by Andrew Gillett | 14 May 2026 | blog
Haydn, Schubert and Webern. Without doubt, these are three of the most significant and influential writers of string quartet music, as well as being hugely important in the history of classical music generally. In a way they summarise everything about the quartet genre. All three were immersed in and central to the music and cultural life of Vienna, albeit at different times. The musicologist, Sir Donald Tovey, wrote that “every page of the six quartets of Joseph Haydn’s Op. 20 (1772) is of historic and aesthetic importance… there is perhaps no single or sextuple opus in the history of instrumental music which has achieved so much”. No 5 of the set is in the dark key of F minor. Stringed instruments resonate more freely and richly in keys where the open strings happily resonate, such as D major and G major, so Haydn’s choice of F minor is a deliberate limiting of the brighter tones of the instruments, making for an appropriately sombre and dramatic sonic mood. This could be seen to be a response to the claustrophobic and lonely predicament that Haydn and his fellow musicians found themselves in at the isolated Esterházy palace where they were employed by Prince Esterházy. Haydn’s empathy with his colleagues is always apparent in his writing, and despite the intense atmosphere in this music, there are several moments for each player where an unexpected note or surprising new phrase lifts the spirit or even raises a smile. For example, the beautifully shaped arioso of the slow movement suddenly evaporates, the pulse and flow of the music disappearing, making musicians and listeners alike wonder...
by Andrew Gillett | 23 Jan 2026 | blog
Wandering minstrels, or more specifically wandering violinists, form the thread that weaves its way through the works that we are playing by Rameau, Kreisler and Schumann. Very little is known about Jean-Philippe Rameau’s early years but we do know that he was born in Dijon in 1683, and worked as a violinist in travelling companies before moving to Paris, then returned to Dijon as organist of the main church there. Maybe he had been missing the mustard. He then took up similar posts in Lyon and Clermont-Ferrand before returning to Paris in 1722. It was at Clermont-Ferrand that he wrote his ground breaking Treatise on Harmony, which became the principle text book on musical theory in Europe for many many years. He took a scientific approach, informed by an understanding of nature’s patterns. (Debussy was the main rebel who parted from Rameau’s principles in the late 1800s, ushering in a new age.) Despite his didactic leanings and his reputation throughout Europe as “The Isaac Newton of Music”, he wasn’t a fluent speaker and his handwriting was difficult to read. (He had been taught how to play harpsichord before learning to read or write.) But his music says it all. For him, the primary purpose of music was to express, please the ear and move the passions and he certainly knew how to convey all of this. It is not surprising that Rameau threw himself avidly into the world of baroque opera and it is operas that he is principally known for. Castor and Pollux – yes, an opera, not a Victorian remedy for indigestion – was first performed in...
by Andrew Gillett | 4 Oct 2025 | blog
National identity is a very topical subject, to put it mildly. The three works in DSQ’s autumn programme have overt affinities with particular nationalities while not being excessively nationalistic about it. How we have somehow avoided programming Haydn’s ‘Emperor’ quartet Op 76 No 3 up to now is a bit baffling. It is one of Haydn’s most celebrated works, with a slow movement that has probably the best known and most played tune that he ever wrote. Haydn was very impressed when visiting London twice between 1791 and 1795, with the role of the British national anthem “God save the King” in unifying and motivating people in a sense of national identity. Very aware of the imminent threat of the Austro-Hungarian empire being invaded by the French, under Napoleon, he and others felt that there was a need for an Austrian national anthem to help rally the nation. The result was “Gott erhalte Franz den Kaiser”, with words by Lorenz Leopold Haschka and music by Joseph Haydn. This tune (requisitioned years later for use as the German national anthem as we know it), Haydn thought to place at the heart of his Op 76 No 3 string quartet, written in the same year as the anthem. Haydn treats the tune to a set of variations, all four quartet members having a chance to play the theme accompanied by the others. It is gentle and dignified throughout, and utterly devoid of bombast, as if Haydn is suggesting that in grace and sensitivity there is strength. Frank Bridge’s composition teacher at the Royal College of Music, Sir Charles Villiers Stanford,...
by Andrew Gillett | 27 May 2025 | blog
The sorceress Armida was the subject of Joseph Haydn’s 1784 opera, one of his favourite works. The tale of Armida falling in love with the sleeping crusader Rinaldo at the point of killing him, and transporting him to her enchanted garden, seems to have sparked the imagination of a number of composers, artists and writers. Rinaldo and Armida. Nicholas Poussin c.1630 (courtesy Dulwich Picture Gallery) The themes of conflicting thoughts and interests, allegiance (political and spiritual), the consequences of love, as well as the metaphysical elements in the story, provided much scope for Haydn to have a field day of creative inspiration. The overture to Armida summarises the course of this drama in a perfectly succinct form. Sometimes called Sinfonia rather than Overture, it is, in a way, a miniature symphony, the brevity of which Haydn would have had a little chuckle of approval over. Delphine von Schauroth aged 9, c. 1823 by Langlumé Delphine von Schauroth is a forgotten star in the firmament of celebrated pianists. She was a close friend of Felix Mendelssohn and by all accounts his muse at the time that he wrote his first piano concerto (1830) – he dedicated the concerto to her. A child prodigy who had toured Europe, her playing deeply affected those who heard her. For instance, one listener wrote in ‘Der deutsche Horizont’ in 1832 : I believe that the philosopher who asserted that the soul resides in the fingertips was either a money changer or he heard Miss von Schauroth play the piano! I speak not at all of the tremendous, almost...
by Andrew Gillett | 10 May 2024 | blog
“What a diary is to others, in which their momentary emotions and so forth are recorded, so to Schubert was music paper, to which he entrusted all his moods. His thoroughly musical soul wrote notes where others used words.” So wrote Schumann. Scribbles on paper that translate to expressive musical utterances when performed are the basic means of transport for the realisation of composers’ ideas. They are really interesting for performers to see (as long as they are available to see – many are not, or they have disappeared over the years) and often provide helpful information on the genesis of a musical work. Brahms used his manuscripts as working documents, editing and re-editing his compositions, often over many years, which was the case with the op 51 string quartets, as it was with his 1st symphony, finished when he was forty-three after many years of careful refining. Later in life, Brahms said: “Neither Schumann, Wagner nor I were properly schooled. Talent was the decisive factor. Each of us had to find his own way. Schumann took one way, Wagner another, and I a third. But none of us really learnt what is right.” This is an astonishing statement even if it is primarily to do with an idealistic aim to live up to the contrapuntal disciplines that were so superbly manifested in previous ages by such people as JS Bach, Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Although the first public performance of op 51 (1873) was given by Brahms’s close friend, the celebrated violinist Joseph Joachim and his quartet, the music had undergone careful assessment and adjustment with the...
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