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

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 ...

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 Quartet ...

History

It was in the tradition of

Joseph Joachim Joseph Joachim (28 June 1831 – 15 August 1907) was a Hungarian Violin, violinist, Conducting, conductor, composer and teacher who made an international career, based in Hanover and Berlin. A close collaborator of Johannes Brahms, he is widely ...

and, like the Klingler Quartet, the Busch Quartet, the Havemann Quartet, the Amar Quartet, the Wendling Quartet and the Strub Quartet, 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 ( or NSDAP), was a far-right political party in Germany active between 1920 and 1945 that created and supported the ideology of Nazism. Its precursor, the German Workers ...

and

Kraft durch Freude NS Gemeinschaft ; KdF) was a German NSDAP-operated leisure organization in Nazi Germany. Richard Grunberger, ''The 12-Year Reich'', p. 197, It was part of the German Labour Front (), the national labour organization at that time. Set up in Nove ...

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

Allied-occupied Germany The entirety of Germany was occupied and administered by the Allies of World War II, from the Berlin Declaration on 5 June 1945 to the establishment of West Germany on 23 May 1949. Unlike occupied Japan, Nazi Germany was stripped of its sov ...

. After the Second World War, the Stross Quartet became the most important German string quartet alongside the Koeckert Quartet. 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, ''Goethe Institute'') is a Nonprofit organization, nonprofit German culture, cultural organization operational worldwide with more than 150 cultural centres, promoting the study of the German language abroad and en ...

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 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 and the cellist

Rudolf Metzmacher Rudolf Metzmacher (9 June 1906 – 20 January 2004), complete name Rudolf Hans Helmut Friedrich Carl Metzmacher, was a German cellist. Life Metzmacher was born in Schwerin as son of the head teacher August Metzmacher and his wife Marie, ''née ...

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 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 ...

Ludwig van 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 ...

and

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 ...

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

premiere A premiere, also spelled première, (from , ) is the debut (first public presentation) of a work, i.e. play, film, dance, musical composition, or even a performer in that work. History Raymond F. Betts attributes the introduction of the ...

s of modern compositions by Martin Karl Hasse, 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 (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 (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 Quart ...

(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) Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and S ...

(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