Budapest Quartet (1886) Explained

The Budapest Quartet was a string quartet established in Budapest in 1886 by Jenő Hubay and David Popper.

Johannes Brahms performed with the quartet and thought it was the best he had heard.^[1]

This quartet went under a variety of names. Outside Hungary, it was usually called "Quartet Hubay-Popper". Within Hungary it was called "Hungarian Quartet" or "Budapest Quartet". This was because Hungarians were fiercely patriotic.^[2]

They performed for twenty-seven years.^[3]

Composition

The quartet's initial composition was:

• Jenő Hubay, first violin
• Viktor Herzfeld, second violin
• Bram Eldering, viola
• David Popper, cello

Herzfeld played in 1886-1889 and 1897-1899. Wilhelm Grünfeld (concertmaster of Budapest Opera) played in 1888 the 2nd violin and 1889 (later a teacher at the Music Academy). After then, two students of Hubay played the 2nd violin: in 1894 János Farkas and from 1895 Rudolf Kemény.^[4] Elderling left the quartet soon. Violist from 1888 was Josef Waldbauer^{[5] [6] [7]} and from 1898 Gustav Szerémi.

References

• Book: Potter, Tully. Stowell, Robin . The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet. limited. Cambridge Companions to Music. 1999 . Cambridge University Press . 0-521-00042-4. 56 . From chamber to concert hall.
• Book: Campbell, Margaret. Stowell, Robin. The Cambridge Companion to the Cello. 1999 . Cambridge University Press . 0-521-62928-4. 70–71 . Nineteenth-century virtuosi .
• Book: Avins, Styra . Musgrave,Michael . Sherman,Bernard D. . Performing Brahms: Early Evidence of Performance Style . Cambridge University Press. 0-521-65273-1 . 29 . Performing Brahms's music: clues from his letters .

Notes and References

1. Potter, The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet, p.56
2. Brandt, Nat (1993), Con Brio: Four Russians Called the Budapest String Quartet, p.33. Oxford University Press
3. Avins, Performing Brahms: Early Evidence of Performance Style, p.29
4. https://books.google.com/books?id=iweFAAAAIAAJ&q=Gustav+Szerémi Dr. Bela Diosy: Ungarischer Künstler Almanach: das Kunstleben Ungarns in Wort und Bild. Musik, Königlich Ungarische Universitätsdruckerei, Budapest 1929, p. 46
5. http://www.storicamente.org/05_studi_ricerche/02frank.htm Tibor Frank: Berlin junction: patterns of Hungarian intellectual migrations, 1919-1933 - Hungary and the German Cultural Tradition
6. https://books.google.com/books?id=iweFAAAAIAAJ&q=Gustav+Szerémi Dr. Bela Diosy: Ungarischer Künstler Almanach: das Kunstleben Ungarns in Wort und Bild. Musik, Königlich Ungarische Universitätsdruckerei, Budapest 1929, p. 46
7. http://web.unife.it/utenti/gianluca.lavilla/Hubay.pdf Prof. Gianluca La Villa: Hubay e la Scuola ungherese del violino