Jacques Féréol Mazas (1782 - 1849): String Quartets op. 7

[eschiss1]

In Spohr's case, maybe it's the small number of listenings, or the choice of the concerto, that's more the problem (just because it's his most popular concerto doesn't mean it's the one you'll like best.) Though I do find his string quintets better than what I've heard of his works for larger ensemble, I wouldn't call the latter boring- my opinion, obviously. (I seem to recall he was influenced by Rode but perhaps not that much impressed by him- see Clive Brown's recent fine biography of Spohr (quoting Spohr's autobio), especially the part where he tries to introduce an early Beethoven quartet to a concert audience and both the (other) players and audience promptly lose attention/interest until he agrees to bring back the music they're used to, which is to say, indeed, Rode et al. ...)

[Double-A]

As it happens I am just re-reading Spohr's autobio (in a miserable English translation available from Gutenberg Project; you find technical terms like "Quinte" and "Es-Major" in there, but beggars can't be choosers).
Spohr heard Rode when he was still studying with a teacher named Eck and traveled along with the teacher on a concert tour to France.  He was so impressed that he worked on acquiring Rode's style--with success according to Spohr.  A few years later he heard him again and found his technique had deteriorated and he was not nearly as good as the first time he heard him--and Spohr was cocky enough to tell him that to his face (which he admits freely in the book).  (I believe Rode's playing hadn't changed much, but Spohr's standards had risen due to more and deeper experience.)

To be more precise about the problem with the VCs:  First first has to listen to 1/3 of a first symphony-movement--often well composed and even inspired.  Then the soloist comes in, often with a legato version of the first theme (an effect that is never more impressive than in Viotti's a-minor concerto).  After that the music stalls for a while because Spohr must now demonstrate his technique, which happens with stock figurations over an extremely simple accompaniment lest the audience lose a single note of the solo part.  And so on.  Non-VCs by Spohr don't have this problem, even something similar like the harp/violin concertante.  I have only listened to one of Rode's concerti.  It follows the same recipe, only less well.

[jonfrohnen]

"Very curious about these concertos.  It has been said on this forum that VCs written by violinists are mostly disappointing.  I tend to agree at least for this period.  Rode, Spohr etc. did not write very exciting concertos for themselves.  So the question about Mazas' concertos would be--in light of the surprising quality of the quartets--Do they brake the mold?  I am not too optimistic:  Spohr has some very good quartets while his concertos are boring (even the Gesangsszene after a small number of listenings)."

The 19th century violinist concertos are typically pop music from the 19th century, music to excite and entertain the masses.  I am never disappointed in what I hear when the projects are complete.  Most disappointing are the "great" concertos that this forum so eagerly anticipates which turn out to be disappointing.  I always get excited about the 19th century violinist composer recordings, this music and the techniques used are what inspired the "great" composers to compose for the instrument.

[Alan Howe]

Most disappointing are the "great" concertos that this forum so eagerly anticipates which turn out to be disappointing.

For example?

[eschiss1]

Double-A writes:
"First ... has to listen to 1/3 of a first symphony-movement"

by the way, you do know that is not what's happening at the beginning of a classical concerto... (there's a very good reason why, with a few exceptions, the tutti of a concerto doesn't modulate, and the exposition of a sonata-structure does; a tutti is more like an orchestra-only pageant preceding the real argument to come, as Thorpe-Davie would put it a (a) solution to one of the concerto-problems faced by all serious composers (you have an orchestra, you have a soloist, how do you balance the need for each to be given center-stage at some point and not have their time wasted- etc. (since a concerto is not the same as an orchestra-accompanied sonata.)) (Those which do without the tutti altogether have to find their own solution to some of these issues, if they can do.)

[Double-A]

I seem somewhat unsuccessful in making myself understood today.  What I intended to point out was
1.  The contrast between the often ambitious tutti (especially in Spohr who mostly chose a serious tone for his compositions) and the solo sections which often are nothing but showing off technical proficiency.  The promise of the tutti is hardly ever kept in the rest of the movement. 
2.  At the same time:  I don't understand the survival of the opening tutti in practically all VCs well into the 19th century--when they even become significantly longer than Mozart's (as early as in Bach's E-Major concerto you find composers who find a way to give the soloist something to play that is in fact part of the opening tutti, so there clearly are and were ways to get the soloist involved at an earlier stage).  The audience wants to hear the soloist.  The soloist wants to play, not wait 3 minutes while his/her nerves grow more and more jittery.

[Double-A]

I have to apologize for a stupid error on my part:  After using Steve's list of errors to correct the parts (and score) I erroneously posted the parts of the source rather than the new typeset, so that people could only find the score.  I noticed this yesterday and the error has now been corrected.  The four parts as well as the score of the typeset are now available.

Again, apologies to anyone who tried a download!

[Double-A]

It has been a long time but it is still appropriate to include the following in this thread:

Quartet op. 7/2 (score and parts) is now posted on IMSLP (scroll down to find it).

This quartet seems closer to Haydn than the other two, especially the last movement which quotes (or at least I believe it to be a quote) from the Finale of Haydn's op. 76/5, though it does not repeat Haydn's joke (wisely, IMHO).  Virtuoso episodes for the first fiddler occur only in the last movement (two), not in the first (two) and last (four) like in quartet no. 1 ("virtuoso" in the sense that the accompaniment is thinned down to a minimum in these episodes).  The first movement has an opening theme I would not be surprised to find in Haydn--or Onslow; the second theme is a little more Mozartian.  The "Minuetto" is actually a scherzo, again like in Haydn's op. 76 (in B flat with a nicely singing trio in G and four bars/beats G.P. before the trio).  The (third) variation movement presents another violinistic challenge to the first violin which is however also an experiment in new texture:  In the last variation the cello plays running quavers pizzicato, the middle voices alternate every crotchet with aggressively bowed chords while the first violin plays the melody in double stops throughout.

If someone wants to listen to an electronically generated (not overly good but better than nothing) sound track while reading along in the score you can find it here: Allegro non troppo, Minuetto, Andante, Finale.  These will be taken down in a few weeks though.

[Double-A]

This thread is already 2 years old but I believe the following belongs to it:

I finally got around to typeset the third of these quartets and post it on IMSLP (not yet approved at the time this post is being typed).  Synthetic sound is here: Mvmt 1, 2, 3, 4.  The score I worked from before had some gaps.  Parts of those were fixed for me by the people who had posted that score to IMSLP.  But in the cello part of number 3 two pages were still missing.  Recently somebody posted another copy of the same edition of quartet 3 to IMSLP, allowing me to finish the score.

The most remarkable movement of this quartet is without a doubt the first.  After a slow introduction of almost 2 minutes the main section begins and turns out to be a fugue.  Main theme, counter theme and all.  The movement is not at every point strictly contrapuntal, there are sections with maybe two leading voices responding to each other with the two other voices accompanying.  These sections tend to sound somewhat less severe than the fugal sections which return throughout the movement.  A sort of countertheme appears in A-Major about 2/3 through the movement (which has no repeats in it) and is then used in D-Major as the coda.  This introduces some of the elements of sonata form.  One has the impression that Mazas tried deliberately to write something old fashioned, especially as he ends the movement with a plagal cadence, sounding almost "religious".

The middle movements are less remarkable though certainly good music.  The last movement is in sonata form and has a rather stormy main theme, somewhat reminding me of the last movement of Viotti's a-minor violin concerto (no. 22).  It barrels right through the movement in spite of the contrasting second theme. The quartet ends still stormily in d-minor.