The Hellmesberger Quartet was a String Quartet

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...

 formed in Vienna

Vienna

Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...

 in 1849. It was founded by Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr.

Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr.

Josef Hellmesberger, Sr. was an Austrian violinist, conductor, and composer.Born in Vienna, he was the son of musician and pedagogue, Georg Hellmesberger, Sr. , was taught violin by his father at the Vienna Conservatoire. Hellmesberger hails from a family of notable musicians including: brother,...

 and was the first permanent named String Quartet.

Composition

Violinist Leopold Jansa

Leopold Jansa

Leopold Jansa was a Bohemian violinist, composer, and teacher....

 started a string quartet in 1845. Hellmesberger took over from Jansa in 1849, retaining the other members. Its initial composition was:

• Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr.
  Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr.
  Josef Hellmesberger, Sr. was an Austrian violinist, conductor, and composer.Born in Vienna, he was the son of musician and pedagogue, Georg Hellmesberger, Sr. , was taught violin by his father at the Vienna Conservatoire. Hellmesberger hails from a family of notable musicians including: brother,...
  
   (1st violin
  Violin
  The 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....
  
  )
• Carl Heissler
  Carl Heissler
  Carl or Karl Heissler was an Austrian violinist and violist.- Biography:He was studying with Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr., Matthias Durst and Joseph Böhm at the Academy of the Vienna music friends Society...
  
   (2nd violin)
• Matthias Durst
  Matthias Durst
  Matthias Durst was an Austrian violinist, violist and composer.-Biography:Born in Vienna, he studied at the Vienna Conservatory with Georg Hellmesberger, Sr. and Joseph Böhm. He was a member of the Vienna Burgtheater. From 1841 he was appointed at the Vienna Court Orchestra. He was professor at...
  
   (viola
  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...
  
  )
• Carl Schlesinger
  Carl Schlesinger
  Carl or Karl Schlesinger was a cellist.He originally played the violin.From 1838 onwards, he worked as a solo cellist successively for the Pesth National Theatre in Budapest and the Imperial Opera orchestra in Vienna...
  
   (cello
  Cello
  The 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...
  
  )

The quartet's composition remained "pretty constant until the mid-1860's"

At one point, the composition was:

• Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr.
  Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr.
  Josef Hellmesberger, Sr. was an Austrian violinist, conductor, and composer.Born in Vienna, he was the son of musician and pedagogue, Georg Hellmesberger, Sr. , was taught violin by his father at the Vienna Conservatoire. Hellmesberger hails from a family of notable musicians including: brother,...
  
   (1st violin)
• Adolph Brodsky
  Adolph Brodsky
  Adolph Davidovich Brodsky was a Russian violinist.He enjoyed a long and illustrious career as a performer and teacher, starting early in Vienna, going on to Moscow, Leipzig, and New York City and finally Manchester. During its course he met and worked with composers such as Tchaikovsky and...
  
   (2nd violin), left Vienna in 1870
• Sigismund Bachrich
  Sigismund Bachrich
  Sigismund Bachrich , aka Sigmund Bachrich or Siegmund Bachrich, was a Hungarian composer, violinist, and violist....
  
   (viola)
• David Popper
  David Popper
  David Popper was a Bohemian cellist and composer.-Life:He was born in Prague, and studied music at the Prague Conservatory. He studied the cello under Julius Goltermann , and soon attracted attention...
  
   (cello), from 1868 to 1870

Hellmesberger's son, Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr.

Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr.

Josef “Pepi” Hellmesberger, Jr. was an Austrian composer, violinist and conductor.Hellmesberger was son of violinist and conductor Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr. , who was his first teacher. Among his family of notable musicians include: grandfather, Georg, Sr. ; uncle, Georg, Jr...

 joined the quartet in 1870 to play the second violin and became leader in 1887.

Ferdinand Hellmesberger

Ferdinand Hellmesberger

Ferdinand Hellmesberger was an Austrian cellist and conductor.-Biography:He was born in Vienna to Joseph Hellmesberger, Sr.. Joseph Hellmesberger, Jr. was his brother....

, the son of Joseph Sr. and brother of Joseph Jr., joined in 1883 to play the cello.

Importance

The Quartet played an important role in Vienna's musical life through the performance of quartets from Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven was a German composer and pianist. A crucial figure in the transition between the Classical and Romantic eras in Western art music, he remains one of the most famous and influential composers of all time.Born in Bonn, then the capital of the Electorate of Cologne and part of...

, Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms

Johannes Brahms was a German composer and pianist, and one of the leading musicians of the Romantic period. Born in Hamburg, Brahms spent much of his professional life in Vienna, Austria, where he was a leader of the musical scene...

, and Franz Schubert

Franz Schubert

Franz Peter Schubert was an Austrian composer.Although he died at an early age, Schubert was tremendously prolific. He wrote some 600 Lieder, nine symphonies , liturgical music, operas, some incidental music, and a large body of chamber and solo piano music...

, premiering several of Brahms' and Schubert's chamber works.

It commissioned and premiered Antonín Dvořák's

Antonín Dvorák

Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...

 String Quartet No. 11, Op. 61

String Quartet No. 11 (Dvorák)

Antonín Dvořák composed his String Quartet No. 11 in C major, Op. 61, B. 121, some time between late October and early November 1881 to fulfill a commission from the Hellmesberger Quartet....

, composed in 1881.

The programme of the opening concert on November 4, 1849 included Joseph Haydn

Joseph Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...

's Quartet in C, Op. 76, No. 3

String Quartets, Op. 76 (Haydn)

Joseph Haydn's string quartets, Op. 76 were composed in 1796 or 1797 and dedicated to the Hungarian Count Joseph Erdödy. The six quartets are the last complete set that Haydn composed...

 Spohr

Louis Spohr

Louis Spohr was a German composer, violinist and conductor. Born Ludewig Spohr, he is usually known by the French form of his name. Described by Dorothy Mayer as "The Forgotten Master", Spohr was once as famous as Beethoven. As a violinist, his virtuoso playing was admired by Queen Victoria...

's Piano Trio in A minor, Op. 124, and Beethoven's Quartet in F, Op. 59 No. 1

String Quartet No. 7 (Beethoven)

Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 7 in F major was published in 1808 as opus 59, No. 1. It consists of four movements:# Allegro in F major# Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando in B major# Adagio molto e mesto - attacca in F minor...

.

External links

• Biographies of members of the Hellmesberger family
• Frederick H. Martens, "Violin Mastery: Talks with master violinists and teachers" at Project Gutenberg, including information about the Hellmesberger Quartet
• Hellmesberger family biographies