Ocr'd Text:
FORTY-NINTH SEASON
1966-1967
The
Huddersfield Music
Society
vell
SIX CONCERTS
in the
MAYOR'S RECEPTION ROOM, TOWN HALL,
HUDDERSFIELD
The National Federation of Music Societies, to which this Society is affiliated,
supports these Concerts with funds provided by the Arts Council of Great Britain.
Ocr'd Text:
The JANACEK and the TATRAI STRING QUARTETS
are two of the finest String Quartets in existence today. The
former, a Czecho-Slovak ensemble, plays with a mastery which
is undoubtedly enhanced by the fact that all four players per-
form from memory.
The latter, Hungarian in origin, is an
ensemble of equal musicianship and eminence; they have played
together for the past 20 years. The Committee is very happy to
be able to bring such artists to these Concerts.
The GABRIELI STRING QUARTET is a recently-formed
English ensemble, which is rapidly making a great name for
itself. All four players have distinguished themselves as soloists
and are dedicated chamber musicians. They will be joined by
KEITH PUDDY (Clarinet). To hear the performance of two
great Clarinet Quintets will certainly be an outstanding musical
experience.
MAUREEN SMITH and KEITH SWALLOW are well
known to local audiences. Maureen Smith will be remembered
for her fine concerto playing at a concert in Huddersfield last
year. We look forward to a recital by this young and gifted
player with the co-operation of such a sensitive and musicianly
pianist as Keith Swallow.
ALLAN SCHILLER, now a mature artist, has not long
returned from intensive study in Russia. We believe that his
name will be added to the list of those pianists who have played
to our members at an early stage in their outstanding careers.
This year a SIXTH CONCERT will be given. This is being
arranged with the kind and generous collaboration of Mr. Forbes
and will be performed by young musicians now studying in the
Department of Music of the Huddersfield College of Technology.
We feel that outstanding students of this relatively new and
important School of Music should be known to our members, who,
we hope, will take advantage of the opportunity of hearing these
young people.
Please forward the perforated slip as soon as possible.
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All Conc
10th October 1966.
Quartet in D n
Quartet in A f
Quartet No. 2
14th November 196
Quintet in A m
Quartet No. 1
Quintet in B m
with
6th December 1966.
9th January 1967. MAU
Sonata in D maior
Sonata No. 2 in
Unaccompanied
Ningun
Rhapsody No.
13th February 1967
Sonata in A m
Sonata
Suite: Pour le
Thirty-two
Vai
6th March 1967.
Quartet in D n
Quartet No. 6
Quartet in C m
(Progi
MEMBERS ONLY)
Season tickets.
To the Hon. Treasurer, National Provincial Bank, King Street, Huddersfield
I enclose £
in payment for
FORM
(for the use of PRESENT
REMITTANCE
Name.
Address.
APPLICATION FORM (for the use of NEW MEMBERS ONLY)
To the Hon. Secretary, 3a Vernon Avenue, Huddersfield
Please send me
Name.
Address.
Season tickets for which I enclose £
(BLOCK LETTERS PLEASE)
Cheques should be made payable to "The Huddersfield Music Society"
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All Concerts on Monday Evenings at 7-30
10th October 1966.
PROGRAMME
Quartet in D major Op. 64 No. 5..
Quartet in A flat Op. 105
Quartet No. 2 (Secret Letters)
THE JANACEK STRING QUARTET
14th November 1966. THE GABRIELI STRING QUARTET
with KEITH PUDDY (Clarinet)
Mozart
Quintet in A major K. 581 ....
Quartet No. 1 in C major Op. 49 ......... Shostakovitch
Quintet in B minor Op. 115
Brahms
13th February 1967.
Vin
th December 1966. CONCERT BY STUDENTS FROM THE
MUSIC DEPARTMENT OF THE
HUDDERSFIELD COLLEGE OF
9th January 1967. MAUREEN SMITH & KEITH SWALLOW
Sonata in D major
Sonata No. 2 in A major Op. 100
Unaccompanied Sonata in G No. 1
Ningun
Rhapsody No. 1
Sonata in A minor K. 310 ...
Sonata
Suite: Pour le Piano
6th March 1967.
TECHNOLOGY.
e
Haydn
Dvorak
Janacek
Thirty-two Variations in C minor
Quartet in D minor Op. 76 No. 2
Quartet No. 6 ...
Quartet in C major Op. 59 .....
Handel
Brahms
Bach
Bloch
Bartok
ALLAN SCHILLER
Mozart
Malcolm Williamson
Debussy
Beethoven
THE TATRAI STRING QUARTET
(Programmes subject to amendment)
Haydn
Bartok
Beethoven
Season ticket
Single ticket
1st and 6th Concerts 12/6
2nd, 4th and 5th Concerts
10/6
3rd Concert
40/0
5/0
Student's ticket
3/6
(for 3rd Concert) ... 2/6
(Bona-fide Students
under 21)
Students' season tickets
are not issued.
....
With the exception of
Students' tickets, all tickets
can be obtained from
Messrs. J. Wood and Sons,
67 New Street,
Huddersfield
All tickets are on sale at
the door.
Tickets are enclosed here-
with to
all
previous
members. If they are not
required they should be
returned to the Hon. Sec-
retary not later than
September 26th, after which
date
no returned tickets
can be accepted.
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08-X 38 agninsya yabnom no chap
THE HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
(Founded as The Huddersfield Music Club by Dr. Eaglefield Hull in 1918)
President
Vice-President
...
T2
Yeau Honorary Vice-Presidents :
Mrs. EAGLEFIELD HULL
STANLEY G. WATSON, Esq.
BENJAMIN BRITTEN, O.M.,C.H. F. ROWCLIFFE.
Hon Secretary:
Miss C. ALISON SHAW, 3a Vernon Avenue. Tel. Hudd. 27470.
T2 YA TA
HT 10 TAMTHA Hon. Treasurer:
N. T. ATKINSON
S. H. CROWTHER
DAVID DUGDALE
P. G. C. FORBES, M.A., A.R.C.O
Mrs. E. GLENDINNING
Miss I. BRATMAN
Mrs. S. H. CROWTHER
Mrs. N. CULLEY
Mrs. F. A. DAWSON
Miss K. EVANS
F. W. PHILIPS, National Provincial Bank, King Street.
Executive Committee:
E. GLENDINNING
Miss Z. E. HULL
Dr. C. JONES
P. L. MICHELSON
S. ROTHERY
Miss E. K. SAWERS
MAX SELKA
E. C. SHAW
W. E. THOMPSON
Mrs. S. G. WATSON
Ladies' Committee:
Chairman: Miss E. K. SAWERS
Mrs. E. FENNER
Miss M. A. FREEMAN, LL.B.
Miss M. HAMER
Mrs. D. HIRST, J.P.
Mrs. A. E. HORSFALL
Mrs. A. E. HULL
Miss Z. E. HULL
Miss H. LODGE
Miss C. A. SHAW
Mrs. J. SHIRES
Miss W. TOWNSEND
Hon. Secretary: Mrs. E. GLENDINNING
Hon. Treasurer: Mrs. S. G. WATSON
(insmbnome of toidua zotum
Ocr'd Text:
THE HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
*****
**
******
Forty-ninth Season 1966-67
Mayor's Reception Room, Town Hall,
Monday October 10th. 1966
******
THE JANACEK STRING
Jiri Travnicek (Violin)
Jiri Kratochvil (Viola)
***
Programmo
I
Quartet in D major Op.64 No. 5
****
QUARTET
Adolf Sykora (Violin)
Karol Krafka (Collo)
Haydn (1732-1809)
Allegro moderato
Adagio cantabilo
Minuet and Trio
Presto
(Last performed in 1963 by the Weiner String Quartet)
In 1789 the siz quartets of Opp.54 and 55 were published and
were followed the next year by the six quartets of Op.64. All
twolvo quartets were dedicated to Johann Tost. Tost was a
violinist who married a rich wife and became a respected cloth
morchant; it is possible that was the samo Tost who was a mombor of
the Esterhazy orchestra from 1783 to 1789.
All twelvo quartots are closely interrelated, though, in fact,
the quartets of Op.64 really belong to Haydn's last poriod of
composition. A characteristic they all share in common is the
frequent use of one single subject upon which the whole movement is
based. They are full, too, of delightful little surprises and all
have a brilliant and prominent part for the first violin.
The "Lark Quartet" gets its name from the beautiful soaring
melody for the first violin with which the first movement opens; and
the moment when it returns at the beginning of the recapitulation
brings all the delight of fulfilled expectation. But the rich now
expansion of the second subject which follows is a wholly unexpected
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20
development, and its climax is succeeded by the most
surprising stroke of all, as the first subject sails calmly in
once more and starts a brand-new, and this closely condensed,
recapitulation. The effect of spontaneity and spaciousness
combined with close u ity thus achieved is unique;
wrote another movement like it". (R. Hughes).
is one of the movements which betrays the fact that Haydn used so
frequently to compose at the piano. The Finale is a brilliant
perpetuum mobile in which the flying semiquavers turn suddenly
into a fugato, a device much loved by Haydn.
Haydn never
The adagio cantabile
The last two quartets of Op. 64 "are a fitting crown to the
"high summer phase of Haydn's croative life, for they not only
represont his strength of form at its most freo, spontaneous and
creative, but also stand out above the others with a certain
heightoned radiance of sheer melodic loveliness" (R. Hughos)
II
Dvorak (1841-1904)
Adagio ma non troppo - Allegro appassionato
Molto vivace
Lento e molto cantabile
Allegro non tanto
(Last performed in 1963 by tho Vlach String Quartet)
Dvorak and Smetana were together the creators of the school
of modern Czech music. Sourek writes of Dvorak: "He was one of
those great creative artists who live, feel and think in music.
Music was his life-blocd, his whole inner existence; and only in
music could he fully express himself. Thus he created spontaneously,
without profound and systematic reflection. He was at his bost in
absolute music, unburdened by any programme and, above all, in
chamber music. This branch yielded some of the finest blossoms of
his art, flowering in beauty and characteristic fragrance. In
absolute music Dvorak's fancy broke out in fresh melodic ideas, in
wonderfully coloured harmony and elemental rhythms.
Quartet in A flat Op.105
The Scherz
are in a 1
3/4 time wa
section, fo
2.
Dvorak wrote in all thirty chamber music works, including five
string quartets (five early quartets remain unpublished). This
quartet Op.105 is the last (Op.106 was written earlier) and is
dated 1895. Both were written after his roturn from America and one
may perhaps read into them the joy of homecoming, with a mind
refreshed and reinvigorated,
introduction in A flat minor,
sunny movement which follows:
Quartet Op.105 opons with a slow
a complete contrast to the idyllic and
this movoment is in regular sonata form.
feled
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abi
er
in
3.
The Scherzo is one of Dvorak's finest. The first and last sections
are in a lively style dorived from the Furiant (a Czoch dance in
3/4 time with a characteristic offect of cross-rhythms); the middle
section, founded upon a gracious molody, lator dovelops into a two-
part canon for the violins. The romantic slow movomont, beginning
with a theme of folk-song character, becomes ever richer and warmer;
after an agitated middle section, this theme returns, gracefully
decorated with violin figurations, and pursues a lengthy course, full
of delightful and unexpected touches. The Finale, is a free sonata
form, is an expression of pure joy, rising, after a wealth of
expressive detail, to a final climax of rapture.
Intorval of fifteen minutes.
Quartet No. 2 "Socrot Letters"
Janacek (1854-1928)
Andante con moto - Allegro
Adagio Vivace
Moderato
Allogro
Adagio - Allegro
Andante - Adagio
(Last performed in 1961 by the Janacok String. Quartot)
Leos Janacek was born at Hukvaldy (North Moravia), the seventh
child of a poor family. His father and grandfather were both
village schoolmasters of the class from which so much of the musical
culture of Bohomia has sprung. He became a chorister in the
Community of the Austin Friars in Brno, where he worked under
Krizkovsky, a precursor of Smotana and a writor of highly dramatic
choral music. Lator Janacek attended an organ school in Prague but
his poverty was such that it was not until he was 25 that he was
able to continue his musical training at Leipzig Conservatoire.
Thore he studied conducting and theory under Reinecke and made one
public appearance as a pianist. He then went to Vienna with a view
to becoming a piano virtuoso but he was forced to return to Brno
in 1881. Thore he was active as a teacher, as well as organising
concorts which brought the finest music within the roach of all, and
ho bogen his rescarchos into folk-music from which his own
characteristic style was largely evolved.
Janacok's choral music and operas are perhaps his most
characteristic works. In many respocts he is a unique figure in
musical history. Although old in years Janacek wrote with the
vigour of youth and was entirely modern in stylo. Among his
distinguishing qualities are formal precision and tersonoss of
expression (as instanced in his abrupt closos) purity of tono-
colour, each instrument boing treated as a human voice without
Ocr'd Text:
4。
dependence upon the normal harmonic schome; boldness and varioty
of rhythm, the result of a strong natural instinct strongthonod
by a lifelong study and careful record of the cadences of the
human voice, animal sounds and nature; fondness for Slavonic
folk songs and dancos; and, finally, a trick of harping on one
short reiterated motif. These things bring him into line with most
advanced schools, in spite of the fact that he never became
atonal" (Max Brod)
Janacek wrote relatively little pure instrumental music. Ho
did, however, write two string quartets and a violin sonata; all
are works of extremo originality. Both quartets are really
programme music, and the second, following Smetana's example, is
autobiographical. This second quartet was Janacok's last work,
completed only a few months before his death. It was inspired by
his love for a young woman, Kamila Stossl, and was entitled in
the manuscript "Love Letters". The composer later changed this
title to discourago vulgar curiosity about his inmost foclings,
and in the final version the viola was substitucd for the viola
d'amore. This quartet has actually no connection with the classical
quartet excopt that it contains 4 movements. Thoso do not conform
to any ostablished pattorn or sequence, and all have amazingly.
fluctuating tompi. But such is the shoor musical power of this
work that it exists as pure music and needs no programme to make
it intolligible to tho listonor. Tochnically this work roprosonts
the extreme limits of Janacek's writing of abstract music.
No definite koy can be establishod though, porhaps, the key
of D flat is the most prominent. This, in Janacek's other works,
is generally employed to suggest tendorness and love. In
construction the general principle is the use of a theme which is
repeated with different harmonic colourings and values. Throughout
the work the most minute interpretive directions are given to the
players. The first movement describes the meeting with the loved one;
the second movement pictures an idyllic summer spent in the country,
The third movement, is, in general, gay and is, in fact, difficult to
understand in the light of the programme. The final movement, in the
form of a kind of rondo, gives the impression of the fulfilment of
their love.
THE JANACEK STRING QUARTET was formed in 1947 by pupils of
Professor Czerny's chambor music class at the Conservatoire of
Music in Brno (Moravia). The youthful quartet could look back on
much notoworthy musical activity when its members graduated from
the Conservatoire and became leaders of their respective string
ections in
continuing t
Janacek, the
abroad took
Ocr'd Text:
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continuing the
Janacek, the g
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play all the w
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Mayor's Roco
November 14th.
December 5th.
January 9th.
February 13th.
March
6th.
To all our Members: and particularly to our
Now Members
THE HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
****
*********
We hope that you have enjoyed the first
concert of a Season of fine music, finely
performed. Will you please tell all your
friends about this Society. Season tickets
for the remaining five concerts (35/-) may
be obtained from Messrs. Woods, 67, New
Street, or at the door.
MAUREEN SMITH and KEITH SWALLOW (Violin & Piano)
ALLAN SCHILLER (Piano)
TATRAI STRING QUARTET.
Season tickets for the romaining 5 Concerts 35/- single
tickets (for the NEXT CONCERT) 10/6d. from Woods, 67, Now Street,
or at the door.
***
Town Hall, Huddersfield
******
***
*****
THE AMADEUS STRING QUARTET
May 8th. 1967
Presented by Granada Television
Mombers of this Society have priority of booking. Tickets 10/-
7/6d. and 5/-
Ocr'd Text:
little
na
aroful record of the cadences of the
a strong natural instinct strengthonod
unic schome; boldness and variety
f the fact that he never
ese things bring him into line wi
1, finally, a trick of harping on ono
s and naturo; fondness for Slavonic
5.
sections in the Brno State Philharmonic Orchestra while
continuing their work as a Quartet. They chose the name of
Janacek, the greatest Moravian composer. Their first tours
abroad took place in 1949 and 1951; since then they have played
in more than 40 countries in all 5 continents. The Quartot
play all the works in its repertoire by heart and thus achieve
a rare unison and a direct contact with the audience.
December 5th.
THE
******
Mayor's Reception Room, Town Hall. Monday Evenings at 7-30
November 14th. THE GABRIELI STRING QUARTET with KEITH PUDDY
(Clarinot)
January 9th.
February 13th,
March
6th.
HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
****
********** *****
Quintot in A major K.581
Quartot No. 1 in C major Op.49
Quintet in B minor Op.115
Brahms
CONCERT BY STUDENTS FROM THE DEPT. OF MUSIC
COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY.
***
MAUREEN SMITH and KEITH SWALLOW (Violin & Piano)
ALLAN SCHILLER (Piano)
TATRAI STRING QUARTET,
Season tickets for the remaining 5 Concerts 35/- single
tickets (for the NEXT CONCERT) 10/6d. from Woods, 67, Now Street,
or at the door.
Mozart
****
Town Hall, Huddersfield
Shostakovitch
***
THE AMADEUS STRING QUARTET
May 8th. 1967
Presented by Granada Television
Members of this Society have priority of booking. Tickets 10/-
7/6d. and 5/-
Ocr'd Text:
-6.
THE HALIFAX PHILHARMONIC SOCIETY
****
****************
Lecture Hall of the Halifax Litorary and Philosophical Society,
Harrison Road.
Friday, Nov. 11² The Gabrieli Strių Juanier with Keith Puddy
Friday December 9th. at 7-30 p.m.
MICHAEL ROLL (Piano)
Fantasia in D minor K.397
Italian Concerto
Sonata in F minor Op.57
Works by Chopin and others to be arrangod.
St. Patrick's Hall
Single tickets 8/6d. from David Dugdalo Esq., 96 Willowfield Road,
Halifax and at the door.
THE HUDDERSFIELD THESPIANS
***
7-30 p.m.
MARY, MARY.
A Comody by Joan Korr.
Mozart
Bach
Chopin
**
October 10th. tp 15th.
Tickots 5/ and 2/6d. (on Monday nights only, unreservod seats 2/-
Old Ago Ponsioners 1/-) from Woods, 67, Now Stroct.
Ocr'd Text:
THE HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
*****
****
Forty-ninth Season 1966-67
Mayor's Reception Room, Town Hall
Monday November 14th. 1966
****
*********
THE GABRIELI STRING QUARTET
***:
(Violin)
Kenneth Sillito
Claire Simpson (Violin)
Quintot in A major K.581
KEITH PUDDY
****
****
(Clarinet)
Ian Jewel
Keith Harvey
Programmo
I
Allegro
Larghetto
(Viola)
(Collo)
Mozart (1756-1791)
Minuet and Trios 1 and 2
Allegretto con variazioni
(First performance at these Concerts)
The clarinet, at once an instrument both of melody and
accompaniment, is the wind instrument most used in chamber music,
largely because of its beautiful tone, its wide compass, its agility,
its power of expression and its capacity to blend with strings. At
the time of Bach and Handel the clarinet was not then sufficiently
developed in its construction and it does not, therefore, share in the
use to which those masters put the flute and the oboo. Stamitz
(1717-1757) was the first to write a quartet for clarinet and strings,
but it was Mozart who first gave to this instrument the commanding
position which it now holds among the wind instruments. Mozart used
it in a Trio, a Concerto and in this Quintet for clarinet and string
quartet, a work which for all time stands as a suprome model.
This Quintet, which contains some of Mozart's most serene and
lovely music, was written in 1789 and therefore belongs to the last
Vienna period. Mozart himself called it the "Stadler Quintet".
Stadler was a fine clarinettist, a fellow Mason and an old friond,
and yet a thoroughly dospicable character, who sponged on, and stolo
Ocr'd Text:
2.
from Mozart without compunction and, when discovered, was forgivon
by Mozart time and again. There is no doubt that Mozart owed much
of his understanding of the techniquo and possibilitios of tho
clarinet to the playing of Stadler. Here is chamber work of the
finest kind, even though the clarinet predominates as primus inter
pares and is treated as if Mozart were the first to discovor its
charm, its soft, sweet breath, its clear depths, its agility"
(Einstein). While the clarinet blends perfectly with the strings,
Mozart, in his wisdom, used it rather as a contrasting solo voice,
giving full play to its wide compass and its variety of expression.
The first movement is in a kind of extended sonata form. It
opens with a bold theme for strings to which the clarinet replies
with rising arpoggios. The second theme, of "an almost morbid
beauty", played by the clarinet, is cantabile and delicately
adorned with chromatic colouring. Another theme occurs in the
coda which is given so much importance in the development that
it ranks as a third theme. The larghetto is one long scng for
the clarinet broken only in the middle by a dialogue between the
clarinet and the first violin. In this movement "the instruments
sing for our enchantment as they rarely do even in Mozart's music"
(Hussey). The Minuet approachos the scherzo in Beethoven's sense.
It is extended by having two trios, the first, for strings alone;
in the second, resembling a Lander, the clarinet returns to its
early rustic role. The Finale is a theme with four variations
and a lengthy coda. The theme itself is naive and childlike and
bears a slight resemblance to the opening theme, and indeed, in
the course of the variations there seems to be references to the
earlier movements. Although the simplicity of the theme is never
lost, Mozart develops from it a movement which reveals the full
extont of his genius. The coda starts with an adagio section in
which the clarinet and the violin again converse; an allegro,
based on the main thome, onds the Quintet.
Quartet No. 1 in C major Op.49
II
Moderato
Moderato
Allegro molto
Allogro
Shostakovich (b.1906)
(First performace at these Concerts)
Dimitri Shostakovich was born in St. Petersburg. He entered
the Conservatoire there in 1919 and studied with Glazunov and
Steinbor
of music.
Soviet au
OᏘᏘᎾ,, s$q
to the
Ocr'd Text:
the
much
given
30
Steinborg. Ho left in 1925, having already writton a large amount
of music. Two of his operas brought him into conflict with the
Soviet authorities (in 1930 and 1935). In each case he acknowledged
his "orror" and endeavoured to make his music conform more closely
to the then rigid official tastes. A prolific composer,
Shostakovich is perhaps best known, in England as a writer of
symphonies of which he has produced 10. But he has also given much
attention to chamber music and has shown an equal understanding and
mastery of that form of art. His output includes a number of string
quartots, a piano trio, an outstanding piano quintot, a string octet
and a Sonata for cello and piano. He was, however, fairly late in
his career in writing for string quartot, this first quartet dating
from 1938 and, therefore, written between the 5th. and 6th.
Symphonies.
The second
Less emotionally intense than the orchestral works. "the
Quartet No. 1 reveals Shostakovich in one of his happiest moods.
Few other works have such a wealth of lyrical serenity. Incidentally,
the source of his inspiration may be found in Mozart a fact which
becomes abundantly clear later, from the finale of the Piano Quintet.
The first movement (Moderato) proceeds at a quiet, unhurried pace,
and its whole rhythm and character are those of a song.
movemont (similarly marked Moderato) is in a wholly different temper,
with a strong tendency toward sadness. It is written in the form of
set of variations, and the main theme, which is stated first by the
viola, is reminiscent of a traditional Russian lamont. The third
movement (Allegro molto) is a foathor light schorzo, with some
exquisite polyphonic scoring. The finalo re-establishes the
unruffled serenity of the opening movement. The score as a whole
shows harmony and balance, the contrasts are well-defined but not
too harsh, while the economy of technique and the sparing use of
expressive means belong to the realm of chamber music par
excellence". (I.I. Martinov)
Interval of fifteen minutes
III
Quintot in B minor Op. 115.
Brahms (1833-1897)
Allogro
Adagio
Andantino Presto non assai
Con moto
(Last perferved. in 1932 by the Hirsch String Quarter & Harry Mortimer)
Just as the Mozart Quintet owed much to the playing of Stadler
so the Brahms Quintet was inspired by the playing of Muhlfeld. He
Ocr'd Text:
Ho
was a great clarinettist, a member of the Meiningen Orchestra
under von Bulow and a friend of Brahms. His beautiful playing
awakened Brahms's love for the instrument and he wrote for Muhfeld
the two Sonatas, the Trio and the Quintet. All are works of
Brahms's later years. The Quintet, a pearl among Brahms's chamber
music, dates from 1891 and its success was immediato. Although
Brahms was then no longer young, the work has an originality,
inspiration and power perhaps greater than he had earlier shown
and possibly the only things that reveal his age are the deep
pathos and feeling it contains.
The first movement, in sonata form, is sombre. It opens with
a four-bar theme of indeterminate tonality thirds and sixths
revolving round the dominant and mediant and completed by a
melodic fall out of which the whole movement grows. The second
subject, almost a barcarolle, is played by the clarinet and tho
violin in octaves. A gentle coda ends the movement. The Adagio
is perhaps the finest movement of the whole work. In binary
form is quito regular but it is unlike anything else in classical
music. It has been called a sunset dream of the Puszta; its
Hungarian origin is undoubtod. The clarinet plays a pastoral
melody supported by the strings which are muted throughout. The
middle section is wildly rhapsodical with the clarinot,
accompanied by quivering strings, playing fantastic arabosques
which are clearly based on the theme of the first movement. The
Andantino is original in form. It opens with two smooth themes;
after a close a transformation of these thomes into a rapid tempo
and pianissimo in tone, form the first part of a binary movement,
with a contrasting second subject in syncopated rhythm. It has
a complete recapitulation. A vigorous coda follows but the end
is quiet, The Finale is based upon a theme of apparent simplicity
with five variations of a rondo-like character. A coda derived
from the opening theme of the work completes the work, thus ending
in the same mood of pathos with which it began.
***
**
***
THE GABRIELI STRING QUARTET was founded in 1965 by four
young but experienced chamber musicians, taking their names from
the established ensemble in which the leader and the cellist
Kenn
Chamber C
professic
member of
play. Already this quartet promises to become one of this country's
outstanding string quartets; all its members are dedicated
chamber musicians. All, too, have distinguished themselves as
solcists.
Ocr'd Text:
feld
5.
Kenneth Sillito is known as the co-leader of the English
Chamber Orchestra. Claire Simpson comes from a family of
professional musicians in Australia. Ian Jewel, the youngest
member of the group, has won many prizes for viola and chamber
music. Keith Harvey, principal cellist of the English Chamber
Orchestra, relinquished his post as principal cellist of the
London Philharmonic Orchestra in order to devote himself to
chamber music, Keith Puddy is a member of the Gabrieli Ensemble
(founded in 1963 was until recently principal clarinet of
the Halle Orchestra.
THE HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
***** ***
*****
Mayor's Reception Room, Town Hall.
Monday Evenings at 7-30
December 5th. CONCERT BY STUDENTS FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF MUSIC
COLLEGE OF TECHNOLOGY.
**
The programme will include songs, a group of madrigals
brass and horn quartets, piano and oboe solos.
The Committee invite the support of all our members for
these gifted young students who, we hope, will be the artists of
the future.
Town Hall
January 9th. MAUREEN SMITH and KEITH SWALLOW (Violin and Piano)
February 13th.
ALLAN SCHILLER (Piano)
March 6th. THE TATRAI STRING QUARTET.
Single tickets for the NEXT concert 5/- from Woods, 67, Now Street,
and at the door.
***
THE AMADEUS STRING QUARTET
***
May 8th. 1967.
Presented by Granada Television.
Members of the Society have priority of booking. Tickets 10/-
7/6d. and 5/0d. Vouchers (to obtain priority booking, number
tickets unlimited) will be sent to all members in due course.
Ocr'd Text:
6.
THE HALIFAX PHILHARMONIC CLUB
Lecture Hall of the Halifax Literary and Philosophical Society,
Harrison Road, Friday December 9th, at 7-30 p.m.
MICHEL ROLL (Piano)
Fantasia in D minor K.397
Italian Concerto
Sonata in F minor Op.57
Works by Chopin and others to be arranged.
St. Patrick's Hall
Single tickets 8/6d. from David Dugdale Esq., 96, Willowfield Road,
Halifax, and at the door.
**
***
THE HUDDERSFIELD THESPIANS
7-30 p.m.
Mozart
Bach
Chopin
November 21st. to 26th
MARIA MARTEN or THE MURDER IN THE RED BARN
Tickets 5/- (reserved) and 2/6 (unreserved) (on Monday nights only
unreserved seats 2/- Old Age Pensioners 1/-) from Woods, 67 New
Streot.
Ocr'd Text:
THE HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
******* ***** ****
********
Sonata in E flat for Flute and Piano
Paulino Frampton
Ronald Nowton
Mayor's Reception Room, Town Hall
Monday December 5th. 1966 at 7.30 p.m.
Programme
Down by the Sally Gardons
The Plough Boy
Three Romances for Oboe and Piano Op. 94
Two Kujawiaks
David Fieldsend
Eileen Bass
Nicht Schnell; Einfach, innig: Nicht schnell
Lady, when I behold
Lullaby, my sweet little baby
Bist du bei mir
Glynn Butler
Harold Truscott
The Madrigal Group
Tell me, lovely shepherd
Alan Stark
Interval of fifteen minutes
**
By thy banks, gentle Stour
Patricia Thickitt
Beryl Johnson
Judith Lockwood
At the piano: Eileen Bass
Divertimento for Brass Quartet
و له بله ما :
Fanfare
Aria
Scherzo
Donald Jones, John Pickles (Trumpets)
Terry Cregan (Horn) Trevor Thristan (Trombone)
Bach
arr. Benjamin Britten
arr. Benjamin Britten
Schumann
Wilbye
Byrd
N. Kruszynski
Boyce arr. E. Poston
Boyce arr. E. Poston
Bach
Geoffrey Burgon
Ocr'd Text:
THE HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
*******
*****
Mayor's Reception Room, Town Hall.
January 9th.
***
Town Hall
Sonata in D major
Sonata No. 2 in A major Op.100
Unaccompanied Sonata for Violin in G minor
Ningun
Rhapsody No. 1
MAUREEN SMITH and KEITH SWALLOW.
Violin and Piano Recital
St. Patrick's Hall
Single tickets 10/6 from Woods, 67 New Street and at the door.
***
******
THE AMADEUS STRING QUARTET
Presented by Granada Television.
Monday Evenings at 7.30
Members of the Society have priority of booking. Tickets 10/-,
7/6d, 5/0d. Vouchers (to obtain priority booking) will be
sent to all members in due course.
THE HALIFAX PHILHARMONIC CLUB
***** ****************** *******
MICHAEL ROLL
Piano Recital
Lecture Hall of the Halifax Literary and Philosophical Society, Harrison Road.
Friday, December 9th. at 7.30
THE HUDDERSFIELD THESPIANS
*****
****
Handel
Brahms
Fantasia in D minor K.397
Italian Concerto
Sonata in F minor Op. 57
Works by Chopin and others to be arranged.
Single tickets 8/6 from David Dugdale Esq., 96 Willowfield Road, Halifax and at
the door.
7.30 p.m.
Bach
Bloch
Bartok
May 8th. 1967.
****
HEDDA GABLER by Henrik Ibsen
Mozart
Bach
Chopin
January 23rd. to 28th.
Tickets 5/- (reserved) and 2/6 (unreserved) (on Monday night only, unreserved
seats 2/0d. Old Age Ponsionors 1/-) from Woods, 67, New Stroot.
Ocr'd Text:
THE HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+
Forty-ninth Season 1966-67
Mayor's Reception Room, Town Hall
Monday January 9th 1967
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
MAUREEN SMITH and KEITH SWALLOW
Violin and Piano Recital
=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=
Sonata in D major
Programme
I
2
Handel (1685-1759)
Adagio
Allegro
Lorghetto
Allegro
(Last performed in 1923 by Bessie Rawlins and Harriet Cohen)
Handel's reputation as a writer of choral music and operas
is so vast and overwhelming that it is easy to forget the mass
of chamber music which he left behind him. Forty six solo and
trio sonatas are published in the Handel-Gesellschaft and there
are still others. These are miniature works compared with his
great masterpieces but, in their way, they are no less perfect.
Except for the viola da gamba sonata, all are composed with a
plain continuo bass from which the keyboard performer filled
in the appropriate harmonic accompaniment.
This collection includes six sonatas for violin and piano.
In his youth Handel played as a violinist in the orchestra of
the opera in Hamburg, and in his music he shows his complete
understanding of violin technique. All these works are based
upon a four-movement plan, the fast and the slow movements
alternating. This was the pattern of the sonata da chiesa,
established by Corelli in the late 17th. century. The first
Ocr'd Text:
-2-
movement is usually prelude-like; the second more fugal in
style; the third, lyrical and sometimes acting as a mere
link between the other movements (The third movement of
the Sonata in D is one of Handel's finest); the fourth,
dance-like and animated.
Sonata in D major Op.12 No.1
II
Beethoven (1770-1827)
Allegro con brio
Tema con Variazioni
Rondo. Allegro
Beethoven wrote 10 sonatas for violin and piano and
5 for cello and piano. The three Sonatas of Op.12 were
written in rapid succession in 1797 immediately before the
composition of the Pathetique Sonata, and were dedicated
to Salieri, a composer Viene se in origin, the friend of
Haydn, the rival of Mozart and a man whom Beethoven admired
and of whom he even called himself the pupil. These duo
sonatas span a great part of Beethoven's life and clearly
show his creative development. All are, however,
essentially concert pieces, and their aim is largely to
show the virtuosity of the performers, particularly that
of the pianist.
The sonatas of Op.12 show no revolutionary tendencies;
they follow in direct succession from the duo sonatas of
Mozart, though the demands upon the performers are greater.
They are fresh, tuneful and inventive and are easy to
follow.
Sonata No.1 has three movements. The first is vigorous
and in regular sonata form. The second movement consists
of a theme with five variations; here Beethoven shows a
power of expression which marks the movement with his
own unmistakable genius, The Finale is a rondo; here again
the growing power of Beethoven is clearly apparent.
Sonata in
unaccomp
Ocr'd Text:
ce
1 in
Sonata in G minor for
unaccompanied Violin
Adagio
Fugue
-3-
Bo
III -
Sicilano
Presto
(Last performed in 1938 by Simon Goldberg)
In the age of Bach the term "sonata" had not the same meaning
which it now possesses. It was still closely linked with the
older suite - a collection of dance music though already
composers were gradually feeling their way toward the essential
nature of the sonata.
Bach wrote three "sonatas" and three partites for solo violin;
these are usually loosely called six sonatas though the correct
arrangement is that each sonata should be followed by a partita.
These six sonatas were written in rapid sucession during the
"Coethen period" (1717-1723). Just as the organ works belong to
the Weimar period and the choral works to the Leipzig period, so
the chamber music and clavier works belong largely to this Coethen
period. There Bach's sole responsibility was to conduct the Court
Capella. Bach himself was an accomplished violinist fully aware
of the capabilities of that instrument. It must be remembered
that the old bow, with its arched shape and the looser tension
of the hairs, made possible a perfection of polyphonic passages
and chords which can never be produced to the same extent by the
modern bow.
Sonata in A major Op.100
Bach (1685-1750)
Schweitzer wrote of these works: "We hardly know what to
admire most the richness of the invention or the daring of the
polyphony that is given to the violin. The more we read, hear
and play them, the greater our astonishment becomes."
Interval of fifteen minutes.
IV
Brahms (1833-1897)
Adagio amabile
Andante tranquillo-Vivace.
Allegretto gracioso (quasi Andante)
(Last performed in 1959 by Erich Gruenberg and Peter Wallfish)
Ocr'd Text:
-4-
This Sonata, together with the cello Sonata Op.99 and
the Trio in C major, were all written during a summer
holiday of six weeks spent in 1887 at Thun. The 24 works
which comprise the chamber music of Brahms probably only
represent a quarter of his compositions in this form.
Throughout his life and particularly during his last
illness, he was at pains ruthlessly to destroy uncompleted
or unpublished works. Thus we are left with three sonatas
only for violin and piano; this, the second, being, it is
known, actually the sixth.
These three works of 1887 are, says Tovey, "the
tersest of all Brahms's works, the only passage which takes
up any room on paper being the "cloud-capped tower" opening
of the coda of the A major violin sonata" In spite of
this compression, this sonata is full of Brahms's warm and
flowing melodies, here often refined to a high degree of
delicacy and tenderness. It has sometimes been called the
"Meistersinger Sonata" on account of a resemblance between
the first three notes of the opening theme and the
Preislied.
Curiously, the second theme of this movement
recalls a theme from one of Brahms's songs, and the scherzo
of the second movement has a quotation from Grieg.
The first movement is in sonata form with an extended
and beautiful coda. The second movement alternates between
an andante and a scherzo, the andante theme having a
different continuation at each of its appearances. The
finale, with so much of the violin part sung in its low
register, is a rondo "deeply thoughtful in tone and so
terse that a description of its form would convey the
impression of a movement three times as long" (Tovey).
Of this movement Langford wrote: "The deep and dark subject
of the last movement is of a rare beauty, and it has in
its darkness the rich glow of some deep empurpled cloud."
V
Bartok (1881-1945)
Rhapsody No.1
Lassu
Friss
This, the first of two Rhapsodies, was composed by
Bartok in 1928. It therefore lies midway between the
composition of the third and fourth string quartets.
"It was o
revision
Czardas a
u
wie dedic
Sud
Ocr'd Text:
ES
and
-5-
It was originally written for violin and orchestra but the
revision was made by Bartok himself. It follows the regular
Czardas dance pattern a slow movement followed by a fast
one. It is based prtly on Rumanian instrumental folk-
music and, like the second Rhapsody, it is relatively simple
though, at the same time, florid and owes much to the gipsy
style of music.
MAUREEN SMITH was born in Leeds in 1946 and commenced
violin lessons with her mother - Eta Cohen at the age of
5. She went to the Royal Manchester College of Music when
she was 12 where she studied with Endre Wolf and later with
Gyorgy Pauk. She played at her first London concert in
1950 with the National Youth Orchestra under Sir Malcolm
Sargent and has toured with them in Poland and Switzerland.
She has also played in Israel and Greece as joint so loist
with her younger sister, Hazel, In 1965 she won the first
prize in the B.B.C. competition for British and Commonwealth
violinists. She has appeared with most of the leading
orchestras; she has also broadcast and appeared on
Television. Last year she made her debut at the Promenade
Concerts.
KEITH SWALLOW won a West Riding Scholarship at the age
of 16 and went to study at the Royal Manchester College of
Music under Claud Biggs. There he was awarded prizes and
diplomas; he also holds the degree of Master in Music of the
Royal College of Music. He has given recitals and concerts
in London and the provinces and in Germany with great success
and has played concertos with many leading orchestras.
has done much work with the B.B.C. and has established a
fine reputation not only as a soloist but also as an ensemble
player and accompanist.
THE HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
Mayor's Reception Room, Town Hall
February 13th, ALLAN SCHILLER
Sonata in A minor K.310
Sonata
Suite: Pour le Piano
Thirty-two Variations in
C. Minor
Monday Evenings at 7.30
Piano Recital
Mozart
Malcolm Williamson
Debussy
Beethoven
Ocr'd Text:
6.
March 6th.
THE TATRAI STRING QUARTET
Single tickets for the next concert 10/6 from Woods, 67 New
Street and at the door.
THE HALIFAX PHILHARMONIC CLUB
Lecture Hall of the Halifax Literary and Philosophical Society,
Harrison Road.
Saturday January 21st at 7.30 p.m.
THE AEOLIAN STRING QUARTET
Quartet in C major Op. 2 No. 2
Quartet No. 6 Op. 26
Quartet in E flat major Op. 127
Single tickets 8/6 from David Dugdale Esq., 96 Willowfield Road,
Halifax or at the door.
THE HUDDERSFIELD THE SPIANS
St. Patrick's Hall 7.30 p.m.
HEDDA GABLER
Haydn
Lutyens
Beethoven
by Henrik Ibsen
January 23rd. to 28th.
Tickets 5/- (reserved) and 2/6 (unreserved) (on Monday night
only unreserved seats 2/- Old Age Pensioners 1/) from
Woods, 67 New Street,
Ocr'd Text:
THE HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
*****
Forty-ninth Season 1966/67
Mayor's Reception Room, Town Hall
***:
Monday February 13th. 1967
**** ****
Sonata in A minor K.310
ALLAN SCHILLER
Piano Rocital
****
Programmo
I
****
*******
Mozart (1756-1791)
Allegro maestoso
Andante cantabile con espressione
Prosto
In 1778 Mozart wrote five piano sonatas in Paris. It was a
tragic year for him. He and his mother had gone alone to Paris
where he found little success and where his mother died. This
Allegro
Poco lento
Allegro ma misurato
sonata, the first of the five, is a work which reflects Mozart's
mental anguish; this is confirmod by the choice of the key which,
for Mozart, is the key of despair. It is the only sonata,
excepting the Fantasia and Sonata, which he wrote in the minor mode.
All three movements aro masterly, dramatically conceived and
demanding a dramatic interpretation.
This element of tragedy fills the first movement; the gloom
is only slightly relieved by the appearance of the key of C at the
and of the exposition section. The slow movement begins more
consolingly but one cannot escape from a sensation of strange
agitation. The same uncanny feeling persists throughout the
shadowy presto, relieved only by a melody in the musette style.
"No trace of "sociability is left in this sonata. It is a most
personal expression; one may look in vain in all the other works
of other composers of this period for anything similar". (Einstein).
II
Sonata
Malcolm Williamson (b.1931)
Ocr'd Text:
2.
(First performed at these Concerts)
The son
1957 and
Schille
Malcolm Williamson is a young Australian composer who has
been active in this country for several years. He is quite
astonishingly prolific and, for this reason alone, he has attracted
more notice than most of his contemporics. There is, it seems,
nothing to which he is unwilling to turn his hand and his work
ranges from simple, jazz influenced hymm tunes to full-scale
operas and orchestral works.
The influences discernible in his music are equally wide-
ranging and are not always absorbed into a fully personal style.
The most recent of his five operas, "The Violins of Saint Jacques"
contains echoes of Strauss, Puccini and evon Richard Rodgers. It
is, however, a romarkable and sorious attempt to communicate with
a large audience in that direct way which has eluded most operatic
composers of this century. More successful, perhaps because moro
modest, is Williamson's beautifully conceived children's opora
"The Happy Prince based on a fairy story by Oscar Wilde. This
shows the born operatic composer's sure instinct for character-
isation and atmosphere.
Williamson is only thirty-five and so there is hope that
greater self-criticism and smoothness of technique will come
with the years. It has not been possible to see the score of the
piano sonata, but some knowledge of his other works leads one to
expect that it will be direct, exuberant and, by the standards
of the avant garde, old-fashioned.
N.T. Atkinson.
I laboured for a year and a half on my first piano sonata,
since it was my first post-student piece, after an apprenticeship
in which my music was coloured by many things from medieval
techniques to Schoenberg's twelve-tone system.
The Sonata is in F major and the shapes follow tradition. The
first movement has three distinct ideas which are developed
contrapuntally. The slow movement, in F sharp minor is perhaps
moro anotionally evocative. It reaches from an extreme tranquility
to a strident and rhythmically elaborate climax, then dios away
in near-silence. The finale is explosive and fragmented,
requiring an even greater virtuosity of the performer than the
other movements. The shrapnel-like figurations are relieved by
an interlude of running semiquavers which draw the movement and
the work to its climax. A statement of the movement's principal
theme ends the work.
stlane
toda
Ocr'd Text:
le
ork
coms,
attracted
te
ho has
3.
The sonata was first performed by me at the Aldeburgh Festival
in 1957 and is dedicated to my parents.
Malcolm Williamson
Allan Schiller. 67.
of fifteen minutos
III
Suite "Pour le Piano
Prelude
Sarabande
Toccata
Debussy (1862-1918)
Until almost the age of 40 Debussy produced few works for the
piano, none of them showing his later and most characteristic style
of piano writing. This is all the more strange as ho had already
written songs which show his full development and had completed
Pelleas.
It was not until 1904 that the very individual, even
revolutionary, piano works appeared. The Suite "Pour le Piano"
(1901) stands between the two groups and upon the threshold of his
finest piano works. Although drawing on
For this sweis
werk
For this
Suite Debussy turned toward the older suite; Athe
three parts have no suggestive title and, as Cortot observed, are
apparently inspired only by the rapid and clear pleasure of a
play of sounds, or, as in the Sarabande, by the noble and peaceful
gravity of an ancestral cadenee". Debussy intended the Prelude as
"a demonstration of the suggestive power of virtuosity. A
descriptive note appended to the Sarabande suggests that it is a
painter's impression of atmosphere. The Toccata, as the name
implies, is an example of pianistic virtuosity.
IV
Thirty-two Variations in C minor
Beethoven (1770-1827)
Beethoven used the variation form very frequently. For
piano alone, and piano in conjunction with other instruments, he
left 29 sets, some based on an original theme, others based on a
theme of his own. Added to these, there is his use of the
variation form in sonatas, quartots, trios and symphonies. It was
a form well-suited to his type of genius, not only because of his
extraordinary powers in the realm of thematic development but also
because of the way in which he was able to present the essential
core of his thought in different ways. It would be no exaggeration
to say that Beethoven was the first and the greatest master of
this form.
Ocr'd Text:
40
The Thirty-Two Variations date from 1806. This was a vory
fruitful year in Beethoven's life; in addition to the Variations
he produced the piano Concerto in G, the violin Concerto in D;
the fourth Symphony and the Leonora Overture No. 2..
There are throo main forms of variation; first, and weakest;
with the theme preserved throughout with more changes of
accompaniment above and bolow it; socond, to prosorve the
harmonic basis and to change and adorn the melody; and third,
a type peculiar to Boothoven, when everything is changed and yot
the individual thome remains subtly prosent. Beethoven usod all
three methods, the second being his favourite form.
Thoso Variations bolong to the socond group, but so firmly
and consistently does the bass appear, moving with the strong
steps of a ground-bass, that they might almost be called a
Chaconne; and, indeed, the theme (an original one) is itself in
Chaconne time. A strong effect of continuity is given to the
work by the way in which the variations are grouped into sets.
The Twelfth variation is the first in the major mode and the
four that follow it are variations upon that variation, the five
together forming the major section of the work. The Coda really
begins at variation 31.
***
*****
ALLAN SCHILLER, born in 1943, bogan his studios with Fanny
Waterman and played his first Mozart concerto at the age of 10
under the baton of Sir John Barbirolli. During his teens he played
with many leading orchestras. He became the youngest soloist to
win the Harriet Cohen International Commonwealth Award. At the
age of 16 an award by the Munster Trust enabled him to continue
his studies in London under Denis Matthews. Here he won the a
admiration of many leading musicians. During a subsequent visit
to Moscow with the National Youth Orchestra he won a place at the
Moscow Conservatoire which he accepted and studied there for two
and a half years under Professor Morzhanov. A letter from the
Minister of Culture to the British Ambassador in Moscow described
his final report as being the finest of any foreign student at the
Conservatoire and equalling only the best of his own Soviet
students. From Moscow Allan Schiller proceeded to Rome where he
completed his studies under Maestro Guido Agosti.
Mayor's Re
S
179
Ocr'd Text:
reakest;
in D;
ariations
a very
THE HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
**
***
***
Mayor's Reception Room, Town Hall
March 6th.
5.
Monday Evenings at 7.30
THE TATRAI STRING QUARTET
Quartet in D minor Op. 76 No. 2
Quartet No. 6
Quartet in C major Op. 59 No. 3
St. Patrick's Hall
Single tickets for this Concert 12/6 from Woods, 67 New Street
and at the door.
THE HALIFAX PHILHARMONIC CLUB
***
****
***
Lecture Hall of the Halifax Literary and Philosophical Society,
Harrison Road, Friday March 3rd. at 7.30
Quartot in E flat major K.428
Quartet No. 5
Quartet in E minor Op; 59 No. 2
THE TATRAI STRING QUARTET
**** ****
7.30 p.m.
MURDER MISTAKEN
****
Haydn
Bartok
Beethoven
Single tickets 8/6 from David Dugdale Esq., 96 Willowfiold Road
Halifax and at the door.
THE HUDDERSFIELD THESPIANS
***:
***
Mozart
Bartok
Beethoven
March 6th. to 11th.
A thriller by Janet Groen
Tickets 5/- (reserved) and 2/6(unreserved) (on Monday Nights only
unreserved seats 2/- Old Age Pensioners 1/-)from Woods 67 New Street
Ocr'd Text:
THE HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
**:
Forty-ninth Season 1966-67
Mayor's Reception Room, Town Hall
Monday March 6th 1967.
**
THE TATRAI STRING QUARTET
****
Vilmos Tatrai (Violin)
Mihaly Szues (Violin)
Programme
I
Quartet in D minor Op.76 No. 2
**
**:
Gyergy Konrad (Viola)
Ede Banda
(Cello)
Haydn (1732-1809)
Allegro
Andante a piutosto allegro
Minuet and Trio
Vivace assai
(First performance at these Concerts)
Among the wealth of music that Haydn's genius poured cut, there
are known to be 77 string quartets, 104 symphonies and 52 sonatas
for the piano. In spite of this enormous number of compositions,
practically all in scnata form, Haydn's inspiration never seems to
falter; each work possesses its own individual charm to an amazing
extent.
The six quartets of Op.76 were written during the years 1797-8
and were dedicated to Count Erdody. They were Haydn's last quartets
except for the two of Op.77. The quartets Op.76 were contemporary
with 'The Creation' and Geiringer points out that the last movements
of two of them are "based on the idea expressed in the immortal
passage from minor to major at the words "Let there be light". Great
though the preceeding quartets had been, Geiringer remarks that "if
an appropriate motto be sought for this series (Op.76) the word
Excelsior should be the first choice. Everything here is condensed
and intensified, the expression more personal and direct". To quote
Tovey: "The intellectual depths and freedom of the last 20 quartets
are among the inexhaustible experiences of art; and Brahms's friends
need never have been surprised to find him absorbed in the study of
Ocr'd Text:
2.
Wartok's c
but this c
and more
the crow
a Haydn quartet".
This movement
This quartet No. 2 has been called the Quinteten Quartett
because of the theme (four notes forming two falling fifths) upon
which the whole powerful first movement is based.
"is perhaps the most superb feat of concentrated musical thought
in all Haydn's quartets" (R. Hughes). The recapitulation
section is much compressed to leave space for the fiery coda.
This movement is followed by a charming, if less distinguished
slow movement.
Quartet No. 6
The Minuet is, says Tovey, the most imaginative minuet before
Schubert. It points directly towards the Beethoven scherzo. The
entire minuet is in canon, the two violins playing the melody in
octaves while the viola and the cello, also in octaves, perform
the imitation. The Trio has been called the Hexen-Trio (Witches-
Trio), possibly because of the melodramatic whispering of the
opening bars. The Finale shows Haydn in his most brilliant
peasant-dance kind of writing; the syncopations give the music a
an almost Hungarian style. It is said that while writing it,
Haydn was disturbed by the braying of a donkey; perhaps we are
really hearing an echo of the falling fifths of the first movement.
II
Bartok (1881-1945)
Vivace
Mesto.
Mesto. Marcia
Mesto, Burletto
Mesto.
(Last performed in 1961 by the Janacek String
Quartet)
John Culshaw remarks that Bartok's true development can be
followed in his 6 string quartets. In date they range from 1908
to 1939. "Each quartet leads onwards to new ground or to the
resolution of problems unsolved in previous works". The first quartet
quartet shows Bartok's melodic and contrapuntal style without the
later harshness and acidity; in the second we have the early
Bartok in the first movement, while in the following movements the
new harsh and astringent elements appear. The third and fourth
quartets, particularly the latter, show Bartok at his most extreme;
it is suggested that in these he explored the extreme limits of
discord. "Their strange and disturbing idiom is far removed from
the bounds of musical experience" (Culshaw). The fifth has a
softening of expression allied to a growing economy of texture. But
when the sixth was written, experiment had ended. The clash of
compared
47
Ocr'd Text:
ent
upon
Et
3.
Bartok's counterpoint remains, as does the powerful rhythmic stress,
but this quartet has a new lyric quality, a clearer texture, a warmer
and more mellow feeling and a simplicity and serenity which makes it
the crown of his chamber music. These quartets have often been
compared with the quartets of Beethoven, and whether we like them or
not, they are of supreme importance. Matyas Seiber writes:
"In more
than one respect we are reminded of Beethoven: Bartok, too, seems to
express his most essential thoughts through the medium of the string
quartet. Bartok's style in his quartets, just like Beethoven's, is
particularly concentrated and intense, his ideas are most convincing
and expressed with the utmost clarity and economy. I believe that
for generations to come the string quartets of Bartok will be looked
upon as the most outstanding and significant works of our time".
The sixth quartet dates from 1939. In place of the "arch"
structure Bartok now employs a motto theme which introduces the first
three movements and becomes the basis of the finale. There is a return
too to the classical four-movement form. All the devices of the
earlier quartets are here - glissandi, improvisatory passages, dance
rhythms, percussive rhythms, imitations and inversions, the use of
fragments of the theme - but transformed into something new. The
Quartet opens with the motto theme, a slow and beautifully shaped
chromatic melody, a fusion of Magyar music and Bartok himself,
lasting for 13 bars for the viola alone. It is "a kind of ritornello
that in varied form precedes each movement and contains as well "germ"
motives that are transformed in various ways in the course of the
quartet. This melody, without tonal implications, is one of the most
impressive examples of pure musical invention in twentieth-century
music. Its beauty, its logic and its expressive power are the work
of sheer genius and inspiration. It is inconceivable that any other
hand than Bartok's could have written it". (E. Helm). After the
motto comes a short introduction, partly in unison, which hints at
the main theme and "recalls in spirit and technique a similar passage
in Beethoven's Grosse Fuge". In the course of the movement the main
theme undergoes remarkable modifications and developments. It is
followed by a second theme, largely of Magyar inspiration; the
material of the development section is derived exclusively from this
material. A curtailed and varied recapitulation is followed by a
coda. The general mood of this movement is vigorous and even gay.
The second movement opens with the motto, this time given to
the cello with a counter-melody for the first violin and a tremolo
accompaniment for the other instruments. The March which follows is
harsh and brutal. It has what corresponds to a trio section in which
the cello has a high-pitched passionate melody, accompanied by agitated
Ocr'd Text:
4₂
tremolos and strummed chords. This is followed by the return of
the March in a greatly changed form. The movement is sad, bitter
and grotesque. The Burletta (Lit.a boisterous scherzo) follows
after yet another version of the motto. This, too is a harsh and
bitter movement, perhaps even more tragic. Relief is given by
a lyrical andantino in the centre, derived from the themes of the
first movement. This gentle theme tries three times to break the
savage mood of the coda. The last movement is tragic too, but in it
the tragedy is uttered quietly and with tenderness and poignancy.
The whole movement is derived from the motto - a deeply satisfying
climax. "There is a sinister shudder in the tremolo chords, sul
ponticello, on the last page, and after a last heartrending cry,
the movement closes in darkness, on the dying motto" (Mosco Garner)
Although there is no definite proof, some writers have been
convinced that there is something of a programme
even of
autobiography in this quartet.
in this quartet. The war in Europe had already
broken out and we know that Bartok was soon to die, a disappointed
lonely, disillusioned man.
Interval of fifteen minutes
first
Beethoven
Quartet in C major Op.59 No. 3
Beethoven (1770-1827)
Introduzione. Allegro vivace
Andante con moto quasi allegretto
Menuetto
Allegro molto
(Last performed in 1957 by the Vegh String Quartet)
This quartet, the third of the Rasoumovsky set, was written
in 1806 and therefore belongs to Beethoven's second period.
Langford once described Op.59 as being among Beethoven's most
glorious and happy works. Bekker finds in all three quartets a
central idea of triumph which gives rise to their monumental style.
"It is an idea which strains the form of the string quartet to the
uttermost, and the result is a series of works of a majesty and
expressive power such as no one before Beethoven had dreamed of
obtaining from four string instruments".
The first movement is in sonata form. It has an introduction
clean out of the tonic key but it leans gradually towards it. Two
chords, much used in later sections, lead to the principal subject
played by the first violin. This movement shows Beethoven in one
of his happiest moods. The Andante is in a modified sonata form,
though in mood and spirit it is lyrical; it has been called one of
OU
Jo no
but with
from the
Ocr'd Text:
Ows
and
itter
m of
5.
che first romantic movements in music. In some earlier quartets
Beethovon had begun to abandon the Minuot and Trio movement in
favour of the Schorzo. Hore he returns to it for the last timo,
but with a difference. This is a Menuetto grazioso, far romovod
from the old, simple dance form. A coda of 6 bars leads
directly into the last movomont - a longthy and massivo fuguo,
which yot has some slight resemblance to sonata form. Of this
movement Langford once wroto: The last movement is a movomont
born of a single idoa, if over there was one. This singleness
was one of Beethoven's great contributions to music. Beethoven
whon ho found his full strongth, howed his music out of the
block, Single, yet exhaustloss in rosource and power, his music
in such movements as ho gives us hore, becomes vast and, in
its sublime unity, like the soa".
*****
****花
****
THE TATRAI STRING QUARTET. Aftor many years of experience
which they gainod as leading orchestral members, chambor musicians.
and soloists, those four excoptional and mature artists camo
together under the leadership of Vilmos Tatrai in 1946. Thoir
rapid rise to fame is attributable not only to their talonts
but also to thoir onormous capacity for work. In 1948 they
gained the first prize in the International Bartok Competition,
but it was not till 1957 that they began their most successful
and repeated, tours abroad. They first came to England in 1960.
Their success was so outstanding that they were invited back
the following year for a large tour. They have been back overy
year since then with ever increasing success. The leading
Hungarian composer, Laszlo Lajtha writes: Without doubt the
Tatrai Quartet will confirm the good name of the Hungarians in
the art of interpretation in every concert hall in the world.
and will rank with the leading Quartets".
*****
****
THE HUDDERSFIELD MUSIC SOCIETY
******
GOLDEN JUBILEE SEASON 1967/68
The Committoo are in the process of concluding ongagomonts
with artists of world-wide fame in order to make the Golden
Jubileo Season ono worthy of this unique occasion and of the
long and distinguished history of the Society. Those engago-
ments, to be announced in due course, will include famous String
Quartots, the Vienna Wind Quintot and a vory distinguished pianist.
Ocr'd Text:
5.
The Committee confidently axpoct the full support of all old and
new members.
COFFEE MORNING AND BRING AND BUY SALE
***
Saturday April 8th.
10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
Wentworth School,
Grconhead Road,
(by kind permission of Miss Evans)
Cake Stall.
Cloth Stall,
Tickets 2/6 will be on sale during the interval, or may be obtained
from Mrs. Glendinning, 2 Sunnybank Road, Edgerton. (Phone 22612)
or from any mombers of the Ladios Committee.
St. Patrick's Hall
1
White Elephant Stall. General Stall
THE HUDDERSFIELD THESPIANS
****:
March 6th, to 11th.
MURDER MISTAKEN
***
A thrillor by Janet Greon.
7.30 p.m.
Tickets 5/- (rosorved) 2/6 (unresorved) from Woods, 67 Now Stroct.