Hawthorne String Quartet
Encyclopedia
The Hawthorne String Quartet is an American string quartet
, all four of whose members are players from the Boston Symphony Orchestra
. Although its repertoire ranges from the 18th century to contemporary works, the ensemble specializes in works by composers who were interned at the Terezín concentration camp
during World War II and other "Entartete Musik" composers. Their recordings of music by three of these composers, Pavel Haas
, Erwin Schulhoff
and Hans Krása
, were released on the Decca Records
Entartete Musik series.
-based ensemble, the Hawthorne String Quartet takes its name from the New England
novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne
and was founded in 1986. Its violist
, Mark Ludwig, is also the Founder and Director of the Terezin Chamber Music Foundation. Since its founding, the Quartet have toured both in the United States and internationally, and performed in Prague
in 1991 at the commemorations marking the 50th anniversary of the first transportations of Jews from that city to the Terezin concentration camp. They have since returned several times to Prague, most notably for the 2009 and 2010 editions of the Prague Spring International Music Festival. At the 2009 Festival, they gave a concert to mark the inauguration of the Terezín Living Legacy Commission, playing works by Josef Suk
, Gideon Klein
, Charles Ives
, Elliott Carter
and the world premiere of Pavel Zemek's Zvony světla (Bells of Light). At the 2010 Festival, they played in the world premiere of Andre Previn
's Clarinet Sonata with Thomas Martin on clarinet and the composer on piano.
One of the ensemble's more unusual collaborations, was their 2009 performance at the Tanglewood Music Festival
where they played Hans Krása
's String Quartet while artist Jim Schantz simultaneously created a landscape painting in response to the music. The Quartet also perform for the community outreach programs of both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Terezín Chamber Music Foundation, and since 1998 have been artists-in-residence at Boston College
, where Mark Ludwig also teaches music in the Faculty of Jewish Studies.
Feature films
Animated films
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
, all four of whose members are players from the Boston Symphony Orchestra
Boston Symphony Orchestra
The Boston Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra based in Boston, Massachusetts. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five". Founded in 1881, the BSO plays most of its concerts at Boston's Symphony Hall and in the summer performs at the Tanglewood Music Center...
. Although its repertoire ranges from the 18th century to contemporary works, the ensemble specializes in works by composers who were interned at the Terezín concentration camp
Theresienstadt concentration camp
Theresienstadt concentration camp was a Nazi German ghetto during World War II. It was established by the Gestapo in the fortress and garrison city of Terezín , located in what is now the Czech Republic.-History:The fortress of Terezín was constructed between the years 1780 and 1790 by the orders...
during World War II and other "Entartete Musik" composers. Their recordings of music by three of these composers, Pavel Haas
Pavel Haas
Pavel Haas was a Czech composer who was murdered during the Holocaust. He was an exponent of Leoš Janáček's school of composition, and also utilized elements of folk music and jazz. Although his output was not large, he is notable particularly for his song cycles and string quartets.-Pre-war:Haas...
, Erwin Schulhoff
Erwin Schulhoff
Erwin Schulhoff was a Czech composer and pianist.-Life:Born in Prague of Jewish-German origin, Schulhoff was one of the brightest figures in a generation of European musicians whose successful careers were prematurely terminated by the rise of the Nazi regime in Germany...
and Hans Krása
Hans Krása
Hans Krása was a Czech composer who was killed in the Holocaust at Auschwitz. He helped to organize cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp.-Life:...
, were released on the Decca Records
Decca Records
Decca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
Entartete Musik series.
History
A BostonBoston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
-based ensemble, the Hawthorne String Quartet takes its name from the New England
New England
New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...
novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne
Nathaniel Hawthorne was an American novelist and short story writer.Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in 1804 in the city of Salem, Massachusetts to Nathaniel Hathorne and the former Elizabeth Clarke Manning. His ancestors include John Hathorne, a judge during the Salem Witch Trials...
and was founded in 1986. Its violist
Viola
The viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
, Mark Ludwig, is also the Founder and Director of the Terezin Chamber Music Foundation. Since its founding, the Quartet have toured both in the United States and internationally, and performed in Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
in 1991 at the commemorations marking the 50th anniversary of the first transportations of Jews from that city to the Terezin concentration camp. They have since returned several times to Prague, most notably for the 2009 and 2010 editions of the Prague Spring International Music Festival. At the 2009 Festival, they gave a concert to mark the inauguration of the Terezín Living Legacy Commission, playing works by Josef Suk
Josef Suk (composer)
Josef Suk was a Czech composer and violinist.- Life :Suk was born in Křečovice. He studied at Prague Conservatory from 1885 to 1892, where he was a pupil of Antonín Dvořák and Antonín Bennewitz. In 1898, he married Dvořák's eldest daughter, Otilie Dvořáková , affectionately known as Otilka...
, Gideon Klein
Gideon Klein
Gideon Klein was a Czech pianist and composer of classical music, organizer of cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp.-Life:...
, Charles Ives
Charles Ives
Charles Edward Ives was an American modernist composer. He is one of the first American composers of international renown, though Ives' music was largely ignored during his life, and many of his works went unperformed for many years. Over time, Ives came to be regarded as an "American Original"...
, Elliott Carter
Elliott Carter
Elliott Cook Carter, Jr. is a two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning American composer born and living in New York City. He studied with Nadia Boulanger in Paris in the 1930s, and then returned to the United States. After a neoclassical phase, he went on to write atonal, rhythmically complex music...
and the world premiere of Pavel Zemek's Zvony světla (Bells of Light). At the 2010 Festival, they played in the world premiere of Andre Previn
André Previn
André George Previn, KBE is an American pianist, conductor, and composer. He is considered one of the most versatile musicians in the world, and is the winner of four Academy Awards for his film work and ten Grammy Awards for his recordings. -Early Life:Previn was born in...
's Clarinet Sonata with Thomas Martin on clarinet and the composer on piano.
One of the ensemble's more unusual collaborations, was their 2009 performance at the Tanglewood Music Festival
Tanglewood Music Festival
The Tanglewood Music Festival is a music festival held every summer on the Tanglewood estate in Lenox, Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts....
where they played Hans Krása
Hans Krása
Hans Krása was a Czech composer who was killed in the Holocaust at Auschwitz. He helped to organize cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp.-Life:...
's String Quartet while artist Jim Schantz simultaneously created a landscape painting in response to the music. The Quartet also perform for the community outreach programs of both the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Terezín Chamber Music Foundation, and since 1998 have been artists-in-residence at Boston College
Boston College
Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...
, where Mark Ludwig also teaches music in the Faculty of Jewish Studies.
Members
- Mark Ludwig, violaViolaThe viola is a bowed string instrument. It is the middle voice of the violin family, between the violin and the cello.- Form :The viola is similar in material and construction to the violin. A full-size viola's body is between and longer than the body of a full-size violin , with an average...
- Ronan Lefkowitz, violinViolinThe violin is a string instrument, usually with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest, highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which includes the viola and cello....
- Si-Jing Huang, violin
- Sato Knudsen, celloCelloThe cello is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is a member of the violin family of musical instruments, which also includes the violin, viola, and double bass. Old forms of the instrument in the Baroque era are baryton and viol .A person who plays a cello is...
Discography
- Chamber Music from Theresienstadt – Channel Classics RecordsChannel Classics RecordsChannel Classics Records is a record label from the Netherlands, specializing in classical music. The managing director and producer is C. Jared Sacks, who grew up in Boston. Sacks was schooled as a professional horn player at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam...
CCS 1691 - Silenced Voices – Northeastern Records NR 248 (also toured in concert)
- Samuel Coleridge-TaylorSamuel Coleridge-TaylorSamuel Coleridge-Taylor was an English composer who achieved such success that he was once called the "African Mahler".-Early life and education:...
: Chamber Music – Koch InternationalKoch RecordsE1 Music , the primary subsidiary of E1 Entertainment LP, is the largest independent record label in the United States. It is also distributed by the Universal Music Group in Europe under the name E1 Universal...
3-7056-2 - Pavel HaasPavel HaasPavel Haas was a Czech composer who was murdered during the Holocaust. He was an exponent of Leoš Janáček's school of composition, and also utilized elements of folk music and jazz. Although his output was not large, he is notable particularly for his song cycles and string quartets.-Pre-war:Haas...
and Hans KrásaHans KrásaHans Krása was a Czech composer who was killed in the Holocaust at Auschwitz. He helped to organize cultural life in Theresienstadt concentration camp.-Life:...
: String Quartets – DeccaDecca RecordsDecca Records began as a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis. Its U.S. label was established in late 1934; however, owing to World War II, the link with the British company was broken for several decades....
440 853-2 - Schulhoff: Concertos Alla Jazz – Decca 444 819-2
- Finding a Voice: Musicians in Terezin – Terezín Chamber Music Foundation Collection 34-001
- Mistletoe Sax and Strings – North Star Music NS 164
- Sax Across America – North Star Music NS 176
- Virtuoso Trumpet – Kleos Classics KL 5114
- Cradle Songs: A Collection of Lullabies from Around the World – IHJ Productions
- An Introduction to Entartete Musik – Decca 452-664-2
- Thomas Oboe LeeThomas Oboe LeeThomas Oboe Lee is a Chinese American composer.- Life :He and his family left Communist China in 1949, and lived in Hong Kong for ten years until 1959, when he moved to São Paulo, Brazil. He emigrated to the USA in the summer of 1966.His musical education began in Brazil during the Bossa Nova craze...
String Quartets – Koch International 3-7452-2-III - Concert for Terezin – Terezín Chamber Music Foundation, Turquoise Bee Records 34-002
- David L. Post String Quartets Nos. 2-4 - NaxosNaxos RecordsNaxos Records is a record label specializing in classical music. Through a number of imprints, Naxos also releases genres including Chinese music, jazz, world music, and early rock & roll. The company was founded in 1987 by Klaus Heymann, a German-born resident of Hong Kong.Naxos is the largest...
8.559661
Film scores
Documentaries- Dessa: A Legacy From Theresienstadt
- Entartete Musik: The Birth of a Project
- In the Shadow of the Reich: Nazi Medicine
- The Last Dance (Maurice SendakMaurice SendakMaurice Bernard Sendak is an American writer and illustrator of children's literature. He is best known for his book Where the Wild Things Are, published in 1963.-Early life:...
and PilobolusPilobolus (dance company)Pilobolus is a contemporary dance company whose origins are traced to a 1971 Dartmouth College dance class taught by Alison Becker Chase. The group first began performing in October 1971....
) - Terezin: Life from death
- Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr.Mr. Death: The Rise and Fall of Fred A. Leuchter, Jr. is a 1999 documentary film by Errol Morris about execution technician Fred A. Leuchter.-Plot:...
Feature films
- Schindler's ListSchindler's ListSchindler's List is a 1993 American film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand mostly Polish-Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg, and based on the novel Schindler's Ark...
- The Secret of Roan InishThe Secret of Roan InishThe Secret of Roan Inish is an American independent film written and directed by John Sayles, and released in 1994. It's based on the novel The Secret of Ron Mor Skerry, by Rosalie K. Fry....
Animated films
- Lost Momentum (by Scott SnibbeScott SnibbeScott Snibbe is an interactive media artist, researcher, and entrepreneur. He is one of the first artists to work with projector-based interactivity, where a computer-controlled projection onto a wall or floor changes in response to people moving across its surface, with his well-known full-body...
)
External links
- Terezín Chamber Music Foundation (official website)
- Doran, Elizabeth. "Jamesville-DeWitt students hear Hawthorne String Quartet perform music composed in Terezin concentration camp". The Post-Standard (November 10, 2010)
- Scott SnibbeScott SnibbeScott Snibbe is an interactive media artist, researcher, and entrepreneur. He is one of the first artists to work with projector-based interactivity, where a computer-controlled projection onto a wall or floor changes in response to people moving across its surface, with his well-known full-body...
's official website: complete video of Lost Momentum, an animated short film with a score by August Watters played by the Hawthorne String Quartet - Prague Spring International Music Festival's official YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
channel: video excerpt of the Hawthorne String Quartet's 2009 concert (excerpt is 3:44 minutes into the video)