[Beethoven, Ludwig van. (1770-1827)]
Pink Ivory Pass to First Quartet Cycle Performance
Rare and important ivory ticket pass to the London Beethoven Quartett Society where the monumental String Quartets were first performed as a cycle. Handpainted on pink-stained ivory, the pass reads "Honor to Beethoven," the chair number "55", and "Quartett Society." 37mm, 4.38g. Crack to center, else in fine condition.Founded by London musician and impressario, Thomas Massa Alsager, the Society was first a private place for musicians to rehearse and study the quartets. In 1845 Alsager invited the public to hear a performance of all 16 quartets and this pass dates from this historic event, the first performance anywhere in the world of a complete cycle of Beethoven quartets, held in the Beethoven Room at 76 Hartlet Street in 5 sessions. According to Mahaim, "Forty-three years were to lapse before a similar venture took place in 1888-89 in Dresden with a complete cycle organized by Eduard Rappoldi. And sixty years were to pass before the cycle was presented by the Joachim Quartet in Bonn in 1903 at the end of Joachim's career." Indeed, during this period, the late quartets were still scarcely heard in Germany, where they were still dismissed as "the work of a madman," and it was Alsager who brought the late quartets in particular fully into the public eye. The musicians he engaged for the Quartett Cycle, were of the highest level, and included Paganini's sole pupil, Camillo Sivori.
"One can get a sense of the minute care and devotion with which the performance of these quartets were prepared in the attention lavished upon the programs of these historic concerts. At the beginning of each concert program was printed the motto of the Beethoven Quartett Society: Honor to Beethoven. Each work was then provided with a detailed commentary by Henry Hill, with a reproduction of the first full measures of each movement to guide the listener. Several lines about the circumstances surrounding the piece served as an introduction, an invitation to celebrate Beethoven's genius...Special pocket scores were published by the Beethoven Society so that listeners might follow the music in print-another innovation pioneered by the society...The conclusion of the world premiere of the entire cycle of Beethoven quartets was marked by an expression of the Beethoven Quartett Society's touching piety: 'Our task is ended. Let the echoes of the world be raised with one sound and that HONOR TO BEETHOVEN'" (The First Complete Beethoven Quartet Cycles, 1845-1851: Historical Notes on the London Quartett Society; Ivan Mahaim; Evi Levin; The Musical Quarterly, Vol. 80, No. 3. (Autumn, 1996), pp. 500-524) (21038)
Ephemera Classical Music