Chamber Concert 20.10.2026 at 19:00

Chamber Hall / Chamber Tuesdays (formerly K1)

Bennewitz Quartet:
Jakub Fišer - First violin
Štěpán Ježek - Second violin
Jiří Pinkas - Viola
Štěpán Doležal - Cello

Programme:
Joseph Haydn - String Quartet in G major op. 33 no. 5 Hob. III:41 [16']
Alfred Schnittke - String Quartet No. III [20']
... intermission [15']
Ludwig van Beethoven - String Quartet in E minor Razumovsky op. 59 no. 2 [39']

Nineteenth-century listeners of Haydn's music sought out sonic associations, and nicknames tossed about in jest often became official subtitles for works. The G major quartet op. 33 no. 5 owes its nickname to a cheerful opening that evoked the phrase "How do you do?" - hence it is still often called the "How do you do?" quartet.

Alfred Schnittke in his String Quartet No. III offers an entirely different kind of musical memory. The work teems with allusions to different eras: a Renaissance Stabat Mater by Orlando di Lasso appears, the musical signature of Dmitri Shostakovich, songs by Gustav Mahler, and in this dark collage there are also echoes of Ludwig van Beethoven and his Great Fugue for string quartet.

Beethoven closes the evening with String Quartet in E minor op. 59 no. 2 - a work in which he abandons the chamber elegance of salon music for a monumental, almost symphonic sweep. The slow movement is associated with an anecdote passed down by Carl Czerny: Beethoven is said to have found its mood by contemplating the starry sky and thinking of the "music of the spheres".

Programme notes: Bartłomiej Gembicki