The Bohemian Quartet were a Czech

Czech people

Czechs, or Czech people are a western Slavic people of Central Europe, living predominantly in the Czech Republic. Small populations of Czechs also live in Slovakia, Austria, the United States, the United Kingdom, Chile, Argentina, Canada, Germany, Russia and other countries...

 string quartet

String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

 of international repute that was founded in 1891 and disbanded in 1934.

Origins

The Quartet was founded in Budapest

Budapest

Budapest is the capital of Hungary. As the largest city of Hungary, it is the country's principal political, cultural, commercial, industrial, and transportation centre. In 2011, Budapest had 1,733,685 inhabitants, down from its 1989 peak of 2,113,645 due to suburbanization. The Budapest Commuter...

 by three pupils of Antonín Bennewitz

Antonín Bennewitz

Antonín Bennewitz was a Czech violinist, conductor and teacher. He was in a line of violinists that extended back to Giovanni Battista Viotti, and forward to Jan Kubelík and Wolfgang Schneiderhan....

 (Karel Hoffmann

Karel Hoffmann

Karel Hoffmann was a Czech violinist and music pedagogue, a founding member and first violinist of the Bohemian Quartet. In 1926–1927 he was appointed the rector of the Prague Conservatory.- Biography :...

, Josef Suk

Josef Suk (composer)

Josef Suk was a Czech composer and violinist.- Life :Suk was born in Křečovice. He studied at Prague Conservatory from 1885 to 1892, where he was a pupil of Antonín Dvořák and Antonín Bennewitz. In 1898, he married Dvořák's eldest daughter, Otilie Dvořáková , affectionately known as Otilka...

 and Oskar Nedbal

Oskar Nedbal

Oskar Nedbal was a Czech violist, composer, and conductor of classical music.-Life:Nedbal was born in Tábor, in southern Bohemia. He studied the violin at the Prague Conservatory under Antonín Bennewitz...

) and a pupil of Hanuš Wihan

Hanuš Wihan

Hanuš Wihan was a renowned Czech cellist, considered the greatest of his time. He was strongly associated with the works of Antonín Dvořák, whose Rondo in G minor, Op. 94, the short piece Silent Woods, Op. 68, and most particularly the Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 were all dedicated to him...

 (Otakar Berger); Bennewitz and Wihan were both teachers at the Prague Conservatory

Prague Conservatory

Prague Conservatory, sometimes also Prague Conservatoire, in Czech Pražská konzervatoř, is a Czech secondary school in Prague dedicated to teaching the arts of music and theater acting.- Instruction :...

. Wihan had himself studied at Prague, and was cellist of the chamber quartet of Ludwig II in Munich

Munich

Munich The city's motto is "" . Before 2006, it was "Weltstadt mit Herz" . Its native name, , is derived from the Old High German Munichen, meaning "by the monks' place". The city's name derives from the monks of the Benedictine order who founded the city; hence the monk depicted on the city's coat...

, becoming Professor at Prague in 1888. He replaced his student Otakar Berger as cellist in the quartet when Berger died prematurely. Wihan then directed the Quartet until 1913 when the strain of touring obliged him to retire from it and resume his teaching. His place was then taken by Ladislav Zelenka (b. 1881), who since 1911 had been playing with the Ševčik-Lhatsky Quartet

Ševcík-Lhatsky Quartet

The Ševčík-Lhatsky String Quartet was a well-known Czech musical ensemble founded originally as the Ševčík Quartet at Warsaw in 1903, which remained in existence in the 1930s.- Personnel :The founding members of the Quartet were as follows:...

. The group made repeated tours in Europe, especially with the quartets of Dvorak and Smetana, and were noted for their warm tone and fiery rhythms. In 1922 the four members were appointed professors at the Prague Conservatory.

Many key contemporary works were written for and/or first performed by the Bohemian Quartet. Most notably, this included works by Antonín Dvořák

Antonín Dvorák

Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...

 and Leoš Janáček

Leoš Janácek

Leoš Janáček was a Czech composer, musical theorist, folklorist, publicist and teacher. He was inspired by Moravian and all Slavic folk music to create an original, modern musical style. Until 1895 he devoted himself mainly to folkloristic research and his early musical output was influenced by...

, such as Janáček's second string quartet

String Quartet No. 2 (Janácek)

Leoš Janáček's String Quartet No. 2, "Intimate Letters", was written in 1928. It has been referred to as Janáček's "manifesto on love".- Background :...

, subtitled "Intimate Letters".

Personnel

1st violin

• Karel Hoffmann
  Karel Hoffmann
  Karel Hoffmann was a Czech violinist and music pedagogue, a founding member and first violinist of the Bohemian Quartet. In 1926–1927 he was appointed the rector of the Prague Conservatory.- Biography :...
  
  

2nd violin

• Josef Suk
  Josef Suk (composer)
  Josef Suk was a Czech composer and violinist.- Life :Suk was born in Křečovice. He studied at Prague Conservatory from 1885 to 1892, where he was a pupil of Antonín Dvořák and Antonín Bennewitz. In 1898, he married Dvořák's eldest daughter, Otilie Dvořáková , affectionately known as Otilka...
  
   (to 1933)
• Stanislav Novák (1933-1934)

viola

• Oskar Nedbal
  Oskar Nedbal
  Oskar Nedbal was a Czech violist, composer, and conductor of classical music.-Life:Nedbal was born in Tábor, in southern Bohemia. He studied the violin at the Prague Conservatory under Antonín Bennewitz...
  
   (to 1906)
• Lionel Tertis
  Lionel Tertis
  Lionel Tertis, CBE was an English violist and one of the first viola players to find international fame.Tertis was born in West Hartlepool, the son of Polish-Jewish immigrants, and initially studied the violin in Leipzig and at the Royal Academy of Music in London...
  
   (in 1906)
• Jeří Herold (1906-1934)

violoncello

• Otto Berger (to 1894)
• Hanuš Wihan
  Hanuš Wihan
  Hanuš Wihan was a renowned Czech cellist, considered the greatest of his time. He was strongly associated with the works of Antonín Dvořák, whose Rondo in G minor, Op. 94, the short piece Silent Woods, Op. 68, and most particularly the Cello Concerto in B minor, Op. 104 were all dedicated to him...
  
   (1894-1914)
• Ladislav Zelenka (1914-1934)

Recordings

• Smetana
  Smetana
  Smetana is a Slavic loanword in English for a dairy product that is produced by souring heavy cream. Smetana is from Central and Eastern Europe, sometimes perceived to be specifically of Russian origin. It is a soured cream product like crème fraîche , but nowadays mainly sold with 15% to 30%...
  
  : Quartet no. 1 in E minor
  String Quartet No. 1 (Smetana)
  String Quartet No. 1 in E minor, written in 1876, is a four-movement Romantic chamber composition by the Czech composer Bedřich Smetana.- Background :...
  
   (1876) (Polydor 78rpm, 95076-95079). (as 'Bohemian Quartet')
• Smetana: Quartet no. 2 in D minor
  String Quartet No. 2 (Smetana)
  Bedřich Smetana's String Quartet No. 2 in D minor is a chamber composition for string quartet. It's Smetana's last quartet.-Background:In June 1882, after composing the monumental cycle Má vlast, operas Tajemství, Čertova stěna and other works, Smetana began thinking about the creation of his...
  
   (1882) (Pathé 78rpm X 86005-86008) (Private recording for Czech Academy).
• Dvořák
  Antonín Dvorák
  Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
  
  : Quartet no 6 in F major op 96 (Polydor 78rpm, 95084-95086). (as 'Bohemian (Suk) Quartet')
• Dvořák: Quartet no 3 in E flat major op 51, Dumka only (Polydor 78rpm, 95087).(ditto)
• Suk: Quartet no 1 in B major op 11 (Polydor 78rpm, 95080-95083).

Sources

• A. Eaglefield-Hull, A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924).
• -. Boleska, Ten Years of the Czech Quartet (M. Urbánek, Prague 1902).
• J.R. Bennett, Smetana on 3000 Records (Oakwood Press 1974).
• R.D. Darrell, The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music (New York 1936).