Ševčík-Lhotský Quartet


The Ševčík-Lhotský String Quartet was a well-known Czech musical ensemble that was founded as the Ševčík Quartet at Warsaw in 1903 that continued to the 1930s.

Personnel

The founding members of the quartet were:
1st violin: Bohuslav Lhotský

2nd violin: Karel Procházka

viola: Karel Moravec

violoncello: Bohuslav Váska, succeeded by Ladislav Zelenka, and by Antonio Fingerland.

Origins

Bohuslav Lhotský, Karel Procházka and Karel Moravec were all pupils of the Czech violin teacher Otakar Ševčík, who had control of the violin department at the Prague Conservatory between 1892 and 1901. The master's method was based on the semitone system, the fingers remaining at equal distances on all the strings during the technical studies, leading to great safety, precision and fluency in performance. Following the success of his pupil Jan Kubelík, his students gathered in great numbers at his residence at Písek. This quartet was the later counterpart of the Bohemian or Czech Quartet, which was formed by four pupils of the Prague cello professor Hanuš Wihan a decade previously.
They gave the premiere of Bohuslav Martinů's first string quartet in 1927.

Recordings