J. J. Quantz: Six Quartets for Flute, Violin, Viola, and Basso Continuo

This is the world premier recording of the six quartets for flute, violin, viola, and basso continuo by Johann Joachim Quantz (1697–1773). The rediscovery of these works in 2002 by Mary Oleskiewicz has added a new dimension to our understanding of the composer.

Quantz wrote about 180 solo sonatas, 40 trio sonatas and 300 concertos for flute. In his autobiography, Quantz mentioned that he had also composed flute quartets; however, until now, these works were lost. In the early eighteenth century a quartet was a type of contrapuntal chamber sonata for three melody instruments and basso continuo. Quantz's quartets are therefore quite unlike the type of quartet composed later in the eighteenth century, e.g. Mozart's works for flute, violin, viola, and cello. Quantz's quartets are among his best works. They demonstrate his mastery of counterpoint and undoubtedly represent a milestone in his development as a composer. He probably performed them in intimate settings with the violinist Johann Georg Pisendel and other musicians of the Dresden court.

The quartets reflect Quantz's study of counterpoint with the Dresden court composer Jan Dismas Zelenka and with Francesco Gasparini in Rome. They contain musical parallels with the trio sonatas Quantz had composed prior to 1725. Consequently, the quartets were probably written during the middle or late 1720s. Their highly contrapuntal idiom, rigorous internal structural symmetries and consistently independent viola parts distinguish Quantz's quartets from those of his contemporaries, including Telemann and Johann Friedrich Fasch.

Quantz carefully planned the six quartets as a set. Each quartet features three movements in the sequence fast–slow–fast, and all six works employ sophisticated counterpoint, including various types of canon and fugue. In spite of that, Quantz made each quartet distinctive. Each work is in a different tonality – three in major keys and three in minor keys – and the individual movements represent a wide variety of types.

Quartet I in D major borrows Vivaldi's Venetian concerto style that was popular at Dresden and elsewhere during the 1720s. The two quick movements feature ritornellos played by the strings and continuo (cello and harpsichord); these ritornellos alternate with episodes in which the flute enters as soloist. The ritornello of the first movement even quotes from a flute concerto that Vivaldi later published as Opus 10, no. 1. The flute solos of the third movement begin like fanfares, without accompaniment. This type of solo entrance is reminiscent of certain Baroque arias, and indeed the structure of this movement resembles that of Bach's so-called modified da-capo arias.

Quartet II in E minor begins with a two-part canon for violin and viola. The flute enters shortly afterwards with a contrasting theme. Subsequent phrases repeat this material in invertible counterpoint as the flute, violin, and viola exchange their parts. The final movement is a strict four-part fugue, yet it includes episodes in which each part, including the continuo, has brief virtuoso solos.

Quartet III in G major is lighter in spirit, but all three movements still employ canon and imitation. Indeed, the slow movement, in E minor, opens as a canon between the violin, viola, and bass. Most striking is the third movement, a rustic jig sparked by brilliant ascending scales. Perhaps it was inspired by Polish folk music that Quantz heard during his travels to Warsaw and Krakow as a member of the Dresden court between 1718 and 1724.

The mood of Quartet IV presents a stark contrast. Its tonality, G minor, is especially expressive for Quantz. The first movement is dark and restless, yet each of the upper instruments shines forth briefly with florid passagework. The central movement is in E-flat major, a key that few eighteenth-century composers used when writing for the flute. Quantz, however, would compose many sonatas and concertos in this tonality, giving this movement a warmly sonorous quality.

Quartet V in C major opens with a movement which, despite its thoroughly fugal character, has the galant air of some of Quantz's later Dresden works. The concluding Presto is a whirling contrapuntal gigue, the liveliest movement in the entire set.

Quartet VI in B minor is the most serious and weighty, clearly meant to bring the set to an impressive conclusion. The opening movement features virtuoso solo episodes for the upper instruments. It is followed by a type of slow movement in 'dotted' rhythm that Quantz described in his famous Versuch einer Anweisung die Flöte traversiere zu spielen: players should perform such a movement very seriously, with a long and heavy bow stroke. The third movement, the finale of the entire set, opens uniquely with a statement of the theme by the viola. This movement is another four-part fugue, outdoing that of the second quartet in the intricacy of its counterpoint.

For the full story of the rediscovery and identification of the six quartets, see Mary Oleskiewicz's article "Quantz's Quatuors and Other Works Newly Discovered" in Early Music, volume 31, number 3 (November 2003).

Mary Oleskiewicz

About the Performers

Mary Oleskiewicz, baroque flute, won first prize in the National Flute Association's international Baroque Flute Artist competition. Since 1997 she has appeared internationally as soloist and lecturer with harpsichordist David Schulenberg. She studied flute with Sandra Miller and Walter Mayhall and in 1999 earned the Ph.D. from Duke University. Her authoritative editions and articles have focused on the music of Quantz and the Bach family. She resides in Boston, where she teaches at the University of Massachusetts. On this recording she performs on specially commissioned copies of the flute by Quantz in the Library of Congress, Dayton C. Miller Collection (playing at low French chamber pitch, a'=385 Hz).

Elizabeth Field, violin, performs throughout the United States and Europe. She holds a D.M.A. from Cornell University and teaches at George Washington University and Duke University. She is concertmaster for Brandywine Baroque and the Bethlehem Bach Festival, and has appeared with such ensembles as The Handel & Haydn Society and The City Opera of New York.

Daniel Elyar, viola, holds the Bachelor of Music from the Cleveland Institute of Music and diplomas from the Sweelinck and Royal Conservatories (The Netherlands). Mr. Elyar has performed with ensembles in North America and Europe, including Tafelmusik, the Utrecht Barok Consort, Tragicomedia, the Boston Early Music Festival Orchestra, the New York Collegium, Concerto Palatino and the Dallas Bach Society.

Stephanie Vial, cello, has appeared with the Apollo Ensemble, Washington Bach Consort, Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, The Publick Musick, and Les Violons du Roy. She received her D.M.A. from Cornell University and lives in Durham, North Carolina, where she teaches at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and at Duke University. She is preparing a book on 18th-century musical punctuation.

David Schulenberg, harpsichordist, is one of America's foremost authorities on the music of the Bach family and an internationally respected performer on early keyboard instruments. He is professor and chair of the music department at Wagner College in New York City. He is author of The Keyboard Music of J. S. Bach, The Instrumental Music of C. P. E. Bach, and Music of the Baroque and has edited keyboard works of C. P. E. Bach.