The Spiering Quartet: eighth season, 1900-1

              1900
The Spiering Quartet
708 Fine Arts Building, Chicago


THEODORE SPIERING   HERMAN DIESTEL   ADOLF WEIDIG   OTTO ROEHRBORN


Eighth Season, 1900-1

The Mutual Lyceum Bureau,
Frank A. Morgan, Mgr.,
La Porte, Ind.


THE SPIERING QUARTET takes pleasure in announcing its eighth season.  Forty-two concerts were given last year and already a large number of engagements are booked for the approaching season.  More gratifying is the fact that the Quartet met with unqualified success wherever it appeared.

Quartet playing of the highest type has found expression in the interpretations of the Joachim Quartet of Berlin.  The aim of the Spiering Quartet, from its inception, has been to present this type of quartet playing in America.

Interpretations of this kind demand enlightened expression of the composer's intention more than merely smoothness of musical utterance.

The embodiment of these ideas on the part of four players, after years of association, obtains the ideal ensemble.

It is this attainment that has placed the Spiering Quartet among the half-dozen famous quartets of the world.



Resume of Seventh Season, 1899=1900


1.
October 11
Nashville, Tennessee


2.
" 17
Davenport, Iowa


3.
" 18
Aurora, Illinois


4.
" 20
Quadrangle Club, Chicago, Ill.


5.
" 21
Milwaukee, Wisconsin


6.
" 24
Canton, Ohio


7.
" 31
Terre Haute, Indiana


8.
November 1
Champaign, Illinois


9.
" 7
Chicago, Illinois


10.
" 14
Godfrey, Illinois


11.
" 15
St. Louis, Missouri


12.
" 21
Ames, Iowa


13.
" 28
Olivet, Michigan


14.
" 29
Grand Rapids, Michigan


15.
December 2
Milwaukee, Wisconsin


16.
" 5
Ithaca, New York


17.
" 6
Lawrenceville, New Jersey


18.
" 8
Baltimore, Maryland


19.
" 12
Madison, Wisconsin


20.
January 16
Peoria, Illinois


21.
" 17
St. Louis, Missouri


22.
" 19
Quadrangle Club, Chicago, Ill.


23.
" 23
Chicago, Illinois


24.
" 30
Marshalltown, Iowa


25.
February 1
Ottawa, Illinois


26.
" 6
Saginaw, Michigan


27.
" 13
Mt. Pleasant, Iowa


28.
" 14
Fairfield, Iowa


29.
" 20
Quincy, Illinois


30.
" 21
St. Louis, Missouri


31.
March 3
Milwaukee, Wisconsin


32.
" 6
Chicago, Illinois


33.
" 12
Kansas City, Missouri


34.
" 13
Topeka, Kansas


35.
" 15
Dallas, Texas


36.
" 16
Arkadelphia, Arkansas


37.
" 17
St. Louis, Missouri


38.
" 22
Quadrangle Club, Chicago, Ill.


39.
" 27
Oberlin, Ohio


40.
May 4
Milwaukee, Wisconsin


41.
" 11
Colorado Springs, Colorado


42.
" 14
Salt Lake City, Utah






Gress Comments.

[The Baltimore News, December 9, 1899.]
The fourth recital of the Peabody Series was held yesterday afternoon at the Institute, and was given by the Spiering Quartet of Chicago.  The Spiering Quartet, composed of Messrs.  Theodore Spiering, Otto Roehroborn, Adolph Weidig, and Herman Diestel, was, until yesterday, unknown in this city, never having played here before.  Great as their reputation doubtless is in their own city, it had not preceded them.  But now that they have been here and played, the recollection of a charming recital will long continue in the minds of those who heard them.  The Spiering Quartet is an organization of four men who are not only artists, as far as individual technique is concerned, but musicians in every sense of the word.  Their ensemble playing, their phrasing and shading, their tone, and the excellence of their attack and the thoroughly musicianly feeling imparted to each of their performances stamp the quartet as the best of its kind in this country.


[Baltimore American, December 9, 1899.]
The Spiering Quartet, of Chicago, entertained a large audience yesterday afternoon at the Peabody Institute.  It was the fourth recital of the season.  The members of the quartette are Theodore Spiering, first violin; Otto Roehrborn, second violin; Adolph Weidig, viola; and Herman Diestel, 'cello.  The balance of the instruments is excellent, the tone is clear and of fine quality, and the men play together with exactness and surety that indicate that they understand the composers and one another.  Beethoven's quartet in E flat major, Op. 74, was the opening piece, in which the players exhibited at once that they are artists.  It was beautifully played, the presto and the allegro with variations being particularly well done.  A Schumann adagio was rendered in a broad, splendid style, and a scherzo by Cherubini in the old style was next offered, affording a very effective contrast.
The scherzo is a bright tripping melody, and the sparkling, daiuty manner in which it was handled by the quartet greatly pleased the audience, and well it might, for it was a charming piece of work.
The quartet's work was so thoroughly enjoyed that it is to be hoped that they will give Baltimore another call.



[Baltimore Sun, December 9, 1899.]
SUPERB PERFORMANCE BY SPIERING QUARTET.
The fourth Peabody recital yesterday was of very great interest.  The Spiering Quartet, of Chicago, gave an exhibition of superb quartet playing.  The company of artists came quite unheralded and such excellence as was shown was a revelation.  String quartets are birds of the greatest rarity so that little time was required to appreciate the admirable qualities of the players.  They are as follows: Theodore Spiering, first violin; Otto Roehrborn, second violin; Adolph Weidig, viola; Herman Diestel, 'cello.


[Galveston Daily News.]
The Spiering String Quartet, of Chicago, assisted the club, and it is safe to say that no such perfect string work has ever been heard in this city before.  Beautiful tone quality, excellent balance, crisp attack and every degree of shading and variance make a rich combination of qualities, almost of themselves assuring success; but to this was joined the further strength of searching and ripe interpretation and a musical, fervent treatment of their work, that inspired in the listener a feeling of repose and respect.


[Chicago Tribune.]
The Brahms quartet was played with admirable finish, and read with fine appreciation of its noble, elevated character, the beautiful allegro and peculiarly Brahmsian quasi Minuetto being especially excellent.


[The Evening News, Dayton, Ohio.]
The Spiering Quartet is no stranger to Dayton, and consequently there was a good sized audience last evening.  The quartet is certainly deserving of all the lavish praise bestowed upon it by musical critics throughout the country.  The performance last evening was well night perfect—as perfect as it is possible to be.  It was a program never to be forgotten by those who appreciated the faultless style in which it was given and who applauded the artists so warmly.


[Cincinnati Enquirer.]
The playing was of a particularly sensitive and high-strung nature, with fine measure and exceedingly musical temperament.  The Schubert variations were played with a romance of sentiment and poetry of nuance that was like the realization of a dream.


[St. Louis Correspondence N. Y. Musical Courier.]
The Spierings fully sustained their reputation for the highest artistic work in both quartets, and even though it was the last of the program, the audience insisted so much that they finally returned and repeated the finale of the Haydn quartet.


[New York Evening Post.]
Seven years ago Chicago, with its million and a half inhabitants was no better off in regard to music than most of our western cities of much smaller size.  The advent of Mr. Theodore Thomas and his missionary labors during these years have already effected a great change.  Chicago now has orchestral concerts which only New York and Boston can equal.
That it has other good things in the musical line was shown at Mendelssohn Hall last evening, when the Spiering Quartet made its debut in this city.  It consists of Messrs.  Theodore Spiering, Otto Roehroborn, Adolf Weidig, and Herman Diestel, and their precision of attack and unanimity of spirit showed that they must have played together for years.  They played before an audience which was enthusiastic, but not so large as it would have been had the great merits of the club been known before hand.
The Beethoven and Mozart quartets were played very smoothly and with very careful shading, but the most enjoyable part of the entertainment was the Schubert variations on Death and the Maiden.  Not only was this beautifully played, but it was the gem of the evening—is in fact the most inspiring piece of chamber music ever written.  Brooklynites are more favored than New Yorkers as for them the Spiering Quartet will play (at Association Hall this evening), the whole of the sublime D minor quartet in which those variations occur.



[The Chicago Record, March 7, 1900.]
An audience larger than most of those which have attended former quartet recitals in Chicago assembled in University Hall, the Fine Arts Building, last evening, to hear the third of the Spiering quartet concerts.  The performance was of a kind to repay attention and study and justifies a further expression of gratitude to Mr. Spiering and his associates, who are now alone in the representation of chamber music in Chicago.  The program included the noble A minor quartet of Beethoven, not before played at these concerts, and the Brahms quintet in G major.  The quartet, as usual, played with discrimination, and with noteworthy precision and unity of spirit and purpose.


[Ithaca (N. Y.) Daily Journal.]
The Spiering Quartet is superior to any like organization in this country, there being a fire and spirit, accent and phrasing, yet withal unity in the ensemble work that is nearer suggestion of that model of quartet playing, the Joachim Quartet, of Berlin.




Repertoire

Beethoven —

F major. Op. 18. No. 1
G major. Op. 18. No. 2
D major. Op. 18. No. 3
C minor. Op. 18. No. 4
B flat major. Op. 18. No. 6
F major. Op. 59. No.1
E minor. Op. 59. No. 2
C major. Op. 59. No. 3
E flat major. Op. 74
F minor. Op. 95
E flat major. Op. 127
B flat major. Op. 130
A minor. Op. 132

Haydn —

G major. Op. 64. No. 1
D major. Op. 64. No. 5
E flat major. Op. 64. No. 6
C major. Op. 74. No. 1
F major. Op. 74. No. 2
G minor. Op. 74. No. 3
G major. Op. 76. No. 1
D minor. Op. 76. No. 2
B flat major. Op. 76. No. 4
G major. Op. 77. No. 1
F major. Op. 77. No. 2

Mozart —

G major. Köchel. 387
D major. 421
E flat major. 428
B flat major. 458
C major. 465
D major. 575
F major. 590

Schubert —

A minor. Op. 29
E flat major. Op. 125. No. 3
G major. Op. 161
D minor. Op. posth.

Schumann —

A minor. Op. 43. No. 1
F major. Op. 43. No. 2
A major. Op. 43. No. 3

Brahms —

C minor. Op. 51. No 1
A minor. Op. 51. No 2
B flat major. Op. 67

Cherubini —

D minor
Scherzo in G minor

Dvorak —

E flat major. Op. 51
F major. Op. 96
G major. Op. 106

Herzogenberg —

G major. Op. 42 No 3
F minor. Op. 63

Grädener —
D minor. Op. 33

Grieg —
G minor. Op. 27

Weidig —

D minor
A major
Serenade

Verdi —
E minor

Kaun —
F major

Stenhammar —
C minor. Op. 14

Smetana —
Aus Meinem Leben

Rimsky-Korsakow — }
Liadow — }
Borodine — }
Glazounow — }
Quatuor sur le nom Belaieff

Tschaikowsky —

D major. Op. 11
E flat minor. Op. 30