The Well-Tempered Ear
The Pro Arte Quartet plays the fourth installment of its FREE Beethoven string quartet cycle online TONIGHT at 7:30 CDT
Leave a Comment
PLEASE HELP THE EAR. IF YOU LIKE A CERTAIN BLOG POST, SPREAD THE WORD. FORWARD A LINK TO IT OR, SHARE IT or TAG IT (not just “Like” it) ON FACEBOOK. Performers can use the extra exposure to draw potential audience members to an event. And you might even attract new readers and subscribers to the blog.
By Jacob Stockinger
The historic Pro Arte Quartet, in residence at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Mead Witter School of Music, will perform the fourth installment of its FREE Beethoven string quartet cycle TONIGHT — Friday, Oct. 23 — at 7:30 p.m. CDT. (It should be posted for about a day, but will not be archived due to copyright considerations.)
Because of the coronavirus pandemic, the live concert will take place online and will be live-streamed without an audience from the Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall in the new Hamel Music Center.
You can stream it live from https://youtu.be/IhmNRNiI3RM
The whole series of concerts are part of the Pro Arte Quartet’s yearlong retrospective to celebrate the Beethoven Year. This December marks the 250th anniversary of the birth of the composer (below).
Members of the Pro Arte Quartet (below, in a photo by Rick Langer) are: David Perry and Suzanne Beia, violins; Sally Chisholm, viola; and Parry Karp, cello.
A pre-concert lecture by UW-Madison musicology Professor Charles Dill (below, in a photo by Katrin Talbot) starts at 7:30 p.m. CDT.
The program consists of one early and one late quartet: the string Quartet in C Minor, Op. 18 No. 4 (1798-1800), and you can hear the first movement played by the Dover Quartet in the YouTube video at the bottom; and the String Quartet in E-Flat Major, Op. 127 (1825).
The Pro Arte Quartet is one of the world’s most distinguished string quartets. Founded by conservatory students in Brussels in 1912, it became one of the most celebrated ensembles in Europe in the first half of the 20th century and was named Court Quartet to the Queen of Belgium.
Its world reputation blossomed in 1919 when the quartet (below, in 1928) began the first of many tours that enticed notable composers such as Bartok, Barber, Milhaud, Honegger, Martin and Casella to write new works for the ensemble.
The Pro Arte Quartet performs throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia and continues to champion both standard repertoire and new music.
Since being stranded in the U.S. when Belgium was invaded by Hitler and the Nazis in World War II, the group is an ensemble-in-residence at the Mead Witter School of Music and resident quartet of the Chazen Museum of Art.
The quartet, the longest active string quartet in the history of music, has performed at the White House and, during the centennial celebration, played for the King’s Counselor in Belgium.
Recent projects include the complete quartets of Bartok and Shostakovich and, in collaboration with the Orion and Emerson String Quartets, the complete quartets of Beethoven.
Regular chamber music collaborators that perform with Pro Arte include Samuel Rhodes and Nobuko Imai, viola; Bonnie Hampton, cello; and the late Leon Fleischer and Christopher Taylor, piano.
Together since 1995, the quartet has recorded works of Mendelssohn, Dvorak, Rhodes, Shapey, Sessions, Fennelly, Diesendruck, Lehrdahl and the centennial commissions.
For more information and background, go to: https://www.music.wisc.edu/event/pro-arte-quartet-beethoven-string-quartet-cycle-program-iv/
For more about the challenges and modifications – including wearing masks and social distancing — of doing the Beethoven cycle for the virtual online performances and about the other dates and programs in the cycle, go to: https://welltempered.wordpress.com/2020/09/29/classical-music-uw-madisons-pro-arte-quartet-to-resume-its-free-beethoven-cycle-virtual-and-online-this-friday-night-with-two-other-programs-this-semester/
Tags: #20thCentury, #AdolfHitler, #AlfredoCasella, #AntoninDvorak, #ArthurHonegger, #Artists-in-Residence, #BeethovenYear, #BelaBartok, #BlogPost, #BlogPosting, #BonnieHampton, #BrusselsBelgium, #CentralDaylightTime, #ChamberMusic, #CharlesDill, #ChazenMuseumofArt, #ChristopherTaylor, #ClassicalMusician, #CommissionedMusic, #CompactDisc, #CompleteCycle, #ConcertProgram, #CoronavirusPandemic, #COVID-19, #DariusMilhaud, #DavidPerry, #DoverQuartet, #EmersonStringQuartet, #FacebookPost, #FacebookPosting, #FelixMendelssohn, #FrankMartin, #FredLehrdahl, #GuestArtist, #HamelMusicCenter, #HistoricalContext, #HomeWebsite, #JacobStockinger, #JuilliardSchool, #JuilliardStringQuartet, #LeonFleisher, #LiveMusic, #LudwigVanBeethoven, #MadisonSymphonyOrchestra, #MeadWitterFoundationConcertHall, #MeadWitterSchoolofMusic, #MusicalStyle, #MusicProfessor, #Nazi-occupied, #NaziGermany, #NewMusic, #NobukoImai, #OnlineConcert, #OrionStringQuartet, #ParryKarp, #Pre-concertLecture, #ProArteQuartet, #RalphShapey, #RecordedMusic, #RogerSessions, #RoyalConservatory, #SallyChisholm, #SamuelBarber, #SamuelRhodes, #SocialDistancing, #StringQuartet, #SuzanneBeia, #TheEar, #TheU.S., #TheUSA, #TheUW, #TheWhiteHouse, #TokyoJapan, #UnitedStates, #UniversityofWisconsin-Madison, #VirtualConcert, #WhiteHouse, #WisconsinChamberOrchestra, #WorldWarII, #YouTubeChannel, #YouTubevideo, 20th-century, Alfredo Casella, anniversary, Antonín Dvořák, archive, Arthur Honegger, Arts, Asia, audience, background, Barber, Bartok, Béla Bartók, Beethoven, Beethoven Year, birth, blog, blossom, Bonnie Hampton, Brussels, Casella, CDs, CDT, celebrated, cellist, Cello, centennial, Central Daylight Time, challenges, Chamber music, Charles Dill, Chazen Museum of Art, China, Christopher Taylor, Classical music, classicalmusic, collaborator, commission, commissioned, Compact Disc, composer, Concert, conservatory, consideration, copyright, coronavirus, counselor, court, cycle, Darius Milhaud, date, David Perry, day, Diesendruck, distinguished, Dover Quartet, Dvorak, early, Emerson String Quartet, ensemble, Europe, exile, Facebook, Felix Mendelssohn, Fennelly, first, forward, founded, Frank Martin, Fred Lehrdahl, free, guest artist, Hamel Music Center, historic, Hitler, Honegger, information, invaded, invasion, Jacob Stockinger, Japan, Juilliard String Quartet, Julliard School, King, late, lecture, Lehrdahl, Leon Fleisher, like, link, live, live music, live-stream, live-streamed, livestream, Ludwig van Beethoven, Madison, Madison Symphony Orchestra, mark, Martin, mask, masks, Mead Witter Foundation Concert Hall, Mead Witter School of Music, Mendelssohn, Milhaud, modification, movement, muisicians, Music, musical style, Musician, musicology, Nazi, New Music, Nobuko Imai, online, Orion String Quartet, pandemic, Parry Karp, Pianist, Piano, post, posting, Pro Ate Quartet, professor, program, queen, Ralph Shapey, record, recorded music, repertoire, repertory, reputation, residence, retrospective, Rhodes, Roger Sessions, Royal Conservatory, Royal Conservatory in Brussels, Sally Chisholm, Samuel Barber, Samuel Rhodes, series, Sessions, Shapey, share, social distancing, standard, stranded, String quartet, Suzanne Beia, tag, The Ear, The White House, Tokyo, tonight, tour, U.S., United States, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Music, University of Wisconsin–Madison, US, USA, UW, UW-Madison, Viola, Violin, violinist, violist, violoncello, virtual, Website, White House, Wisconsin, Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, works, world, World War II, yearlong, YouTube
Recent Comments
The Well-Tempered Ear 