Great Lakes String Quartet

              GREAT LAKES STRING QUARTET






GREAT LAKES STRING QUARTET



HERMAN FELBER, First Violin


CARL FASSHAUER, Second Violin


ROBERT DOLEJSI, Viola


WALTER BRAUER, Cello




REDPATH MUSICAL BUREAU




HARRY P. HARRISON, MGR. KIMBALL BLDG., CHICAGO







HERMAN FELBER 
First Violin




H
ERMAN FELBER, a brilliant figure amongst the younger generation of violinists, is a product of America.  He entered the ranks of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra as one of the youngest members in the history of that organization and retained his associations with this foremost musical body for five years, appearing as soloist on various tours.




Mr. Felber adhered to the Chamber Music form in all his recitals and later became identified with one of the leading string quartets in the country.  His musical associations have been of the finest and the high praise of his ability by eminent figures in the musical world, with whom he has performed, distinguishes him as one of the most noteworthy artists of the present period.







CARL FASSHAUER 
Second Violin




C
ARL FASSHAUER, coming from a family long associated with music, enjoyed many unusual advantages in his youth.  He was admitted into the membership of the Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra before he had attained his nineteenth year and his ambition to become a disciple of Chamber Music only, led him into this field immediately.




Mr. Fasshauer frequently performed on Chamber Music programs with leading members of the Philadelphia Orchestra and has appeared in recital and concert throughout the entire country, winning an enviable reputation as a thorough musician and a violinist of note.







ROBERT DOLEJSI 
Viola




R
OBERT DOLEJSI made a successful debut in Chicago when eighteen years of age, playing the Paganini and Mozart concertos.  Shortly thereafter he went to Vienna where he became a member of the Symphony Society and had the advantage of being associated in his work for two years with Arnold Rose of the famous string quartet bearing that name.




Mr. Dolejsi soon became prominent as a soloist and Chamber Music performer and was awarded the Diploma of State, being now the only American to possess this honor.  Before returning to his native land he scored a brilliant success at the Annual Concert of Modern Composers, one of Vienna's most important musical events, and was at once recognized as an artist of assured rank and distinct personality.







WALTER BRAUER 
Cello




W
ALTER BRAUER'S musical endeavors have, to an unusual degree, been such as to bring him into contact with personages and institutions occupying noteworthy places in public esteem.  He possesses those attributes so essential in a proficient cellist of a successful Chamber Music organization and has enjoyed splendid advantages in orchestral, Chamber Music and other highly elevating literature.




Mr. Brauer has attained splendid success as a member of the faculty of prominent musical colleges in Chicago and elsewhere, and during two transcontinental tours, when he appeared as soloist in concert and recital, was everywhere cited by the musical press as a genuine artist of distinct merit.






The Great Lakes String Quartet



A
NEW ERA in Chamber Music is rapidly developing in our country and the American public will warmly welcome the activities of the Great Lakes String Quartet, a definite organization now most successfully continuing the artistic work begun under the most unique conditions during the period of the naval service of its members during the world war.




The founding of this organization and its interesting history has caused considerable comment in the musical press of the country and in the communities visited during its tours, and a brief sketch of it here will not be inopportune.




The four young men, who compose the Quartet, finding themselves placed in the same company and regiment upon their enlistment in the navy (at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station), did not take long to discover each other and within a short period Chamber Music resounded throughout the barracks of the training camp during rest hours.




At daybreak, immediately after reveille, when the routine of drills had not yet begun, and at nightfall, when work was over, up to the hour of taps, these four hastened to some abandoned room and rehearsed.  The Red Cross huts, where the kindly spirit and warm welcome of our American women were so evident, were utilized for the study of Mozart and Beethoven who seldom have been performed under similar conditions.




T
HE WORK of the organization quite naturally aroused military and naval interest and a first recital was arranged at Northwestern University.  This was the beginning of a long list of appearances at the University of Chicago and at the leading educational institutions throughout the country in behalf of the Navy Relief Society.  The career of the members of the quartet ultimately led them to be chosen to accompany President Wilson on the first of his now historic voyages to France and before being mustered out of the navy they made two transatlantic trips with the nation's chief.  Immediately upon returning to civilian life the organization embarked on a coast to coast tour which was a succession of musical triumphs.




The heights of a Chamber Music career can only be attained by a body of musicians who primarily possess a profound regard for the master works of musical literature.  There must furthermore be a unity of thought and ambition, social as well as musical harmony, and an ardent desire and love for the study of the great masterpieces, both classic and modern so that their interpretations may always be maintained on the highest plane.




It is these qualities that are so happily possessed by the Great Lakes String Quartet, and they, coupled with the zeal and enthusiasm of youth which pervade the organization, make the performances vibrate with a vigor and freshness that is at once exhilarating and inspiring.




The following cutting from the 
Cincinnati Enquirer
 will serve to give some idea of the excellent qualities of this organization:




The quartet is composed of Herman Felber, first violin; Carl Fasshauer, second violin; Robert Dolejsi, viola, and Walter Brauer, cello.  The performance they gave last night, especially of so elusive and delicate a work as the Debussy quartet, bespeaks earnest preparation, sincere study, and attentive rehearsing.  The tonal balance is excellent, the color agreeably varied, and the technical efficiency of the highest order.  In a quartet of the demands placed by Debussy, the mettle of an ensemble organization can best be ascertained, and to the credit of the visitors, be it said, that their accomplishment was a notable one.  There was a sensitiveness in the playing which was of the highest artistic sense.






Chamber Music



A
MERICAN ART will from now on, during this period of reconstruction, be regarded as an ever increasing factor of education and general development.  Chamber Music, originally written for the few and until recent years occupying a supposedly inaccessible niche in musical appreciation, is now fast becoming one of the essential features on programs outlined by all of our progressive musical communities.




The leading universities of the land are also recognizing the educational value of this form of art and are establishing Chamber Music lecture recitals as a part of the regular curriculum.




To the serious minded there are as many forms in educational music as in literature, for evolution of thought is as pronounced in this department of education as in that which directs reading, and uplifts the mind from the novel form to that which is more worthy, building the intellect and directing the ideas to the formation of character which in turn is reflected in lofty living.




T
HE OPERA, Choral societies, Symphony programs, Sonata recitals—each of these classes of study encourages and develops thought higher and higher, to prepare an awakened consciousness for the ultimate pinnacle of Chamber Music appreciation.




Beethoven, that peer of Chamber Music masters, regarded the quartet of strings as an ideal means of expressing his deepest musical thoughts.  His last quartets were written during that tragic period when his deafness was rapidly becoming acute and hearing was rather mental and visual than actual.




Such is the advanced and inspired vision portrayed in these last works, however, that even to-day, amidst the myriad of compositions appearing since his death, they are still modern and vivid pictures of his genius.




In Chamber Music, the poetry of Musical Art, as it were, is found the language of Music evolved to express the most noble philosophical lecture and spiritual sermon.  The philosophy of life with the arguments that develop the loftiest inspirations and emotions of the utmost degree of refinement, the substance of a message decidedly ethical in its appeal, the unseen idea speaking to reason, this—is Chamber Music.






MUSIC



Music.  What is the secret of its wide application and of its mighty influence?  Where is its home?  Why does it wrap us about so completely?  What is its connection with the vast scheme of the Universe?




No nation has been discovered that has not its Music.  At this shrine the East and the West are met, and the North and the South.  Our earliest records tell us of Music and our farthest going predictions are still busy with it.  The earliest literature is poetry—musical language—and the highest development of this moment is poetry.  When we are glad, only Music suffices to interpret our joy and when we are sad we again resort to Music.  Youth is a period deeply responsive to Music, but not more so than age.  We celebrate peace with Music, but Music is the very language of war; and religion has long since anointed Music as high priestess in all her temples.




Thus are our lives bound about with Music.  It begins in the cradle, continues through youthful games, persists in courtship and marriage, ministers to pleasure, worship, war, work and grief, and makes its final contribution at the grave.  Life is a musical interlude, beginning with a lullaby and ending with a dirge.




And, of course, Music would not compass us so completely if it did not make a powerful and multiform appeal.  Its influence is as strong as its application is wide.




Music is so restful that it is used to still rioting, and yet so stirring that battle is not attempted without it, for armies become 
wrought to an edge of steel
 under its strange call.  It is so refining that all schools teach it.  It is so uplifting that every church and every religious service employs it.  The history of epochal battles, of great revivals and of mighty movements might almost be written as the history of Music.  Music is the great mood maker.