The Léner String Quartet, sometimes written the Lehner String 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 ...

of Hungarian origin, founded in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

in 1918, which for most of its pre-war career operated in or from

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. They appeared at the Royal Albert Hall, London on three occasions between 1922 and 1926.Royal Albert Hall Archives, http://catalogue.royalalberthall.com/Default.aspx? They also performed in New York, Amsterdam, and elsewhere in Europe. The Léner made the first complete recorded cycle of

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 ...

quartets.

Personnel

The founding lineup of the Quartet, which lasted until their break-up at the start of World War II, was as follows: 1st violin *Jenö Léner (or Lehner) 2nd violin *Joszef Smilovits Viola *Sándor Roth Cello *Imre Hartmann In later manifestations of the ensemble, Paul Rolland (viola) and Laszlo Varga (cello) were players in the Léner Quartet.

Origins

Jenö Léner was born at

Szabadka Subotica (, ; , , ) is a city in Central Europe and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, contemporary Subotica is now the second la ...

, Hungary (later annexed to

Yugoslavia , common_name = Yugoslavia , life_span = 1918–19921941–1945: World War II in Yugoslavia#Axis invasion and dismemberment of Yugoslavia, Axis occupation , p1 = Kingdom of SerbiaSerbia , flag_p ...

), on 24 June 1894. He studied at the Royal High School for Music in Budapest. He founded the quartet in 1918 and was its leader.

Recordings

The Léner Quartet recorded extensively during the 1920s and 1930s for Columbia Records, a partnership which received a strong impetus from the centenary of Beethoven's death in 1927, when a core of the Beethoven quartets were recorded or begun (L series). This was followed up in 1928 with the Schubert centenary, for which the Léner recorded the Octet. The LX prefix records below were mainly issued between 1933 and 1936. Their principal recordings of complete works (all 78rpm Columbia) in that period are as follows: * Beethoven, op 18 nos 1 & 4 (L 1842-1847); op 18 nos 2 & 3 (L 1901-1914); op 18 no 6 (L 1915-1917). * Beethoven, op 59 no 1 (L 1837-1841); op 59 no 2 (L 1856-1859); op 59 no 3 (L 1860-1863); op 74 (LX 319-322). *Beethoven, op 95 (L 1926-1928); op 127 (L 1921-1925); op 130 (L1929-1933); op 131 (LX 294-298); op 132 (LX 463-467); Grosse Fuge op 133 (LX 103-104); op 135 (L 1918-1920). * Beethoven: Septet in E flat major op 20 (Léner, Roth and Hartmann with

Claude Hobday Claude Hobday (12 May 1872, Faversham, Kent – 10 March 1954, Surbiton, England) was an England, English double-bass player, a member of a well-known musical family, who took part in various early chamber-music recordings. Biography Early life Cla ...

(bass), Charles Draper (clarinet), E.W. Hinchcliffe (bassoon),

Aubrey Brain Aubrey Brain (12 July 189321 September 1955) was a British horn player and teacher. He was the father of Dennis Brain. Biography Aubrey Harold Brain was born in London in 1893. He came from a musical family. His father, Alfred Edwin Brain Sr. ...

(French horn)). (LX 109-113). (Before 1933). *

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 ...

: op 3 no 5 (9658-9659); op 76 no 3 (LX 451-4); op 76 no 5 (L 2257-2259). (Before 1933). *

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 K421 (L 1965-1967); in B flat major K458 (L 2261-2263); in G major K387 (LX 24-27); in C Major ("Dissonant") K465. (all before 1933). * Mozart: Quintet in G minor K516, with

L. d'Oliveira Carl Linnaeus (23 May 1707 – 10 January 1778), also known after ennoblement in 1761 as Carl von Linné, Blunt (2004), p. 171. was a Swedish biologist and physician who formalised binomial nomenclature, the modern system of naming organism ...

, viola (LX 61-64). (Before 1933). * Mozart: Quintet in A major K581, with Charles Draper, clarinet (L 2252-2255). (Before 1933). * Mozart: Quartet in F major K370, with

Léon Goossens Léon Jean Goossens, CBE, FRCM (12 June 1897 – 13 February 1988) was an English oboist. Career Goossens was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and studied at Liverpool College of Music and the Royal College of Music. His father was violinist an ...

, oboe (LX 256-257). (Before 1933). *

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 ...

: Octet in F major op 166, with Claude Hobday (bass), Charles Draper (clarinet), E.W. Hinchcliffe (bassoon), Aubrey Brain (French horn). (L 2108-2113). (For Schubert centenary 1928). *

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 Mme

Olga Loeser-Lebert Olga may refer to: People and fictional characters * Olga (name), a given name, including a list of people and fictional characters named Olga or Olha * Michael Algar (born 1962), English singer also known as "Olga" Places Russia * Olga, Russia ...

, piano (LX 266-269). *

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 ...

: Quartet in C minor op 51 no 1 (LX 228-31); in A minor op 51 no 2 (LX 163-166); in B flat op 67 (L 2357-2361). (all before 1933). * Brahms: Quintet in F minor op 34, with Mme Olga Loeser-Lebert, piano (L 2040-2044). (Before 1933). * Brahms: Quintet in B minor op 115, with Charles Draper, clarinet (L 2228-2232). (Before 1933). * Dvořák: Quartet in F op 96 (LX 183-185). (Before 1933). * Dvořák: Quintet in A major, with Mme Olga Loeser-Lebert, piano (LX 150-153). (Before 1933). *

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 ...

: Quartet in G minor op 10 no 1 (L 2141-2144). (Before 1933). *

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 ...

: Quartet in F major (LX 270-273). (Before 1936). Rockport Records (New York) began in 1999 a project to reissue all their recordings on CD. By 2015 5 CDs had been issued, covering Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, and Dvořák.

Sources and literature

* R.D. Darrell, ''The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music'' (New York 1936). *

Arthur Eaglefield Hull Arthur Eaglefield Hull (10 March 1876 – 4 November 1928) was an English music critic, writer, composer and organist.

, ''A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians'' (Dent, London 1924). * A. Glazounow (foreword), ''The Music Lovers Gramophone Library, Vol I, Schubert centenary issue of Columbia Records''. (Columbia Graphophone Co, London 1928). * ''Catalogue of Columbia Records up to and including Supplement no 252'' (Columbia, London 1933) * Antal Molnár, 'A Léner-Vonósnégyes,' in ''Nagy Magyar Elöadómüvészek'', no 6. (Budapest, Zenemökiadó 1968).

References

External links

The Lener Quartet Papers
are located in th
Music Division
o

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lener String Quartet Musical groups established in 1918 Hungarian string quartets