Presents
Ignaz Lachner
String Quartet No.2 in G Major, Op.51-New Edition
Ignaz Lachner (1807-1895) was the second of the three famous Lachner brothers. (there were some 16 children in all) His older brother Franz was the best known, having heavily traded on his youthful friendship with Franz Schubert, certainly more than Ignaz who also knew Schubert. Ignaz was taught (as were the others) organ, piano and violin. Upon the latter instrument, he was somewhat of a prodigy, but despite this, his father insisted he become a teacher. After his father’s death, he studied violin with Bernhard Molique, a violin virtuoso and then joined his brother Franz in Vienna where he too befriended and was influenced by Schubert, not to mention Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven. Though primarily known as a conductor, Lachner composed a considerable amount of music, much of it chamber music, including seven string quartets. His place in music is as a "Classicist-Romantic". His quartets achieved considerable popularity in their time by virtue of their fetching melodies and effective harmonies.
Lachner's String Quartet No.2 in G Major, Op.51 dates from 1856 and was dedicated to the duke of Sachen-Coburg-Goth. Despite the fact that String Quartet No.2 was written well into the Romantic period, it is music which is closer to Haydn than to Mendelssohn or Schumann. It is in fact no accident that the air of the Vienna Classical period permeates the work. Even as an old man, he wrote, toward the end of his life, "To the very end, I have been true to the classic composers of Vienna whom I admired so much." The genial, expansive Allegro moderato, which serves as the opening movement, has for its main theme a Schubertesque, lovely singing melody. Which is interspersed from time to time with exciting operatic episodes which follow. The second movement, Andante, has a pleasant unassuming subject for its main theme. The spirit of Haydn hovers over it and sounds as if perhaps he had written. An energetic and thrusting Scherzo, presto, follows. Here, too, in the finale, Allegretto, the voice of Haydn dominates this appealing music.
Our new edition is based on the original Schott publication of 1858. While it ought to be heard in concert, it will surely give great pleasure to amateur quartet groups.
Parts: $24.95
Parts & Score: $33.95
