programme notes
phoenix collective
French Connection:
Joseph Bologne, Chevalier de Saint-Georges (1745–1799)
String Quartet in C minor op 1 no 4 (c 1770)
Allegro moderato
Rondeau
Joseph Bologne, known as the Chevalier de Saint-Georges, lived an extraordinary and colourful life, which has now appropriately been documented in the 2022 feature film Chevalier. Born to a white plantation owner and a black slave in Guadeloupe, Bologne was sent to France at the age of seven, and there began his study of music. However, Bologne’s talent was not only for music; he also studied fencing and at a young age won a fencing competition, which in turn led to his appointment as a ‘gendarme de la garde du roi’ (essentially a bodyguard) for King Louis XVI.
Bologne began playing in orchestras in the early 1770s, and started conducting the Paris Opera orchestra in 1776. However, there was some resistance from the orchestra’s members to Bologne as a person of colour, and in 1781 he instead joined Le Concert de la Loge Olympique. When the French Revolution broke out in 1789, Bologne fled to England, fearing that his connections to the French aristocracy could make him a target. His fears were realised on his return to France, when he was imprisoned for eleven months.
Bologne’s life both before and after the Revolution was full of scandal and intrigue, with many reported affairs and resulting confrontations with irate husbands. As well as developing his notably dazzling violin technique, he also maintained his prowess in fencing and participated in competitions and displays. In the 1790s, Bologne saw active service in the army, while concertising on the side. However, in spite of his popularity in the French salons, Bologne died in poverty at the age of 53.
The String Quartet in C minor was written as part of a set of six quartets in the early 1770s, probably inspired by the Haydn quartets which were becoming known in Paris at the time. However, Bologne did not adopt the Mannheim School’s three- and four-movement structure, retaining instead the older two-movement form. Whilst certainly not ground-breaking, this nonetheless charming work is one of the earliest examples of string quartet writing in France.
William Sheller (1946–)
Baba Yaga (1984)
One of the most-loved singer/songwriters in France today, William Sheller (born William Desboeufs aka William Hand) was raised in the USA before returning to France at the age of seven. After leaving school at sixteen, Sheller studied composition with Yves Margat, a student of Ravel’s teacher Gabriel Fauré. However, after hearing the Beatles, Sheller developed an interest in popular music, and abandoned his plans to try for the Prix de Rome. He has since kept a foot in both camps, becoming not only a well-known chansonnier but also a classical composer.
Perhaps best known for his 1993 hit Un Homme Heureux, Sheller has released a multitude of recordings and has continued to include classical sounds even in his popular performances. His tours with the Halfenalv Quartet in the 1980s helped to familiarise him with string quartet writing and techniques.
Baba Yaga is inspired by the Slavic folk tale of the witch who travels around in a hut on fowl’s legs. The frantic running of the chicken legs is depicted through continuous semi-quaver ostinato figures. A rhythmic unison figure in the coda briefly breaks the semi-quaver pattern, which is followed by a return to the ostinato as the hut on fowl’s legs runs off into the forest.
Guillaume Connesson (1970–)
String Quartet no 1 (2010)
Très calme
Furieux
Triste
Guillaume Connesson is one of France’s most successful modern composers, and is the winner of many prizes in his native France. Educated initially at the Conservatoire National de Région in his birthplace, Boulogne-Billancourt, Connesson undertook further studies at the Paris Conservatoire and is today a professor of orchestration at the Conservatoire d’Aubervilliers-La Courneuve.
Connesson’s musical influences are varied, and range from American minimalism to popular music. He has also acknowledged the influence of many French classical composers, including both Couperin and Ravel.
The String Quartet no 1 is a brief work comprising three contrasting movements. The structure of slow/fast/slow is a departure from traditional string quartet norms. The opening movement, with its plaintive melodies, is an oasis of calm before the storm of the second movement. This movement features strong, insistent rhythmic material and sharp dissonances. After this violent outburst, the tender ebb and flow of the final movement functions as a reprieve, with the instruments finishing one by one, leaving the solo cello to end the work.
Maurice Ravel (1875–1937)
String Quartet in F major (1902–1903)
Allegro moderato – Très doux
Assez vif – Très rythmé
Très lent
Vif et agité
Written when Ravel was just 28 years old, the Quartet in F major shows the hallmarks of Debussy’s influence. The Debussy quartet, written around a decade earlier, was an inspiration to the young Ravel, and Debussy himself was very encouraging in his communications with Ravel. Debussy’s admiration for Ravel’s quartet was somewhat in contrast to the less than enthusiastic response of the quartet’s dedicatee, Ravel’s teacher Gabriel Fauré.
Like the Debussy quartet, Ravel’s work is modelled on a classic four-movement structure, and is based on a few melodic ideas which are interspersed throughout the movements. The haziness of French Impressionism is expressed through the pentatonic harmonies of the first movement, while the second movement with its iconic pizzicato textures seems to be a nod to Ravel’s Iberian heritage. The third and fourth movements show Ravel’s mastery of texture, with the languid passages of the third movement contrasting with the energetic five-eight time-signature of the last movement.
Opinions of the quartet were divided when the work premiered in 1904, with Lalo dismissing it as derivative, while the Mercure de France recognised Ravel as “one of the masters of tomorrow”. In spite of these mixed responses, the quartet has remained a staple of the chamber music repertoire since its first performance.
Musicians, Phoenix Collective Quartet:
Violin 1 & Artistic Director - Dan Russell
Violin 2 - Pip Thompson
Viola - Ella Brinch
Cello - Andrew Wilson