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19-498: Violin 1: violin 2: viola: violoncello: In the early 1920s, the Viennese violinist Rudolf Kolisch began to study composition with Arnold Schoenberg , who also put Kolisch to work in the composer's "Society for Private Musical Performances" (Verein fuer musikalische Privatauffuehrungen). This led to the creation of a string quartet ("Neue Wiener Streichquartett") dedicated to performing Schoenberg's music, but also to performing

38-551: A prominent physician and Dozent at the University . One of his two sisters was Gertrud Schoenberg . His father and maternal grandfather were Jewish, while his maternal grandmother was Catholic. Due to a childhood injury to the middle finger of his left hand, Kolisch, who had already begun to play the violin, relearned the instrument with the functions of the hands reversed. Following service in World War I, Kolisch attended both

57-810: Is dedicated to the Kolisch Quartet, and it was they who gave its premiere at The Town Hall in New York City on 20 January 1941. They were on tour in the United States when that country entered the war and civilian transport across the ocean suddenly became unavailable. Rather than continue with the Quartet in the face of great uncertainty about the future, the cellist and violist soon took jobs with major U.S. orchestras ( Philadelphia and Boston , respectively). The Quartet continued to play concerts with replacement players for some time, but when

76-488: The Kolisch Quartet . Numerous works were written for them by composers including Alban Berg , Anton Webern , Arnold Schoenberg, and Béla Bartók . The Quartet's tours extended eventually to include all European countries including Scandinavia, and also (by the mid-1930s) North and South America. One notable aspect of the Quartet was that they generally performed from memory, including difficult modern works such as

95-458: The Lyric Suite of Berg. This was not intended as a demonstration of any special powers of memorization, but rather of an approach which involved such careful rehearsal that by the time a piece was ready for performance, the musicians no longer required the score. The quartet used eye contact and were more able to respond musically to one another without music stands interfering. The Quartet

114-638: The "Alco" label. All the commercial recordings of the Kolisch Quartet are currently available on compact discs. Rudolf Kolisch Rudolf Kolisch (July 20, 1896 – August 1, 1978) was a Viennese violinist and leader of string quartets, including the Kolisch Quartet and the Pro Arte Quartet . Kolisch was born in Klamm , Schottwien , Lower Austria and raised in Vienna , the son of Henriette Anna Theresia (Hoffmann) and Dr. Rudolf Rafael Kolisch ,

133-462: The 1930s to Josefa Rosanska (b. 1904, d. 1986), a concert pianist; the marriage ended in divorce. In the early 1940s he married Lorna Freedman (1917–2006), a professional violinist and violist. Gertrud Schoenberg Gertrud Bertha Schoenberg ( née , Kolisch ; pen name , Max Blonda ; 11 July 1898 – 14 February 1967) was an Austrian opera librettist. She was the second wife of Austrian composer Arnold Schoenberg , whom she married in 1924, and

152-698: The University and the Musikakademie, where he studied violin with Otakar Ševčík , composition with Franz Schreker and conducting with Franz Schalk , intending at first to make a career as a conductor. In 1919 he began studying composition with Arnold Schoenberg , who later became his brother-in-law (1924). He put Kolisch to work in the " Society for Private Musical Performances in Vienna" ( Verein für musikalische Privataufführungen in Wien ). This led to

171-549: The classical string quartet repertoire in a manner which would take into account the principles of Schoenberg's teaching. The quartet consisted initially of Kolisch and Fritz Rothschild (alternating first and second violins), Marcel Dick (viola) and Joachim Stutschewsky (cello). This ensemble began to concertize and tour in central Europe. By 1927, the membership of the ensemble had settled: Kolisch played first violin, Felix Khuner played second violin, Eugene Lehner played viola and Benar Heifetz played cello; this group became known as

190-555: The creation of a string quartet (" Wiener Streichquartett ") to perform both Schoenberg's music and the classical string quartet repertoire in a manner that would take into account the principles of Schoenberg's teaching. Schoenberg directed many rehearsals of this quartet. By 1927 the ensemble had become known as the Kolisch Quartet . Numerous works were written for this ensemble by composers including Alban Berg , Anton Webern , Schoenberg, and Béla Bartók . Stranded in New York by

209-573: The ensemble and participated in the recording of Schoenberg's Pierrot lunaire , conducted by the composer. He researched and wrote an article, "Tempo and Character in Beethoven's Music" which was presented to the New York chapter of the American Musicological Society and later published in two installments in the magazine Musical Quarterly . In 1944 Kolisch was invited to the University of Wisconsin–Madison to become

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228-548: The entrance of the United States into World War II , Kolisch at first tried to keep the Quartet together. When this failed, he took a position on the faculty of The New School , lecturing on "Musical Performance: The Realization of Musical Meaning". With Otto Klemperer , he co-founded a chamber orchestra at the school, with which he gave the first U.S. performances of Bartók's Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta , Igor Stravinsky 's l' Histoire du Soldat and Schoenberg's Chamber Symphony No. 1 . During this time he prepared

247-658: The mandatory retirement age in 1966. At that time he was invited by Gunther Schuller to become head of the Chamber Music department at the New England Conservatory in Boston . He remained on the faculty until the end of his life. During the summers of 1974 through 1977, he also taught chamber music performance at the annual Schoenberg Seminars in Mödling, Austria near Vienna. Kolisch was married in

266-897: The new leader of the Pro Arte String Quartet (recorded as the first "Quartet in Residence" at any U.S. university). He was also granted a full Professorship. In the 1950s he began to tour in Europe again as a recitalist. He became a member of the faculty at the Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik in Darmstadt, Germany, along with his close friends and long-time associates Eduard Steuermann and Theodor Adorno . Except for one year (1956) spent in Darmstadt, he remained active in Madison until reaching

285-461: The notes G and E ♭ (German: Es, i.e., "S") for " G ertrud S choenberg", in the Suite , for septet, Op. 29 (1925). She is not to be confused with either Gertrud Schönberg (1902–1947), who was Arnold Schoenberg's eldest child by his first wife Mathilde and who later married composer Felix Greissle , or with the soprano Gertrude Schoenberg (1914–1999) who had been a student of Schoenberg's and

304-405: The pseudonym Max Blonda . At her request Schoenberg's (ultimately unfinished) piece, Die Jakobsleiter was prepared for performance by Schoenberg's student Winfried Zillig . After her husband's death in 1951 she founded Belmont Music Publishers devoted to the publication of his works, and was also a key figure in bringing about the premiere of Schoenberg's opera Moses und Aron . Arnold used

323-574: The second violinist left to join an orchestra in San Francisco , the Quartet finally disbanded. The Kolisch Quartet recorded several albums of string quartets of Franz Schubert and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart on 78s for the Columbia Records and RCA record labels. In 1937 they recorded the four string quartets of Arnold Schoenberg privately under the composer's supervision; these were re-issued several years later as LP recordings on

342-502: The sister of his pupil, the violinist Rudolf Kolisch . Schoenberg was born in Karlovy Vary , and raised in Vienna , the daughter of Henriette Anna Theresia (Hoffmann) and Rudolf Rafael Kolisch a physician and docent at the University of Vienna . Her father and maternal grandfather were Jewish, while her maternal grandmother was Catholic. She wrote the libretto for Schoenberg's one-act opera Von heute auf morgen under

361-606: Was on tour in Paris in 1938 when Nazi Germany annexed Austria . Because of their association with Schoenberg (whose music had been banned by the Nazis) and because most of the members of the Quartet were considered Jewish according to the Nazi legal definition, they did not return to Vienna. They set up their headquarters in Paris and toured from there. Béla Bartók 's String Quartet No. 6

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