Presents
Tomás Bretón
String Quartet No.3 in e minor-World Premier Edition
Tomás Bretón (1850-1923) was born in the Spanish city of Salamanca. His father, a baker, died when he was two. He started playing the violin at age eight and within two years was already playing in theater orchestras helping to support his family. When his mother moved to Madrid, he entered the conservatory there studying violin and composition. During his studies and after he continued playing in theaters and restaurants and begam composing Zarzuelas--the Spanish equivalent of operettas. Finally fortune smiled on him at the age of 30 when he was awarded scholarships which allowed him to study in Rome and Vienna. Over the following years, he made his name as a composer of Zarzuelas and as a pioneer of serious Spanish opera. He eventually became director of the Madrid Conservatory as well as the Sociedad de Conciertos--the forerunner of the Madrid Symphony Orchestra.
Bretón, although a passionate advocate of Spanish music, wished to put it on the same footing as German and Italian music and take it out of the music hall atmosphere of the Zarzueta. For this, his more serious music, his opera, orchestral works and chamber music were often attacked in his native Spain as not being Spanish enough. This was especially true of his first two string quartets. In these works, Bretón did use on occasion some Spanish melodies, they were presented much more subtlely than in his more serious works. These attacks were basically made by ignorant critics who failed to realize that the kind of national music which could be placed in a light-hearted operetta could not be placed in more serious works in the same fashion. Nonetheless, these attacks had an effect on Breton, and as a result, his third string quartet is the most Spanish of the three.
String Quartet No.3 in e minor dates from 1909. After being performed a few times in Madrid, it disappeared and no pubication ever took place. The opening movement, Allegro con moto, is agitated. The melody is unmistakably Spanish although the rhythm is for the most part is not. An intermezzo-like section has an updated Mendelssohnian touch. Eventually a long-lined Spanish melody is presented. The Andante which comes next begins with a long, singing, sad melody first brought forth by the viola, then the first violin, then the cello. All the while the accompaniment becomes more and more intricate. The magnificent third movement, Allegro no mucho, begins is an energetic, hard driving Spanish dance. A second subject, very lyrical is sung over the original rhythmic motif. A third theme sounds like music out of a cowboy movie. The extraordinary and very original finale, Allegro deciso, presents an excited chirping theme which eventually gives way to a densely scored, lyrical interlude.
Bretón's chamber music is original-sounding not only because of the unusual and disparate influences it fuses together but also because of his harmonic boldness. Those who have taken the time to familiarize themselves with his music are recognized that it is the equal of his foreign counterparts. Published in Spain, this quartet has virtually been unavailable outside that country since the First World War. It is a superb work from an important 19th and early 20th century Spanish composer that surely should be given concert performance and will attract good players as well.
Parts: $29.95
Parts & Score: $39.95
