The Paganini Quartet was an American virtuoso string quartet founded by its first violinist, Henri Temianka, in 1946. The quartet drew its name from the fact that all four of its instruments, made by Antonio Stradivari, had once been owned by the great Italian violinist and composer Niccolo Paganini.
Origins
In 1945, Temianka met the noted cellist Robert Maas, who had been with the Pro Arte Quartet. Maas had already secured the sponsorship of Mrs. William Andrews Clark, who was interested in forming a new string quartet. Meanwhile, the famous patroness of chamber music, Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, had sponsored Temianka’s performance of the Beethoven violin sonata cycle at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., with pianist Leonard Shure, and she also expressed interest in the project. Maas happened upon the four Paganini Strads at the shop of Emil Herrmann in New York, and mentioned them to Mrs. Clark, who promptly purchased the instruments for the Quartet's use. Gustave Rosseels, violin, and Robert Courte, viola, immediately accepted invitations to complete the ensemble, and soon they were heralded as "a great quartet born on American soil". Temianka referred to it as the "spiritual heir of the Pro Arte Quartet". In 1946-47, they played all the Beethoven string quartets at the Library of Congress; people began lining up at 5:00 a.m. to purchase tickets for the series, which was sold out in an hour. A recording contract with RCA Victor followed, and their rendition of the three Beethoven Opus 59 "Rasumovsky" quartets won the industry’s award for best recording of 1947. The Quartet made its home in Los Angeles, California. During rehearsals, they usually spoke French. The story of how the Paganini Quartet came into being is told in much greater detail in Henri Temianka’s book Facing the Music.
Henri Temianka was widely known as a concert violinist and conductor, author, and educator. He was the only constant member of the Paganini Quartet throughout its existence.
Gustave Rosseels was the original second violinist. Later, he was replaced by Charles Libove, and then Stefan Krayk.
Robert Courte, who had been a professor of the viola at the Royal Conservatory of Brussels, was the original violist. He was later replaced by Charles Foidart, and then David Schwartz and Albert Gillis, respectively.
Robert Maas, the quartet's original cellist, died suddenly in 1948. He was replaced by Adolphe Frezin, and later by Lucien Laporte, who had been first cellist for the New York Symphony under Walter Damrosch, and the NBC Symphony. Gábor Rejtő, Victor Gottlieb, and Edgar Lustgarten also filled in at various times.
Instruments
The four Strads were among the most cherished possessions of the famed virtuoso Niccolo Paganini. After their purchase by Mrs. Clark, further adjustments were made to the instruments by the craftsman Simone Fernando Sacconi. The provenance of the instruments is as follows:
The first violin, the "Comte Cozio di Salabue," was made by Stradivari in 1727 and was played by Paganini himself, after he acquired it from Count Cozio de Salabue in 1817.
The second violin, the "Desaint," was made by Stradivari in 1680. It is an example of Stradivari’s early Amatise style, and is profiled in the book Stradivari’s Genius by Toby Faber.
The viola, the "Mendelssohn," was made in 1731, when Stradivari was 86 years old. It is one of fewer than a dozen surviving Strad violas, and was the instrument that inspired Paganini to commission Hector Berlioz to write his symphonic poem "Harold in Italy".
The cello is the “Ladenburg” of 1736. It was owned by the Mendelssohn family before coming into Paganini’s possession.
When the Paganini Quartet disbanded in 1966, the four Strads reverted to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. In accordance with Mrs. Clark's will, they were never to be separated. Beginning in 1992, they were loaned to the Cleveland String Quartet. Since 1994, they have been owned by the Nippon Music Foundation, and were played by the Tokyo String Quartet until the quartet disbanded in 2013. The four instruments were then played by the Hagen Quartet, and currently by the Quartetto di Cremona. In 2019, they were loaned to the Kuss Quartet to record the entire cycle of Beethoven Quartets live at Suntory Hall, Tokyo.
Repertoire
As per the brochure published by F.C Schang 3rd c. 1948, the Quartet’s repertoire included the following pieces at that time:
Schubert—Opus 29 in A minor; Quartet no. 14, Opus 125 no. 1
Schumann—3 Quartets Opus 41
Shostakovich—Quartet no. 1
Stravinsky—Concertino, Three Pieces
Toch—Opus 18
Verdi—Quartet in e minor
Vivaldi—L’Estro Armonico
Reviews
Harold C. Schonberg wrote about the Paganini Quartet's Beethoven recordings in "The Guide to Long-Playing Records: Chamber and Solo Instrument Music" in 1955: "One thing this quartet does have, and that is tone... it never lost its juicy sound. The performances always have taste..."
Alfred Frankenstein of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, “Perhaps never before has one heard a string quartet with so rich, mellow and superbly polished a tone.”
In Paris, L’Illustration wrote, “The Paganini Quartet thrilled Paris.”
Discography
The Paganini Quartet recorded copiously on 33, 45 and 78 rpm format records, as well as a few reel-to-reel tape releases. A summary of these in-studio recordings includes, by label: RCA Victor:
Beethoven Quartets nos. 1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 14, 15 and 16
Debussy Quartet in G minor.
Fauré Piano Quartet no. 1
Selected movements from quartets by Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, Tchaikovsky, and Dvořák
For a list of the Paganini Quartet's 78rpm Victor Musical Masterpiece sets see - http://www.78rpmcommunity.com/indexsearch/blog/paganini-quartet-and-the.html Concert-Disc:
Brahms Piano Quintet in F
Decca:
Ginastera Quartet no. 1
Lajhta Quartet no. 7 op. 49
KAPP:
Haydn Quartet in C
Mozart Quartet in C, K. 465
Debussy Quartet in g minor
Ravel Quartet in F
Liberty:
Britten Quartet no. 1 in D
Debussy Quartet in G minor
Lees Quartet no. 1
Schumann Quartet no. 1 in A minor
Western Recorders :
Bartók Quartet no. 1 op. 7
Other resources
"The Paganini Quartet" brochure, Atlanta Printing Co., New York, N.Y., c. 1948, by F.C. Schang 3rd.
Facing the Music, David McKay Company, Inc., New York, 1973, by Henri Temianka.
“The Birth of a String Quartet”, The Violexchange vol. 4 no. 2, p. 39, , by Lucien Kirsch Laporte.
