Presents
Paul Wranitzky
String Quartet in E flat Major, Op.10 No.6-World Premiere Edition
Paul Wranitzky (1756-1808 Pavel Vranický in the Czech form) was born in the town Nová Ríše (then Neureisch) in Moravia. At age 20, like so many other Czech composers of that period, he moved to Vienna to seek out opportunities within the Austrian imperial capital. Wranitzky played a prominent role in the musical life of Vienna. He was on friendly terms and highly respected by Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven who preferred him as the conductor of their new works. Wranitzky was, as so many of his contemporaries, a prolific composer. His chamber works number over 100. Although some scholars believe that Wranitzky studied with Haydn, there is no proof of this. But there can be no question that he studied and was influenced by Haydn’s quartets. Like Haydn, Wranitzky’s quartet writing went through many stages of development beginning with the pre-classical and evolving to the finished sonata form of the late Vienna Classics. The majority of Wranitzky’s quartets are set in the three-movement format of the Parisian quatour concertant. In these works he explored the emerging Romantic style with (for the time) daring harmonic progressions, theatrical gestures, and virtuoso display.
Op.10 No.6 is the sixth of a set of six which were composed in the mid 1780s but never published. Several copies of the manuscripts to the Op.10 quartets have been found, including libraries located in Ridany near Prague and Radenin in the southern part of the Czech Republic. The quartets were dedicated to Princess Batthyani (nee Countess Pergen), a Hungarian noblewoman, living in Vienna. This quartet is interesting because though it appears to be written in four movements, Wranitzky did not on paper separate the second and third movements, though quite clearly they are different movements as the third movement bears no relation, thematically or otherwise to the second. The opening movement, Moderato, begins in a gracious and relaxed fashion, showing the influence of middle Haydn. There is a nicely contrasting lyrical section which one almost never finds in Haydn. The first part of the second movement, Adagio, is a solemn, almost funereal, dirge. The second part of this movement is in reality a third movement. Marked Andante, it is a set of variations based on a folk melody. The rather elegant finale, simply marked Non troppo presto, is, like many of Wranitzky's finales, in 6/8.
The score to this quartet was discovered among the manuscripts which were found by Dr Jetrinka Peskova in the library of Dr Karel Terlip located in Ridany. Terlip was a lawyer and amateur chamber music enthusiast. Dr. Peskova selected the score to this quartet, which was published some 40 years ago by Musica Antiqua Bohemica, as representative of Wrantizky's early style. Like several of Haydn's early quartets, it is in three movements, however, it shows that his thinking, like Haydn's, was evolving toward the emerging classical four movement style.
Senior editors Garik Hayrapetyan and Raymond Silvertrust created the parts and edited the score. This is a historically important work. It makes a good choice where something fresh, rather than a all too often programmed Haydn quartet, is desired. It is also a good choice for amateurs.
Parts: $24.95
Parts & Score: $31.95
