Loewenguth Quartet
Encyclopedia
The Loewenguth Quartet was a string quartet
musical ensemble
led by the French
violin
ist Alfred Loewenguth. It was particularly famous for performances of classical repertoire such as Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn quartets, and was active from the 1930s to the 1970s.
From the early 1960s the desks were occupied thus:
The quartet was dissolved in 1983 at the death of the founder.
in 1911. He formed his first string quartet in 1929, but appeared in public as a violinist first in 1936.
Loewenguth began to study the violin at 8 years old, and had his first pupil when he was 12. At 16, he entered the Conservatoire National de Paris, and he set up his own Violin School when he was 17. At 19 he won the first prize at the Conservatoire, and principal medals for chamber music
and solfeggio. For chamber music he was a pupil of André Tourret and Roger Ducasse. In 1959 he founded the Alfred Loewenguth Youth Orchestras, and in 1969 he set up the Music Festival of the Orangerie de Sceaux. He both founded and directed the Conservatoire of the 9th arrondissement of Paris, and taught at the Conservatoire of Stuttgart
, at the Schola Cantorum de Paris, and at the Académie Internationale at Nice
. Although he devoted the core of his musical work to teaching and to chamber music - with his quartet or in duo (for more than fifty years with the pianist Françoise Doreau), he also had a career as soloist. The cinematographer Benoit Jacquot
devoted a documentary called "Enfance Musique" to him in 1979.
Alfred Loewenguth died in 1983.
The quartet performed the complete quartets of Beethoven in a series of 6 concerts over three consecutive weekends in November 1948 in New York. On 12 November 1948 they gave the premiere of the 6th quartet, op. 64 (1947) of Egon Wellesz
at the Library of Congress
. In the same year they also performed the complete Beethoven series for the Casavant Society in Montreal. The quartet performed Priaulx Rainier
's string quartet at the Edinburgh Festival
in 1949.
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...
musical ensemble
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
led by the French
French people
The French are a nation that share a common French culture and speak the French language as a mother tongue. Historically, the French population are descended from peoples of Celtic, Latin and Germanic origin, and are today a mixture of several ethnic groups...
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....
ist Alfred Loewenguth. It was particularly famous for performances of classical repertoire such as Beethoven, Mozart and Haydn quartets, and was active from the 1930s to the 1970s.
Personnel
The founding line-up of the Loewenguth Quartet was:- 1st violin: Alfred Loewenguth
- 2nd violin: Maurice Fuéri
- Viola: J. George; later, Louis Martini.
- Cello: Pierre Basseux.
From the early 1960s the desks were occupied thus:
- 1st violin: Alfred Loewenguth (1929–1983)
- 2nd violin: Jacques Gotkovsky (before 1963-1967); Jean-Pierre Sabouret (1967–1975); Philippe Langlois (1976–1983).
- Viola: Roger Roche; Jean-Claude De Waele; Jacques Borsarello (1979–1983)
- Cello: Roger Loewenguth (to 1983). (brother of Alfred)
The quartet was dissolved in 1983 at the death of the founder.
Origins
Alfred Loewenguth was born in ParisParis
Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
in 1911. He formed his first string quartet in 1929, but appeared in public as a violinist first in 1936.
Loewenguth began to study the violin at 8 years old, and had his first pupil when he was 12. At 16, he entered the Conservatoire National de Paris, and he set up his own Violin School when he was 17. At 19 he won the first prize at the Conservatoire, and principal medals for chamber music
Chamber music
Chamber music is a form of classical music, written for a small group of instruments which traditionally could be accommodated in a palace chamber. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers with one performer to a part...
and solfeggio. For chamber music he was a pupil of André Tourret and Roger Ducasse. In 1959 he founded the Alfred Loewenguth Youth Orchestras, and in 1969 he set up the Music Festival of the Orangerie de Sceaux. He both founded and directed the Conservatoire of the 9th arrondissement of Paris, and taught at the Conservatoire of Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
, at the Schola Cantorum de Paris, and at the Académie Internationale at Nice
Nice
Nice is the fifth most populous city in France, after Paris, Marseille, Lyon and Toulouse, with a population of 348,721 within its administrative limits on a land area of . The urban area of Nice extends beyond the administrative city limits with a population of more than 955,000 on an area of...
. Although he devoted the core of his musical work to teaching and to chamber music - with his quartet or in duo (for more than fifty years with the pianist Françoise Doreau), he also had a career as soloist. The cinematographer Benoit Jacquot
Benoît Jacquot
Benoît Jacquot is a French film director who has had a varied career in European cinema.Born in Paris, he began his career as assistant director of Marguerite Duras films including Nathalie Granger, India Song and also actor in the 1973 short film La Sœur du cadre.He turned to writing and...
devoted a documentary called "Enfance Musique" to him in 1979.
Alfred Loewenguth died in 1983.
The quartet performed the complete quartets of Beethoven in a series of 6 concerts over three consecutive weekends in November 1948 in New York. On 12 November 1948 they gave the premiere of the 6th quartet, op. 64 (1947) of Egon Wellesz
Egon Wellesz
Egon Joseph Wellesz was an Austrian-born British composer, teacher and musicologist, notable particularly in the field of Byzantine music.- Life :...
at the Library of Congress
Library of Congress
The Library of Congress is the research library of the United States Congress, de facto national library of the United States, and the oldest federal cultural institution in the United States. Located in three buildings in Washington, D.C., it is the largest library in the world by shelf space and...
. In the same year they also performed the complete Beethoven series for the Casavant Society in Montreal. The quartet performed Priaulx Rainier
Priaulx Rainier
Ivy Priaulx Rainier was a South African-British composer. Although she lived most of her life in England and died in France, her compositional style was strongly influenced by the African music remembered from her childhood. She never adopted 12-tone or serial techniques, but her music shows a...
's string quartet at the Edinburgh Festival
Edinburgh Festival
The Edinburgh Festival is a collective term for many arts and cultural festivals that take place in Edinburgh, Scotland each summer, mostly in August...
in 1949.
Recordings
The Loewenguth Quartet made many recordings on 78rpm and 33rpm discs, for various labels including Deutsche Grammofon (and Archiv), Vox, Philips, Westminster, Les Discophiles Français, Club National du Disque and some smaller French and American labels.- Beethoven: Op 18 no 4 (1947) & No 16 (1946).
- Beethoven: Complete Quartets (Vox Box SVBX 543/4/5). (published 1962?)
- Mozart: Quartets K387 & K428 (1951), K458 (DGG 18315) (1950) also (Decca 10", DL 7517), K465 (c.1945) (another version live 1972), Clarinet quintet K581 (live 1972 with Georgina Dobrée). (DOREMI reissue vol 1)
- Haydn: Quartets op 64 no 5 (DGG 18315), op 76 no 2 and 74 no 3 (Oriole Eurodisc SMG 20066). (DOREMI reissue vol 1)
- Hugo WolfHugo WolfHugo Wolf was an Austrian composer of Slovene origin, particularly noted for his art songs, or lieder. He brought to this form a concentrated expressive intensity which was unique in late Romantic music, somewhat related to that of the Second Viennese School in concision but utterly unrelated in...
: Italienische Serenade. (Opera label) - Jean FrançaixJean FrançaixJean René Désiré Françaix was a French neoclassical composer, pianist, and orchestrator, known for his prolific output and vibrant style.-Life:...
: Quatuor à cordes; Juvénalia. (Opera label) - RousselRousselRoussel may refer to:* Roussel , French automobile manufactured from 1908 to 1914* Roussel Uclaf, a French company* Bois Roussel , French racehorse* Kirin-Amgen v Hoechst Marion Roussel, British court ruling concerning patents...
: String Quartet in D major op 45. (1953).(Decca DL 4026) - Claude DebussyClaude DebussyClaude-Achille Debussy was a French composer. Along with Maurice Ravel, he was one of the most prominent figures working within the field of impressionist music, though he himself intensely disliked the term when applied to his compositions...
: String quartet op 10 (DGG 18312) (Club National du Disque CND 75) - Maurice RavelMaurice RavelJoseph-Maurice Ravel was a French composer known especially for his melodies, orchestral and instrumental textures and effects...
: String quartet in F (DGG 18312) (Club National du Disque CND 75) - Gabriel FauréGabriel FauréGabriel Urbain Fauré was a French composer, organist, pianist and teacher. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th century composers...
: Quartet (and Roussel quartet), (Vox TV34014S). Complete Chamber Music, (VOX QSVBX 5152). - César FranckCésar FranckCésar-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life....
: Quartet in D major. - Emile Goué: Third quartet, Sonata for piano and violin (with Doreau).(Azur Classical CD AZC 081)
- J.S.Bach: The Art of Fugue - Contrapunctus 9. (1945)
- Jacques IbertJacques IbertJacques François Antoine Ibert was a French composer. Having studied music from an early age, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won its top prize, the Prix de Rome at his first attempt, despite studies interrupted by his service in World War I.Ibert pursued a successful composing career,...
: String Quartet. (1945) - Franz SchubertFranz SchubertFranz 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...
: String Quartet No.14 "Der Tod und Das Mädchen". (Discophiles Francais DF203).(1956) - Schubert: No.12 'Quartettsatz'. (Discophiles Francais DF203).(1956)
- Jean Roger-DucasseJean Roger-DucasseJean Jules Amable Roger-Ducasse was a French composer.-Biography:Jean Roger-Ducasse studied at the Paris Conservatoire with Emile Pessard and André Gedalge, and was the star pupil and close friend of Gabriel Fauré...
: String quartet no 2. - Sergei ProkofievSergei ProkofievSergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev was a Russian composer, pianist and conductor who mastered numerous musical genres and is regarded as one of the major composers of the 20th century...
: 2nd Quartet (& Roussel Quartet) (DGG). (1955) - Pierre VachonPierre VachonPierre Vachon was a French composer.Vachon was born in Avignon. He wrote around thirty string quartets, various chamber works, operas, and orchestral pieces. He studied the violin with Carlo Chiabrano in Paris and first performed on 24 December 1756, at the Concert Spirituel, playing one of his...
: Quartets Op 11 no 1, 5. (DGG Archiv SAPM 198033) - Nicolas DalayracNicolas DalayracNicolas-Marie d'Alayrac, known as Nicolas Dalayrac , was a French composer, best known for his opéras-comiques.- Biography :...
: Quartets Op 7 no 3, op. 1 no 3 (5). (Archiv SAPM 198033)