The Haydn Year and the Twilight of Quartet Playing
The Haydn Year and the Twilight of Quartet Playing

Summary/Abstract: An unusual string-quartet event took place in Budapest this past January. For years, the Manhattan String Quartet has been holding workshops for amateurs on specific repertoires, choosing locations where the appreciation of the music may be helped by the genius loci and the advice of local experts. This year, the workshop was brought to Budapest, with Béla Bartók’s String Quartet No. 6 as the subject. This is not Bartók’s most dissonant work, yet it is certainly modern music and by no means easy to perform. The participants had to be divided into two groups, because as many as 23 amateur quartets, mostly from the East Coast of the United States, had registered for the programme. Each foursome was able to perform this composition, albeit it is challenging from both a musical and a technical point of view. Their playing was real Hausmusik, though even if some of the quartets may have included professional musicians, most do not play for a living.

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