Description

THE LEGENDARY FLONZALEY QUARTET

 

 

 

 

The Flonzaley Quartet was a string quartet organized in Manhattan, New York City in 1902. The group disbanded in 1929.

The personnel of the group were as follows:

1st violin: Adolfo Betti (Bagni di Lucca, 21 March 1875 – Lucca, 2 December 1950).

2nd violin: Alfred Pochon (Yverdon, 30 July 1878 – Lutry, 26 February 1959).

viola: Ugo Ara (Venezia, 1876 – Lausanne, 1 December 1936), until 1917; replaced by Louis Bailly (Valenciennes, 13 June 1882 – Cowansville, Québec, 21 November 1974), until 1924; by Félicien d’Archambeau (? – ?), until 1925; by Nicolas Moldavan (Kremenetz, 23 January 1891 – New York, 21 September 1974), until disbanding in 1928.

violoncello: Iwan d’Archambeau (Herve, 1879 – Villefranche-sur-Mer, 29 December 1955).

The quartet was the creation of Edward J. de Coppet of New York, who in 1903 engaged the original members to devote themselves entirely to quartet-playing, and not with any view to giving regular concerts in public. The group took its name from de Coppet’s summer villa near Lausanne, in Switzerland, where the four musicians first rehearsed. After a long period of practice, the Quartet made a European tour and won high praise for the perfection of its ensemble and its artistic finish. Both violinists and the violist had been students of the Belgian maestro César Thomson, who would also teach members of a contemporaneous pioneering American chamber group, the Zoellner Quartet. The group was first heard in New York, in private and at charity concerts, in autumn 1904, but it did not give a public concert in the United States until 5 December 1905. After that it appeared regularly in Europe and America. The members stuck to the original principle of not accepting any outside engagement, and having no pupils, and by devoting themselves entirely to the quartet maintained a position of acknowledged superiority in their field. In 1914 the group asked Igor Stravinsky to write them a work. This resulted in his “Three pieces for String Quartet”. A few years later they also commissioned him to write “Concertino”, a one-movement work. Éduard de Coppet died in 1916, and his son André continued thereafter to maintain the Quartet. The original violist Ugo Ara left the group to join the Italian army, resulting in his replacement. The Quartet performed worldwide until disbanding in 1929. One of their final public concerts was at The Town Hall in Manhattan, New York City on March 17, 1929. They broadcast their farewell concert over station WEAF (now WFAN) on May 7, 1929.

 

TRACKLIST

 

 

1. Allegro moderato a la polka (From Quartet in E Minor) (Smetana) Flonzaley Quartet – I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 74634
2. Drink to me only with thine eyes Flonzaley Quartet – I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 626-A
3. Interludium in modo anticofrom Five novellettes (Glazunov) Flonzaley Quartet – I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 74667
4. Molly on the Shore (Grainger) Flonzaley Quartet – I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 74580
5. Nocturne (Borodin) Flonzaley Quartet – I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 6361-A
6. Quartet in A Major – Theme and variations (Beethoven, Op. 18, No. 5) I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 74754
7. Quartet in A Major Assai agitato (Beethoven, Op. 41, No. 3) Flonzaley Quartet – I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 74710
8. Quartet in A Minor – Scherzo (Schumann, Op. 41, No. 1) Flonzaley Quartet – I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 74578
9. Quartet in A minor. Adagio (3rd movement) (Schumann Op.41, No. 1) I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victrola 6425-B
10. Quartet in C Minor – Allegretto (Brahms, Op. 51, No. 1) I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 74685
11. Quartet in C minor. Allegretto (Brahms Op.51, No. 1) Flonzaley Quartet – I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 6120-A
12. Quartet in C minor. Scherzo (Second movement) (Beethoven Op. 18, No. 4) I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 6120-B
13. Quartet in D Major – Allegro moderato (Haydn, Op. 64, No. 5) Flonzaley Quartet – I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 74726
14. Quartet in D Major – Andante (Mozart) Flonzaley Quartet – I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 74579
15. Quartet in D Major – Minuet (Mozart) Flonzaley Quartet – I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 74596
16. Quartet in D major – presto (4th movement) (Beethoven, op. 18, no. 3) I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 74792
17. Quartet in D major Presto (4th movement) (Beethoven Op. 18, No 3) I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 6119-B
18. Quartet in D major. Adagio (3rd movement) (Mozart) Flonzaley Quartet – I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 6425-A
19. Quartet in D major. Menuetto and finale (3rd and 4th movement) (Haydn op. 64, no. 5) I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 6361-B
20. Quartet in E minor. Scherzo (2nd movement) (Mendelssohn op. 44, no. 2) I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 6119-A
21. Quartet in F major. Lento American quartet (Dvorák Op. 96) Flonzaley Quartet – I. d’Archambeau cello, A. Betti, 1st violin, A. Pochon 2nd violin, L. Bailly, viola Victor 74611