:: Historical Notes ::

INTERPRETATION

“If the leader of the quartet has lived himself into and mastered a composition, together with his associates, the result is sure. I must live in the music I play just as an actor must live the character he represents. All higher interpretation depends on solving technical problems in a way which is not narrowly mechanical. And while the ensemble spirit must be preserved, the freedom of the individual should not be too much restrained. Once the style and manner of a modern composer are familiar, it is easier to present his works: when we first played the Reger quartet here some twenty years ago, we found pages which at first we could not at all understand. If one has fathomed Debussy, it is easier to play Milhaud, Roger-Ducasse, Samazeuil—for the music of the modern French school has much in common. One great cultural value the professional quartet has for the musical community is the fact that it gives a large circle a measure of acquaintance with the mode of thought and style of composers whose symphonic and larger works are often an unknown quantity. This applies to Debussy, Reger, the modern Russians, Bloch and others. When we played the Stravinsky pieces here, for instance, his Pétrouschka and Firebird had not yet been heard.

Violin Mastery
Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers
by Frederick H. Martens
Published 1919

Click here to see Select Violins complete selection of violins.

TEMPO

“All four individual players must be able to feel the tempo they are playing in the same way. I believe it was Mahler who once gave out a beat very distinctly—one, two, three—told his orchestra players to count the beat silently for twenty measures and then stop. As each felt the beat differently from the other, every one of them stopped at a different time. So tempo, just like intonation, must be ‘tempered’ by the four quartet players in order to secure perfect rhythmic inflection.

DYNAMICS

“Modern composers have wonderfully improved dynamic expression. Every little shade of meaning they make clear with great distinctness. The older composers, and occasionally a modern like Emanuel Moor, do not use expression marks. Moor says, ‘If the performers really have something to put into my work the signs are not needed.’ Yet this has its disadvantages. I once had an entirely unmarked Sonata by Sammartini. As most first movements in the sonatas of that composer are allegros I tried the beginning several times as an allegro, but it sounded radically wrong. Then, at last, it occurred to me to try it as a largo and, behold, it was beautiful!

Violin Mastery
Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers
by Frederick H. Martens
Published 1919

Click here to see Select Violins complete selection of violins.

REHEARSING

“Realization of the Art aims of the modern quartet calls for endless rehearsal. Few people realize the hard work and concentrated effort entailed. And there are always new problems to solve. After preparing a new score in advance, we meet and establish its general idea, its broad outlines in actual playing. And then, gradually, we fill in the details. Ordinarily we rehearse three hours a day, less during the concert season, of course; but always enough to keep absolutely in trim. And we vary our practice programs in order to keep mentally fresh as well as technically fit.

INTONATION

“Perfect intonation is a great problem—one practically unknown to the average amateur quartet player. Four players may each one of them be playing in tune, in pitch; yet their chords may not be truly in tune, because of the individual bias—a trifle sharp, a trifle flat—in interpreting pitch. This individual bias may be caused by the attraction existing between certain notes, by differences of register and timbre, or any number of other reasons—too many to recount. The true beauty of the quartet tone cannot be obtained unless there is an exact adjustment, a tempering of the individual pitch of each instrument, till perfect accordance exists. This is far more difficult and complicated than one might at first believe. For example, let us take one of the simplest violin chords,” said Mr. Betti [and he rapidly set it down in pencil].

“Now let us begin by fixing the B so that it is perfectly in tune with the E, then without at all changing the B, take the interval D-B. You will see that the sixth will not be in tune. Repeat the experiment, inverting the notes: the result will still be the same. Try it yourself some time,” added Mr. Betti with a smile, “and you will see. What is the reason? It is because the middle B has not been adjusted, tempered! Give the same notes to the first and second violins and the viola and you will have the same result. Then, when the ‘cello is added, the problem is still more complicated, owing to the difference in timbre and register. Yet it is a problem which can be solved, and is solved in practically everything we play.

“Another difficulty, especially in the case of some of the very daring chords encountered in modern compositions, is the matter of balance between the individual notes. There are chords which only sound well if certain notes are thrown into relief; and others only if played very softly (almost as though they were overtones). To overcome such difficulties means a great deal of work, real musical instinct and, above all, great familiarity with the composer’s harmonic processes. Yet with time and patience the true balance of tone can be obtained.

Violin Mastery
Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers
by Frederick H. Martens
Published 1919

Click here to see Select Violins complete selection of violins.

THE TECHNIC OF QUARTET PLAYING

“Naturally, the first violin is the leader, the Conductor of the quartet, as in its early days, although the ’star’ system, with one virtuose player and three satellites, has disappeared. Now the quartet as a whole has established itself in the virtuoso field—using the word virtuoso in its best sense. The Müller quartet (Hanover), 1845-1850, was the first to travel as a chamber music organization, and the famous Florentiner Quartet the first to realize what could be done in the way of finish in playing. As premier violiniste of the Flonzaley’s I study and prepare the interpretation of the works we are to play before any rehearsing is done.

“While the first violin still holds first place in the modern quartet, the second violin has become much more important than formerly; it has gained in individuality. In many of the newer quartets it is quite as important as the first. In Hugo Wolf’s quartet, for example, first and second violins are employed as though in a concerto for two violins.

“The viola, especially in modern French works—Ravel, Debussy, Samazeuil—has a prominent part. In the older quartets one reason the viola parts are simple is because the alto players as a rule were technically less skillful. As a general thing they were violinists who had failed—’the refugees of the G clef,’ as Edouard Colonne, the eminent conductor, once wittily said. But the reason modern French composers give the viola special attention is because France now is ahead of the other nations in virtuose viola playing. It is practically the only country which may be said to have a ’school’ of viola playing. In the Smetana quartet the viola plays a most important part, and Dvo?ák, who himself played viola, emphasized the instrument in his quartets.

“Mozart showed what the ‘cello was able to do in the quartets he dedicated to the ”cellist king,’ Frederick William of Prussia. And then, the ‘cello has always the musical importance which attaches to it as the lower of the two ‘outer voices’ of the quartet ensemble. Like the second violin and viola, it has experienced a technical and musical development beyond anything Haydn or Mozart would have dared to write.

Violin Mastery
Talks with Master Violinists and Teachers
by Frederick H. Martens
Published 1919

Click here to see Select Violins complete selection of violins.