BRITISH MUSIC SOCIETY OF NORTHERN IRELAND 1965 1966 SIXTH RECITAL under the auspices of THE QUEEN'S UNIVERSITY OF BELFAST THE PRAGUE STRING QUARTET BRATISLAV NOVOTNY Violin KAREL PRIBYL Violin JAROSLAV KARLOVSKY Viola ZDENEK KONICEK 'Cello SIR WILLIAM WHITLA HALL Queen's University, Belfast FRIDAY, 4th MARCH, 1966 at 7.45 p.m.

Quartet in F major, op 18 no 1 Allegro con brio Adagio Scherzo Allegro Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) The six quartets comprised in Op 18 were published in two sets of three each in 1800. Beethoven had previously written several string trios and quite a lot of chamber music involving wind instruments. In publishing six at a time he was following an eighteenth century tradition; thereafter he was to publish one set of three, Op 59, and after that individual works only. He had worked at this set for some years and there is evidence that the present work was the second of the set to be composed. Though written and published at the eighteenth century, this is a work that looks forward to the nineteenth. The brevity of the opening subject and the manner of its development are typical of the mature Beethoven; indeed this quartet is the maturest of the set. The composer himself has told us that the Adagio was suggested by the tomb scene in Romeo and Juliet; the third and fifth sym- phonies are other examples where we know of extraneous influences in his work; but it is useless to try and pin down the inspiration to details.

Quartet no 3 Bartók Béla (1881-1945) Moderato Allegro - Moderato - Coda This quartet was written in 1927, ten years after the second quartet. This was the period of Bartók at his most ruthless and uncompromising. It seemed as if he had turned his back on what was known as music hitherto and was determined to say just what he wanted to say in the way he wanted to say it. Into this austere work, compressed into one movement and taking little longer time to play than many single movements of other works, he found the first full expression of his genius as a quartet writer; thenceforth, as though he had his means entirely under control, he could afford to be less intense, to be somewhat more expan- sive. This is a key work in a key period of his life. The sound effects that are so characteristic of him are nearly all to be found, and we are readier than the first hearers to see in them a legitimate exploitation of the great tradition of string playing to be found in the Balkans. The first moderato seems to start tentatively, with- out a fully developed melody, but towards the end of it we are rewarded with an admirable tune, as if that was what he had been leading up to. But he just leaves us with it and goes into the lively allegro, folk-tuney and colourful. The second moderato is a condensed and much modified recapitulation of the first. The coda derives from the allegro. INTERVAL

Quartet in A flat major, Op 105 Adagio ma non troppo Molto vivace Lento e molto cantabile Allegro non tanto Dvorak had been head of the National Conservatoire of Music in New York for two years when he started the composition of this quartet. He brought the start of it home to Chekoslovakia with him in 1894, and, after writing the quartet in G major, Op 106, he finished it. This was the period of the composition of the cello concerto. These are the last of his works to hold the attention of the public. The first movement, after a slow intro- duction sets out a rich collection of material, much of which he jettisons in the recapitulation. The second movement is one of the finest of his furiants. The long slow melody of the lento is an excellent example of his powers in a line that contributed so much to his popularity. Last Concert: Friday, March 18 Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904) Allegro appassionato JOANNA MARTZY (Violin) JEAN ANTONIETTI (Pianoforte) Sonata in E major, no 6 Partita in D minor no 2 (unaccompanied) Sonata in A major, Op 162 Sonata in D major, Op 94 no 2 Handel Bach Schubert Prokofiev