Search - Joseph Leopold Eybler :: Joseph Leopold Eybler: String Quartets Op. 1 No. 1-3

A Late Classical Period Composer Worth Getting to Know

J Scott Morrison | Middlebury VT, USA | 10/29/2006

(5 out of 5 stars)

"I was impressed with an earlier cpo recording of the String Trio and String Quintet (the latter one of two with double bass) of Joseph Eybler (1765-1846) and have been equally impressed with this CD containing the three quartets of his Opus 1, written at the age of twenty-two in 1787 (but published in 1794). I'm also impressed, if a bit amused, that the original-instruments quartet playing on this disc has taken the name of the composer for their own name, if only because his name is so little-known. This is the Toronto group's first recording, we're told, and one wonders if there will be more Eybler recordings on their recording schedule. According to Grove he wrote only three more numbered quartets: his Op. 10, written twenty years later. There apparently are also three student works for this combination.



Eybler was a friend and protégé of Haydn and was thought highly enough of by Mozart that he was engaged to coach singers for the première of Così fan tutte; they remained friends for the rest of Mozart's life. He was a frequent visitor in Mozart's home during his final illness and indeed was commissioned by Mozart's widow Constanze to complete her husband's Requiem. He made a start but was daunted by the enormity of the job, and after unsuccessfully attempting to finish the Lacrimosa the job was given over to Süssmayer.



These three quartets fall well within the style of the late Classical quartet but have some innovations of their own. In Op. 1, No. 1 he reintroduces the main theme of the first movement into the conclusion of the finale. His harmonic explorations are a bit unusual for the period with, for instance, an excursion in the C Minor quartet into the very distant key of G flat. And the Adagio of the Second Quartet is entirely for muted strings.



One of Eybler's talents is the ability to write consistently interesting and memorable melodies. This, coupled with his mastery of Haydnesque late quartet style even at such an early age, makes these quartets very much worth getting to know. One is reminded again and again of Haydn's Op. 33 quartets written only a few years earlier.



The Eybler Quartet, whose members are Julia Wedman and Aisslinn Nosky, violins; Patrick G. Jordan, viola; and Margaret Gay, cello, was formed in 2004 with the intention of exploring lesser known late 18th and early 19th century quartet literature. They are all members of the noted original instruments group Tafelmusik. Their playing here is sensitive and nuanced. They transcend the tendency of some original-instruments quartets to sound scratchy and tentative. One is reminded of the playing of the marvelous Quatuor Mosaïques, and that is a high recommendation.



Scott Morrison"