New-York tribune., 1920-10-05
Quartet
Paws Tribute
To Beethoven
roucer,s at Aeolian Hall
First To Be Held in CITY
Comn,emoraiing i5O,h
Anniversary of His Birth
composer Fifty Honored
English Musicians Give
Nssterful interpretations
cf Authors Finest Works
Rv II. I. Krehhiel

a,nearances would seem to indicate
a.t the true lovers Of music Of the
s0bsst class IN the city are unaware
nat festival Of lovely significance is
!. nrogress al Aeolian Hall This is a
.ssr of commemoration FOR Beethoven.
lex. month there will scarcely be a
nnsicaG organization OF significance
rb;ch will not give concert to oele-
srste the l5oth anniversary of tho birth
a. the greatest Of all composers.
Not one Of them. so far as we know
heir plans, will more htly and beau
,ifully honor his memory than the little
company Of English musicians is doing
sr is series Of chamber concerts in
lsolian Hall. at which they are per
,Orn,ing all Of his string ouartets in
svccession Not only playing them from
,pus is To opus lS3. bur playing them
more beautifully, eloquently. convinc-
Ingly than we nave heard them in years
snd are likely to hear them in years TO
eone.
And these are the works in which
hood thlobs, the most perfect exem-
yiacation Of his genius, the works
which ne begsn in the first flush of his
artistic manhood, and in which, at the
end. he disclosed his most intimate
communings with his soul after an
;nscrutable and wise Providence had
stouned his ears 10 the turmoil and
distractions 4 Of the external world.
Attract Little Attention
Yet they are attracting the attention
Of only pitiful fragment of the popu-
lation Of & city that, because OF its
opera and us glut Of symphonic con-
carts boasts that It is the most musi-
cai city n tho world If the four ad-
miIaole artists and modest gentlemen
were TO be rerlsced by four Nischas
rom the hlood-soaked soil Of Russia.
We MAKE no doubt but that q hall
our times as large as Aeolian would
not accommodate fourth of the
asititude which would gather and
Iiek their affected appreciation Of
tie music and IFS makers.
The concerts were begun last Friday
and the third was given yesterday after
noon The qUar-ets Played were the
three which Beethoven composed on a
commission from the Russian noble
nan Count Rasoumofskv. and GROUPED
together as his fifty-ninth numbered
work
/. may be remarked. in passing. that
In TWO Of them-the finale Of the first
and the third movement of the second
Beethoven made use OF Russian folk
tunes. the latter. called "Slava," being
that Of d songswitn which all Musco-
Tles ar familiar. and thousands Of
others shave heard in the finale of the
first act Of Boris Godounoff."
Whether Beethoven did this at the
suggestion Of his noble patron or Of
rs ovn account is not known. but the
circumstance Is Interesting for the
reason that foissong had PLAYED so
uuine d part ln the artistic music be-
lore ami lonE after the day i'm which
Beethoven wrote the three works. Il
Is gratifying 10 the lovers Of his mu-
sc' when contemplating the fact that
now folksong material is a vital ele-
ment in a vast bulk Of the artistic
music which IS creating, that in en-
Nyng III Russian tunes the great
seer VS. sending prescient glance
into the future.
Year for Beethoven Study
To appreciate fully that Beethoven
"as prophet o. the new disoensation
as web as the old that he is. as much
avital force to-day as he was a century
ago, We must listen understandings to
MS last quarte-s (Which the London
artists are yet to play and the last
panoforte sonatas. The symphonies
alone do not suffice to make that dem
onstration clear This is 10 be for real
'auslc lovers year Of Beethoven
study; the London Quartet has opened
me book Of the master at its most
luminous naCes and. is raadinz then