876 – Lausanne, 1 December 1936), until 1917; replaced by

Louis Bailly Louis Bailly was a French-Canadian violist and music educator. He was born on 18 June 1882 in Valenciennes, France and died on 21 November 1974 in Cowansville, Quebec. Biography Bailly studied violin and viola at the Conservatoire de Paris un ...

(Valenciennes, 13 June 1882 – Cowansville, Québec, 21 November 1974), until 1924; by Félicien d'Archambeau (? – ?), until 1925; by Nicolas Moldavan (Kremenetz, 23 January 1891 – New York, 21 September 1974), until disbanding in 1928. *violoncello: Iwan d'Archambeau (Herve, 1879 – Villefranche-sur-Mer, 29 December 1955). Violinist Frank Howell Holden frequently played with the group.

History

The quartet was the creation of Edward J. de Coppet of New York, who in 1903 engaged the original members to devote themselves entirely to quartet-playing, and not with any view to giving regular concerts in public.letter by E. de Coppet (Chexbres, le 12 août 1903)
/ref> The group took its name from de Coppet's summer

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

near

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, in Switzerland, where the four musicians first rehearsed. After a long period of practice, the Quartet made a European tour and won high praise for the perfection of its ensemble and its artistic finish. Both violinists and the violist had been students of the Belgian maestro

César Thomson César Thomson (18 March 1857 – 21 August 1931) was a Belgian violinist, teacher, and composer. Biography He was born in Liège in 1857. At age seven, he entered the Royal Conservatory of Liège, and studied under Désiré Heynberg, Rodolp ...

, who would also teach members of a contemporaneous pioneering American chamber group, the

Zoellner Quartet The Zoellner Quartet was a string quartet active during the first quarter of the 20th century. It was once described as "the most celebrated musical organization in the West which devotes its energies exclusively to the highest class of cham ...

.Cariaga, Daniel, "Not Taking It with You: A Tale of Two Estates," ''Los Angeles Times''
December 22, 1985, accessed April 2012. The group was first heard in New York, in private and at charity concerts, in autumn 1904, but it did not give a public concert in the United States until 5 December 1905. After that it appeared regularly in Europe and America. The members stuck to the original principle of not accepting any outside engagement, and having no pupils, and by devoting themselves entirely to the quartet maintained a position of acknowledged superiority in their field. In 1914 the group asked

Igor Stravinsky Igor Fyodorovich Stravinsky ( – 6 April 1971) was a Russian composer and conductor with French citizenship (from 1934) and American citizenship (from 1945). He is widely considered one of the most important and influential 20th-century c ...

to write them a work. This resulted in his "Three pieces for String Quartet". A few years later they also commissioned him to write "Concertino", a one-movement work. Éduard de Coppet died in 1916, and his son André continued thereafter to maintain the Quartet. The original violist Ugo Ara left the group to join the

Italian Italian(s) may refer to: * Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries ** Italians, a Romance ethnic group related to or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom ** Italian language, a Romance languag ...

army, resulting in his replacement. The Quartet performed worldwide until disbanding in 1929. One of their final public concerts was at The Town Hall in

, on March 17, 1929. They broadcast their farewell concert over station WEAF (now WFAN) on May 7, 1929.

Legacy

Their recording of the Haydn 'Lark' quartet (below) could still be described as 'in prep.' in 1936.

Recordings

From 1913 until 1929, The Flonzaley made several acoustic and electrical recordings for the

Victor Talking Machine Company The Victor Talking Machine Company was an American recording company and phonograph manufacturer, incorporated in 1901. Victor was an independent enterprise until 1929 when it was purchased by the Radio Corporation of America (RCA) and became ...

. Among their recordings of longer works are the following: *

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

: Quartet Op 18 no 2 (V 1218–21/DA 851–854). * Beethoven: Quartet in E flat major op 127 (V 7629–33/DB 1377–81). * Beethoven: Quartet in F major op 135 (V 122–125/DA 847–850). *

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...

: Quintet in F minor op 34 with

Harold Bauer Harold Victor Bauer (28 April 1873 – 12 March 1951) was an English-born pianist of Jewish heritage who began his musical career as a violinist. Biography Harold Bauer was born in Kingston upon Thames; his father was a German violinis ...

, piano (V 6571–5/DB970-4). * Dohnányi: Quartet no 2 in D flat major op 15 (V 7354–6/DB 1135–7). *

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

: Quartet in D major op 64 no 5 (V 7650–1). *

Mozart Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age ...

: Quartet in D minor K 421 (V 7607–8/DB 1357-8). * Mozart: Quartet in D major K 575 (DA 947–9 ('V 1585–7' not issued?)). *

Schubert Franz Peter Schubert (; ; 31 January 179719 November 1828) was an Austrian composer of the late Classical period (music), Classical and early Romantic music, Romantic eras. Despite his short life, Schubert left behind a List of compositions ...

: Quartet in G major op 161 (V 7475–8/DB 1373–6). *

Schumann Robert Schumann (; ; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and music critic of the early Romantic music, Romantic era. He composed in all the main musical genres of the time, writing for solo piano, voice and piano, chamber ...

: Quintet in E flat major op 44 with

Ossip Gabrilowitsch Ossip Salomonovich Gabrilowitsch (Осип Сoломонович Габрилович, ''Osip Solomonovich Gabrilovich''; he used the German transliteration ''Gabrilowitsch'' in the West) (14 September 1936) was a Russian-American pianist, condu ...

, piano (V 8092–5/DB 1191–4). * Smetana: Quartet no 1 in E minor (V 7130–2/DB 1359–61).

References

External links

Flonzaley Quartet recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database catalog of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The 78rpm era was the time period in which any flat disc records were being played at ...