With their eighth studio album, Franz Weiss Two String Quartets/Deux Quatuors á cordes, op. 8 “Razumovsky”, the Eybler Quartet bring to light music that has been gathering dust for about two centuries. The album is available officially on November 29, and it’s also part of the quartet’s 20th anniversary celebrations.
The paths of Austrian violist, violinist and composer Franz Weiss (1778 to 1830) and that of Ludwig von Beethoven would cross in the court of Count Razumovsky in the early 1800s. There, Weiss was the violist in a string quartets led by Ignaz Schuppanzigh. Initially an informal ensemble, they performed weekly for Prince Lichnowsky, a chamberlain who became famous for his love of music. He was on friendly terms with the likes of Mozart and Beethoven.
When he joined Count Razumovsky’s court, Schuppanzigh seized the opportunity to become the Count’s private string quartet. Weiss performed in the quartet for the Count from 1808 until 1815. Later, the quartet got back together in 1823. Weiss, in Schuppanzigh ensemble, premiered several of Beethoven’s later string quartets, including Op. 59, the Razumovsky Quartets.
Both Beethoven and Weiss wrote music for the Count, but while Beethoven’s Razumovsky Quartets remain a well known and beloved part of the string repertoire, Weiss’ lapsed into obscurity.
That’s something that the Eybler Quartet (Patricia Ahern, Margaret Gay, Patrick Jordan, and Julia Wedman) would like to change, true to the spirit of rediscovering the music of composers obscured by time, including their namesake, Joseph Leopold Edler von Eybler. Violinists Julia Wedman and Patricia Ahern, and violist Patrick Jordan are also members of Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra.
We spoke to Patrick Jordan about the project.
Franz Weiss Two String Quartets/Deux Quatuors á cordes, op. 8 “Razumovsky”
While he isn’t well known to audiences, Jordan was aware of Weiss’s work. “I knew who he was as a performer,” he said, being a fellow violist. “It’s very niche knowledge.”
The Eybler Quartet is known for their practice of unearthing gems of forgotten music, and as such, they get a lot of emails with suggestions of obscure composers to check out from the 18th and 19th centuries.
That’s where professor Dr. Mark Ferraguto from Penn State University comes in. The only source that remained for the scores was an engraving of a set of parts that was published in 1814, an engraving with a murky origin. Ferraguto was in the middle of his own project to release a new published scholarly edition of the Weiss quartets. As an organist, he also wanted some pointers on the string music, and emailed the Eyblers in May of 2022.
“I didn’t know that Franz Weiss had written any quartets,” Patrick says. He was familiar with Ferraguto and his work, but they’d never met. “Frankly, I get a lot of emails like that.”
Many people, in other words, are enthusiastic about their niche — but will it prove interesting to others beyond that world? Patrick’s initial answer was non-committal, but all that changed when they got the scores and began to play.
“We did read these quartets, and they were a revelation.” Most of the cold call requests aren’t acted on. “We don’t have unlimited time to learn new stuff. Frankly, it’s a big investment in time to really learn new music.” It’s not only learning the notes or a specific piece, it’s about getting to know the composer’s voice from scratch. “If the music itself hadn’t sold us […] we would not have done it.”
While it’s a lot of work, the discovery of a composer is worth the effort. “It’s a fascinating process for us,” he says. “I’ve lived in this niche world for a long time. You don’t know what you don’t know.”
The world premiere performances of the quartets took place in January 2023, coinciding with the publication of the modern edition of the scores from A-R Editions.
Weiss and Romanticism
Learning Weiss’s work offered a deeper understanding of the Western music of that era. As Patrick points out, the familiar repertoire is essentially a cherry picking of composers and works, and doesn’t speak to the musical ecosystem that each grew from. Fleshing out the blanks offers unique insights.
“Learning this voice of Franz Weiss has reshaped my understanding of where Schubert comes from, because of the harmonic language Weiss used,” he says. “There’s no chance that Schubert didn’t know about this.”
It reframed his understanding Romantic music. “Several people on hearing these pieces have said, wow, it sounds like Beethoven and Schubert’s love child!” he laughs, pointing out that Weiss was much older than Schubert.
“I think the influence runs both ways,” he adds, noting that a passage in Weiss’s work reminds him strongly of one in Beethoven’s Op. 103, the String Quartet in E-flat major — which was written 15 years later. Knowing what Beethoven himself listened to during his lifetime offers a glimpse of the musical environment he worked in. “Everybody works in a community,” he says.
Patrick notes that in a eulogy for Franz Weiss on his death in 1830, newspaper accounts quoted Beethoven’s comment that the Schuppanzigh Quartet were the musicians who understood his work the best.
“It has really changed my grasp of the late Beethoven quartets,” Jordan says, noting the viola part in particular. Weiss was a virtuoso, and wrote challenging string parts. “They’re really hard,” he remarks.
“If you don’t understand the work around them, you don’t understand how special their music was.”
Launch Event
There will be two CD launch events in Toronto on November 29, and in St. Catharines on November 30.
“It should be a fun event,” Patrick says.
As the CD launch event, Dr. Mark Ferraguto will lead a presentation, with the Eybler Quartet performing selections from Franz Weiss String Quartets op. 8 nos. 1 & 2, and then a Q&A session, along with wine and cheese for the audience to enjoy.
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