User name Password
If a name occurs multiple times in the drop-down menu, click on the search icon twice
Organization of origin (Leipziger Gewandhaus-Orchester) and the building in which many of the organization’s concerts have taken place
The oldest extant string quartet group, whose name, however (Gewandhaus-Quartett), did not appear on a program until 1910. Throughout its history, the quartet has consisted of Gewandhaus orchestra members who played chamber music in the Gewandhaus organization. At times the quartet’s membership has been variable or has consisted of six or eight players; in a few periods, the quartet has been inactive.
Beginning in 1874, the quartet in the Gewandhaus had two 1st violinists, and in 1881 two cellists. From 1884 to 1899, the Gewandhaus presented two different string quartet groups. Although the original Gewandhaus players became known as the Petri Quartet, and the other group as the Brodsky Quartet, there were substitution, overlap, and switching of players between the two. In this period, both quartets were referred to informally or indirectly as Gewandhaus-Quartett.
In 1899 the Gewandhaus reverted to employing only one quartet as its own, after four players in four different positions left their respective quartet. The resulting Gewandhaus Quartet comprised one member from the former Petri and three from the former Brodsky. (Henri Petri and Adolf Brodsky themselves had left in 1889 and 1891 respectively.)
In its 14 years as a Gewandhaus Quartet, the Brodsky had 12 members. Five appear to the right on this page: Arno Hilf, Felix Berber, Bernhard Unkenstein, Alexander Sebald, and Julius Klengel. The other seven were Adolf Brodksy (violin I), Ottokar Nováček, (violin II, then viola), Hans Becker and Alfred Wille (violin II), Hans Sitt and Ferdinand Schäfer (viola), and Leopold Grützmacher (cello).
In 1936, the Gewandhaus chamber music concerts again added a second group, the Strub Quartet, which in 1939 included a former Gewandhaus Quartet cellist. In 1941, the Stiehler Quartet took over the Gewandhaus functions, including the name, with another former Gewandhaus Quartet cellist.
There were no concerts by the Gewandhaus Quartet from some time in 1945 to Fall 1948, nor from Summer 1949 to Spring 1952. When the Quartet was reconstituted in 1948, yet another cellist was included who had been in it before; the 1952 reconstitution included a 1st violinist from before.
The main source for the Gewandhaus Quartet, Böhm 2008, lists members from the year of their first concert. QuartetWeb lists members from when they become a member of a quartet, which may be in a calendar year before their first concert.
Böhm 2008
Communication from the quartet, 2020-05-14
Alternated with Raimund Dreyschock, 1851–66
Alternated with Ferdinand David, 1851–66
Alternated with Henry Schradieck, 1874–82
Alternated with Engelbert Röntgen, 1874–82
Alternated with Engelbert Röntgen, 1882–84
Alternated with Henri Petri, 1882–84
Alternated with Carl Franz Wittmann, 1853–54
Alternated with Friedrich Grützmacher, 1853–54
Alternated with Alwin Schröder, 1881–84, playing in the group with 1st violinist Engelbert Röntgen
Alternated with Julius Klengel, 1881–84, playing in the group with 1st violinist Henry Schradieck, then Henri Petri
Alternated with Hans Münch-Holland, 1926–30
Alternated with Julius Klengel, 1926–30