Capet Quartet
Encyclopedia
The Capet String Quartet was a French musical ensemble
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...

 founded in 1893, which remained in existence until 1928 or later. It made a number of recordings and was considered one of the leading string quartets of its time.

Personnel

The personnel of the Capet Quartet (other than the leader, Lucien Capet
Lucien Capet
Lucien Louis Capet was a French violinist, pedagogue and composer.-Career:Capet came from the Paris proletariat. By the age of fifteen, he had to maintain himself by playing in bistros and cafes...

) changed fairly often, and are reported differently in variant sources. The original line-up appears to have included a player named Giron, and during the first decade Henri Casadesus
Henri Casadesus
Henri Casadesus was a violist and music publisher. He was the brother of Marius Casadesus, uncle of the famous pianist Robert Casadesus, and granduncle of Jean Casadesus....

 and Marcel Casadesus, uncles of the celebrated pianist Robert Casadesus
Robert Casadesus
Robert Casadesus was a renowned 20th-century French pianist and composer. He was the most prominent member of a famous musical family, being the nephew of Henri Casadesus and Marius Casadesus, husband of Gaby Casadesus, and father of Jean Casadesus.-Biography:Robert Casadesus was born in Paris...

, played viola and cello within the group, which often rehearsed at the Casadesus household.

In 1903, it had become:

1st violin: Lucien Capet
Lucien Capet
Lucien Louis Capet was a French violinist, pedagogue and composer.-Career:Capet came from the Paris proletariat. By the age of fifteen, he had to maintain himself by playing in bistros and cafes...



2nd violin: André Touret

viola: Louis Bailly

violoncello: Louis Hasselmans

By 1910 the team was established which survived into the 1920s to make the well-known recordings:

1st violin: Lucien Capet

2nd violin: Maurice Hewitt

viola: Henri Benoît

violoncello: Camille Delobelle

Origins

Lucien Capet (b. Paris, 1873) had been a pupil of Morin at the Paris Conservatoire, and appeared as a soloist very widely, especially with the Concerts Lamoureux
Lamoureux
Lamoureux is a surname of French origin. People with the name include:*Charles Lamoureux , founder of the Orchestre Lamoureux*Denis Lamoureux , Canadian professor of science and religion...

. He taught at the Bordeaux Conservatoire from 1899 to 1903 and from 1907 in Paris, wrote three string quartets, and a work on the art of bowing. Louis Hasselmans (b. Paris 1878) took first prize in the Paris Conservatoire in 1893, became cellist with the Concerts Lamoureux, and was also a conductor: he later became attached to the Opéra-Comique
Opéra-Comique
The Opéra-Comique is a Parisian opera company, which was founded around 1714 by some of the popular theatres of the Parisian fairs. In 1762 the company was merged with, and for a time took the name of its chief rival the Comédie-Italienne at the Hôtel de Bourgogne, and was also called the...

. In 1924 it was said that the quartet devoted itself mainly to the performance of the Beethoven repertoire, but dedicated a few performances each year to modern music.

Recordings

(Made c.1925-1930)
  • Beethoven: Quartet in A major op 18 no 5 (Columbia Records, D 1659-62).
  • Beethoven: Quartet in F major op 59 no 1
    String Quartet No. 7 (Beethoven)
    Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet No. 7 in F major was published in 1808 as opus 59, No. 1. It consists of four movements:# Allegro in F major# Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando in B major# Adagio molto e mesto - attacca in F minor...

     (Col. D 15065-70).
  • Beethoven: Quartet in E flat major 'Harp', op 74 (Col., L 2248-51).
  • Beethoven: Quartet in C sharp minor, op 131
    String Quartet No. 14 (Beethoven)
    The String Quartet No. 14 in C minor, Op. 131, by Ludwig van Beethoven was completed in 1826. About 40 minutes in length, it consists of seven movements to be played without a break, as follows:#Adagio ma non troppo e molto...

     (Col., L 2283-87).
  • Beethoven: Quartet in A minor, op 132 (Col., L 2272-76).
  • Mozart: Quartet in C major K 465 (Col., L 2290-93).
  • Schumann
    Robert Schumann
    Robert Schumann, sometimes known as Robert Alexander Schumann, was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is regarded as one of the greatest and most representative composers of the Romantic era....

    : Quartet in A minor op 41 no 1 (Col., L 2329-31).
  • Debussy: Quartet in G minor op 10 (1893)
    String Quartet (Debussy)
    Claude Debussy wrote his sole String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 in 1893.-Background:The previous year Debussy had abandoned the opera Rodrigue et Chimène...

     (Col., D 15085-8).
  • Franck
    César Franck
    César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck was a composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher who worked in Paris during his adult life....

    : Quintet in F minor, with Marcel Ciampi
    Marcel Ciampi
    Marcel Paul Maximin Ciampi was a French pianist and teacher. He held the longest tenure in the history of the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and also became head of piano classes at the Yehudi Menuhin School in England...

     (pno) (Col., D 15102-6).
  • Haydn: Quartet in D major op 64 no 5 'Lark' (Col., D 13070-2).
  • Ravel: Quartet in F major (Col., D 15057-60).
  • Schubert: Quartet in D minor 'Death and the Maiden' (Col. D 15053-6).

Sources

  • A. Eaglefield-Hull, A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924).
  • L. Capet, Technique de l'Archet.
  • R.D. Darrell, The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music (New York, 1936).

External links

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