The Loewenguth 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 ...

music ensemble A musical ensemble, also known as a music group, musical group, or a band 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 instrume ...

led by the French

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

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. 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 ...

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 ...

and

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 ...

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; Jean-Claude De Waele; Jacques Borsarello (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, 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 Musical instrument, instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a Great chamber, palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music ...

and solfeggio. For chamber music he was a pupil of André Tourret and Jean Roger-Ducasse. 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, it is referred to as (; "ninth"). The arrondissement, called Opéra, is located on the right bank of th ...

, and taught at the Conservatoire of

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...

, at the Schola Cantorum de Paris, and at the Académie Internationale at

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one millionFrançoise Doreau), 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. In July 2024, Jacquot was charged with rape, including of a minor, and was barred from directing and having cont ...

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 at the

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

. In the same year they also performed the complete Beethoven series for the Casavant Society in Montreal. The quartet performed Priaulx Rainier's string quartet at the

Edinburgh Festival __NOTOC__ This is a list of Arts festival, 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 ...

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). (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, particularly noted for his art songs, or Lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, so ...

: Italienische Serenade. (Opera label) *

Jean Françaix Jean René Désiré Françaix (pronunciation Fran-say or Fran-seks) was born on 23 May 1912, in Le Mans and died in 25 September 1997, in Paris). Françaix was a French neoclassical composer, pianist, and orchestrator known for his prolific outp ...

: 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 Impressionism in music, Impressionist composer, although he vigorously rejected the term. He was among the most influe ...

: 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 in music, Impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composer ...

: 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 music, Romantic composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher born in present-day Belgium. He was born in Liège (which at the time of h ...

: Quartet in D major. * Émile Goué: Third quartet, Sonata for piano and violin (with Doreau).(Azur Classical CD AZC 081) * J. S. Bach: 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 20th-century classical music, classical music. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Conservatoire de Paris, Paris Conservatoir ...

: String Quartet. (1945) *

Franz 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 ...

: 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) * Jean Roger-Ducasse: 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 ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

: 2nd Quartet (& Roussel Quartet) (DGG). (1955) * Pierre Vachon: Quartets Op 11 no 1, 5. (DGG Archiv SAPM 198033) * Nicolas Dalayrac: 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 Deutsche Grammophon artists