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drplaceboIt's Forgotten Masterpiece Friday!
This will be one of two posts today, because I missed last week. Since this is Women's History Month, both posts will feature string quartets by women who were arguably more talented than their better-known brothers. And because it's also the week of Bach's birthday, it seems rather appropriate to start with a piece featuring a spectacular fugue in its final movement!
Laura Valborg Aulin (1860-1928), if she gets mentioned at all, is usually only recognized alongside her brother Tor Aulin, who was a well-known violin virtuoso in his time, a composer of show pieces for his instrument, and the founder of Scandinavia's first full-time professional string quartet. But Valborg (who went by her middle name) was probably the more talented composer of the two.
Both of Valborg Aulin's parents were musicians. Edla Aulin (née Holmberg), her mother, had been a promising opera singer in her youth but had her career cut short by poor health; Lars Aulin, her father, was a noted amateur violinist and a leading member of Stockholm's Mazer String Quartet Society, an amateur chamber music association that still exists today. In addition, her paternal grandmother was a highly-regarded piano teacher, and was responsible for her early musical education. She learned the violin as well, but apparently stopped playing violin after the Mazer Society denied her bid to become its first female member.
Aulin was admitted to the Royal Stockholm Conservatory in 1877, graduated in 1882, and subsequently won a scholarship to continue her composition studies abroad, with Niels Gade in Copenhagen in 1885-86 and Jules Massenet in Paris in 1886-87. While she was in Paris, her sister-in-law's diary reports that "[d]espite her total lack of outward charm, which Frenchmen are so highly appreciative of, she became popular due to her immense talent." (A hero to socially awkward people everywhere, perhaps?)
After returning to Stockholm, Aulin built a career as a concert pianist and piano teacher, often performing her own piano works. She frequently collaborated with the Aulin Quartet, her brother's newly-formed professional quartet; she actually appeared in the Aulin Quartet's debut concert, performing a Saint-Saëns piano quartet with three of the string quartet's members. In 1903, somewhat surprisingly, she moved to the inland town of Örebro to accept a position as a church organist there, and remained there for the rest of her life. A number of factors may have been responsible for this. Several of her champions in Stockholm music circles died in the preceding years, and the Aulin Quartet disbanded as Tor Aulin fell into a long depressive episode. The loss of performance opportunities for her compositions, along with her lack of close friends in Stockholm, may have made her position untenable in the Swedish capital's conservative musical environment.
All of Aulin's large-scale works were composed in her 20s and early 30s. After that period she continued to compose, but being discouraged by a lack of interest from performers other than herself and her brother, she limited herself to writing art songs and short piano pieces. Her two string quartets were composed in 1884 and 1889 respectively, and both were premiered by her brother's quartet. While both quartets received positive reviews from critics, and both were published, only the Aulin Quartet ever gave public performances during her lifetime. After the Aulin Quartet disbanded, the quartets were not performed again until 1991 when they were revived by the Tale Quartet as part of a series of recordings featuring unknown Swedish composers.
This is the first of Aulin's two quartets, composed the year before she left Sweden to continue her studies abroad. Very much a musician's quartet, it features every part almost equally and shows a real penchant for polyphony. Must-hear highlights include a quirky intermezzo (or scherzo) movement and a boisterous finale that combines a folk-like melody over a fugue on a completely different theme.
Movements:
I. Allegro con grazia
II. Intermezzo: Allegro con spirito e capriccioso (8:55)
III. Andante espressivo (12:22)
IV. Finale: Allegro vivace (19:11)
This will be one of two posts today, because I missed last week. Since this is Women's History Month, both posts will feature string quartets by women who were arguably more talented than their better-known brothers. And because it's also the week of Bach's birthday, it seems rather appropriate to start with a piece featuring a spectacular fugue in its final movement!
Laura Valborg Aulin (1860-1928), if she gets mentioned at all, is usually only recognized alongside her brother Tor Aulin, who was a well-known violin virtuoso in his time, a composer of show pieces for his instrument, and the founder of Scandinavia's first full-time professional string quartet. But Valborg (who went by her middle name) was probably the more talented composer of the two.
Both of Valborg Aulin's parents were musicians. Edla Aulin (née Holmberg), her mother, had been a promising opera singer in her youth but had her career cut short by poor health; Lars Aulin, her father, was a noted amateur violinist and a leading member of Stockholm's Mazer String Quartet Society, an amateur chamber music association that still exists today. In addition, her paternal grandmother was a highly-regarded piano teacher, and was responsible for her early musical education. She learned the violin as well, but apparently stopped playing violin after the Mazer Society denied her bid to become its first female member.
Aulin was admitted to the Royal Stockholm Conservatory in 1877, graduated in 1882, and subsequently won a scholarship to continue her composition studies abroad, with Niels Gade in Copenhagen in 1885-86 and Jules Massenet in Paris in 1886-87. While she was in Paris, her sister-in-law's diary reports that "[d]espite her total lack of outward charm, which Frenchmen are so highly appreciative of, she became popular due to her immense talent." (A hero to socially awkward people everywhere, perhaps?)
After returning to Stockholm, Aulin built a career as a concert pianist and piano teacher, often performing her own piano works. She frequently collaborated with the Aulin Quartet, her brother's newly-formed professional quartet; she actually appeared in the Aulin Quartet's debut concert, performing a Saint-Saëns piano quartet with three of the string quartet's members. In 1903, somewhat surprisingly, she moved to the inland town of Örebro to accept a position as a church organist there, and remained there for the rest of her life. A number of factors may have been responsible for this. Several of her champions in Stockholm music circles died in the preceding years, and the Aulin Quartet disbanded as Tor Aulin fell into a long depressive episode. The loss of performance opportunities for her compositions, along with her lack of close friends in Stockholm, may have made her position untenable in the Swedish capital's conservative musical environment.
All of Aulin's large-scale works were composed in her 20s and early 30s. After that period she continued to compose, but being discouraged by a lack of interest from performers other than herself and her brother, she limited herself to writing art songs and short piano pieces. Her two string quartets were composed in 1884 and 1889 respectively, and both were premiered by her brother's quartet. While both quartets received positive reviews from critics, and both were published, only the Aulin Quartet ever gave public performances during her lifetime. After the Aulin Quartet disbanded, the quartets were not performed again until 1991 when they were revived by the Tale Quartet as part of a series of recordings featuring unknown Swedish composers.
This is the first of Aulin's two quartets, composed the year before she left Sweden to continue her studies abroad. Very much a musician's quartet, it features every part almost equally and shows a real penchant for polyphony. Must-hear highlights include a quirky intermezzo (or scherzo) movement and a boisterous finale that combines a folk-like melody over a fugue on a completely different theme.
Movements:
I. Allegro con grazia
II. Intermezzo: Allegro con spirito e capriccioso (8:55)
III. Andante espressivo (12:22)
IV. Finale: Allegro vivace (19:11)