Stenhammar quartets and Merton

[eschiss1]

Merton lists a string quartet in F minor, op.posth. by Wilhelm Stenhammar.  I like this composer's 6 string quartets (canonical, non-posthumous 6) quite a lot, especially some of them, ranking two of them among my very favorite works I think- but what is this about a posthumous quartet?

[Santo Neuenwelt]

According to Krister Persson of the Music Library of Sweden who decided to seek out publication of this work, the quartet was composed in 1897. It was intended for his friends and collaborators, the Tor Aulin Quartet who premiered all but the last of his 6 quartets. Stenhammar was dissatisfied with the work and chose not to publish it, although it was performed in Stockholm a number of times under the aegis of the Mazer Quartet Society between 1898 and 1906.

A score of the work is owned by the Swedish Library (there is also an arrangement for piano 4 hands) Persson was unable to interest any established publisher in the work and therefore approached Theo Wyatt, a do-it-yourself- primarily a photocopier of out of copyright music. Wyatt and his wife Kitty set the music using the Sibelius music notation program and brought it out in 2003 under Wyatt's firm name, Merton Music.

It is in four movements---Allegro, Adagio, Allegro giocoso and Allegretto. Stenhammar was said to have been particularly unhappy with the finale, which he referred to disparagingly in several letters. He recycled the main theme of the first movement for use in his Sixth Quartet.

According to Persson, there is a manuscript in the Swedish Library in pencil of some 90 measures by Stenhammar of a new finale, never completed. These 90 measures were included in the Merton edition. While String Quartet No.2 is Beethovenian, especially in its Scherzo which takes the scherzo of Op.95 and reverses the rhythm, the Op. Post shows Stenhammar had looked at the Late Quartets but all in all it cannot compare to No.2, not to mention either Nos 3 & 4 which are masterworks.

This is not some undiscovered masterpiece awaiting a successful premiere in the concert hall and Stenhammar was probably right not to publish the quartet. As it is, his quartets are almost never performed in concert outside of Sweden, though one occasionally hears them in Germany and the UK. Nonetheless musicologists and Stenhammar scholars may find the work of interest.

[eschiss1]

Thank you. (and 3 and 4 are the two on my for-what-it-matters very short list of all-round best and often-listened-to works. P2, and later BBC Radio 3, have broadcast several different broadcast performances of each to add to the Gotland Quartet performance coupling ...)
And welcome!

[krister]

Hi!

That's right. I myself consider the Stenhammar F Minor quartet less rewarding. It is interesting though that he wrote it at the same time as Nos 2 and 3.
There was a series of swedish string quartets broadcasted in Swedish radio, and they made a recording for documentary purposes. I have had the opportunity
to listen to that recording privilege to talk to the leader of the Crafoord Quartet, Gert Crafoord.

What strikes me is Stenhammar's obvious admiration for Beethoven. But is not plagiarism; Stenhammar uses the inspiration and creates something of his own.
He wasn't satisfied with the F Minor qt though. Still you find signs of Stenhammar (rising sixth and a decending scale afterwards for example).

Krister Persson

I'm not working at the Music Library of Sweden, though.
I know Theo Wyatt at Merton Music, who by the way is a true hero regarding unsung music.
He was my first choice publishing the quartet, which I edited just for fun, and because
Stenhammar didn't destroy it. It is not bad, but not as good as the other six quartets.

This is a great forum.

[britishcomposer]

Welcome, Krister, and thanks for your valuable contributions so far!
So a recording of the unpublished Stenhammar quartet in F minor exists? I would love to hear it!
Do you have the recording? 

[eschiss1]

According to MDT the F minor quartet will be recorded in the BIS series before it's over, anycase.
(I hear a lot of Beethoven in quartets 3 and 4 too- well, ok, any fool could hear that, to paraphrase Brahms... though it seems Beethoven assimilated, techniques Stolen rather than Borrowed (whoever originated that contrast). ... )
I seem to recall I have some technical (not quality, more specific, I think, having to do with plate nos. and thelike?...) issues with a few of the Merton parts as they (those that do appear, that is) appear scanned in online - I don't know how they appear in print; maybe the online versions are a bit cropped. Not sure. Will have to doublecheck- I may be misremembering... but yes, I appreciate ; they're almost, though now in fewer cases, the only source of some rare chamber music.

[britishcomposer]

I didn't know the F minor would be recorded but am glad to hear!

Honestly, it was Stenhammar who helped me to appreciate Beethoven's quartets better.
I know and love the Stenhammar quartets longer than the Beethoven.

A couple of years ago I shocked a friend of mine, a music theory professor. I asked her if she could recommend a recording of the Beethoven quartets, explaining to her that I had heard they were to be as good as the Stenhammar ones. "Stenhammar, what?!?!?!?" 

[Amphissa]

I have heard only 3 and 4, which I enjoy quite a lot. However they do not remind me of Beethoven so much. Maybe I just don't hear the Beethoven because I know Stenhammar was studying the Tchaikovsky and Dvorak quartets when he wrote these, so those are the primary influences I hear.

[krister]

I strongly recommend the BIS recording with "the new Stenhammar" qt. Starting their series with nos 3 and 4.
Krister