The Harding String Quartet

              Figure

JOSEPH HARDING, 
First Violin


MARKWOOD HOLMES, 
Second Violin


DELSSOHN CONWAY, 
Cello


CARL DOUGLAS, 
Viola



FRIDAY, JULY 8, 1938 
Fort Hays Kansas State College
 Hays, Kansas 
presents

The Harding String Quartet




TOUR DIRECTION
 HORNER, MOYER AND HORNER





PROGRAM The Harding String Quartet





Quartet in B Flat Major (Hunting)


Mozart






Allegro Vivace Assai


Minnetto


Adagio


Allegro Assai




The Quartet in B Flat Major, sometimes known as the 
Hunting Quartet,
 is the fourth of the quartets which Mozart dedicated to Joseph Haydn and was finished in Vienna on November 9, 1784, according to Mozart's own list. This Quartet occupies a prominent place in the history of music.  It represents that wonderful individual type of string quartet form which has remained fundamental through Beethoven's time to our epoch and which aims at personal and individual treatment of each instrument while preserving the great general unit of form.  Mozart was greatly influenced in his youth by Haydn, but in this Quartet Mozart's individual genuis is by no means dimmed by his great admiration for his example.  Indeed this lofty work shows strongly personal and new traits and is replete with manifestations of Mozart's deep and strangely problematic nature which even in our time does not seem to be understood in its full greatness.






Quartet in F


Maurice Ravel






Allegro Moderato


Assez vif Tres Rhythme


Tres Lent


Vif et Agite




The only Quartet written by Maurice Ravel was published in 1901 and is now considered one of the finest examples of modern French chamber music.  It is essentially lyrical in quality, and the novel harmonic and melodic treatment is apparent from the start.  Over ascending scale passages a tenth apart played by the second violin and cello, the first violin softly announces a simple melody of unusual charm and originality.  This theme, together with the outstanding second subject sung by the violin and viola, predominate the entire movement and are cleverly interwoven in the four independent


 parts.  A brilliant pizzicato passage of bold and eccentric accentuation opens the second movement, a study in contrasting moods.  Chords, harmonics, trills and tremolo passages follow one another in a sparkling cascade of sound—a fitting preamble to the somber, beautiful slow movement which follows.  This colorful music is an enchanting picture of light and shade.  The melancholy color of the viola, relieved by the resonant bass of the cello and the rich singing melody of the second violin, forms one of the gems of modern string quartet literature.  The barbaric finale is a masterpiece of rhythmic structure.  In it Ravel has used every conceivable form of 5 and the unusual effects thus achieved make a fitting and dramatic close to this great work.  Maurice Ravel died in 1937, leaving the world a number of great compositions.  He had many different mediums for the expression of his art.  Ballet, opera, orchestra, chamber music, and solo repertoire—all have been enhanced by his touch.




Four Transcriptions


Markwood Holmes




Nocturne, Op. 72, No. 1


Chopin





One of the most lyrical of Chopin's melodious light piano pieces, this Nocturne lends itself admirably to the medium of the string quartet.  
Chopin loved the night and its soft mysteries as much as did Robert Lewis Stevenson and his Nocturnes are true night pieces, some with agitated, remorseful continence, others seen in profile only, while many are whisperings at dusk.
—Hunecker.





In Old Vienna


Godowsky





Whose yesterdays look backwards with a smile through tears,
 this inscription appears at the top of the page of this charming piano piece which is number eleven of the thirty moods and scenes called 
Triakontamecon,
 written in Seattle in 1919.





Music Box


Liadow





By his skillful use of harmonics, pizzicato and the high placement of the four voices Mr. Holmes has made a very effective and charming arrangement of Liadow's well-known piano solo.





Navarra


Sarasate





Originally a duet for two violins by Sarasate, Navarra in the quartet arrangement makes the greatest of technical demands on the four players.  It is a piece written in true virtuoso style.






These Programs Furnished by Courtesy of
 
HORNER, MOYER AND HORNER
 CONCERT and LECTURE MANAGEMENT 
33rd Year
 3009 Harrison Kansas City, Missouri