Composer

The Guadagnini String Quartet presents three unusual works. Wolf’s single-movement Italian Serenade leaves an impression of playful irony. Beethoven’s G Major Quartet, subtitled “Compliments” due to its elegant phrasing and mood, emerges as a charming and witty work grounded in 18th-century musical tradition. Grieg’s String Quartet in G Minor, one of only a handful of the composer’s large-scale compositions, stands as a supreme achievement and, in his own words, “strives towards breadth, soaring flight and, above all, resonance for the instruments for which it is written.”

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Guadagnini String Quartet at South Shore Cultural Center

South Shore Cultural Center

It is a popular romantic theme: the fine line between genius and madness. In Beethoven’s case, all one needs to do is look at the portrait of the agitated artist with tangled hair and crazy eyes, who jots his notes down on paper in a manic creative frenzy and in the face of impending deafness. Wolf was hospitalized twice – and died in the clinic. When Schumann was admitted to Endenich, “melancholy with delusion” was noted as a diagnosis in the admission book. And the Italian Renaissance prince Carlo Gesualdo was not only a gifted composer, but very probably also a murderer. In the chromatic descent at the end of his madrigal, we seem to hear the agony of a guilty man tormented by remorse. The result? Insanely brilliant music!

Hugo Wolf

Composer

Events

Jun 2, 2024

Guadagnini String Quartet at South Shore Cultural Center · Chicago Symphony Orchestra

29 - 30 Jun, 2024

Chamber Concert: Genius and Madness · Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra

About

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