THE BROSA
STRING QUARTET:
ANTONIO BROSA (violin) ; NORMAN CHAPPLE (violin) ; LEONARD RUBENS (viola); Livio MANNUCCI (violoncello)
HUGHES MACKLIN (tenor)
In a letter to one of his friends, written about the time when he was composing the A minor String Quartet, Schubert says that he is ' the most unhappy and wretched creature in the world.' The first movement is, perhaps, rather melancholy in mood, but, at the same time, it has its moments of brightness, and the way in which the first minor theme is later transformed into the major mode has a very comforting effect.
The slow movement is based on a theme from the Rosamunde music which is treated meditatively, and the Minute is reminiscent of the composers's songs : the Trio, however, has a Hungarian vigour and character running through it, which is one of the few instances when Schubert showed an interest in Hungarian national music. The last movement has a lightness of touch and happiness of feeling that serves as an excellent contrast to what has gone before.
Circumstances have combined to make the name of Roland Bocquet very little known in England, although he is by birth and education an Englishman, and did, at one time, hold a commission in the Royal Engineers.
Most of his life, however, has been passed in Germany, in which country he felt that his devotion to music could be better nourished. There he succeeded as a composer to the extent that an association, called the ' Roland Bocquet Gesellschaft ', was formed among his friends with the sole object of publishing his music of which songs form the greater part. In the more advanced musical circles of Germany. Austria, and France, concerts of his music have frequently been given, but only recently has any of it been heard in England.
During the War he was interned in Ruhleben, and there he met a number of English musicians, some of whom have promoted the performance of his compositions in this country.
QUARTET
Quartet in E minor (Aus meinem Leben)
(From my Life).......... Smetana I. Allegro vivo appassionato; 2. Allegro moderato a la polka ; 3. Largo sostenuto ; 4. Vivace
In this quartet Smetana sets out to relate his own story. Of the first and third movements no special explanation is needed, although of the third we are told that it recalls the joy of his first love for the girl who later became his wife. The second makes use of the polka, the dance for which Smetana wished to claim as important a place as the waltz and mazurka d:d in Chopin's music. In the last movement we hear the long, shrill note which rang in Smetana's ears before total deafness finally fell upon him.