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The Budapest Quartet was a string quartet established in Budapest in 1886 by Jenő Hubay and David Popper.

Johannes Brahms performed with the quartet and thought it was the best he had heard.[1]

This quartet went under a variety of names. Outside Hungary, it was usually called "Quartet Hubay-Popper". Within Hungary it was called "Hungarian Quartet" or "Budapest Quartet". This was because Hungarians were fiercely patriotic.[2]

They performed for twenty-seven years.[3]

Composition

The quartet's initial composition was:

• Jenő Hubay, first violin
• Viktor Herzfeld, second violin
• Bram Eldering, viola
• David Popper, cello

Herzfeld played in 1886-1889 and 1897-1899. Wilhelm Grünfeld (concertmaster of Budapest Opera) played in 1888 the 2nd violin and 1889 József Bloch ^[hu] (later a teacher at the Music Academy). After then, two students of Hubay played the 2nd violin: in 1894 János Farkas and from 1895 Rudolf Kemény.[4] Elderling left the quartet soon. Violist from 1888 was Josef Waldbauer[5][6][7] and from 1898 Gustav Szerémi.

Notes

References

• Potter, Tully (1999). "From chamber to concert hall". In Stowell, Robin (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet. Cambridge Companions to Music. Cambridge University Press. pp. 56. ISBN 0-521-00042-4.
• Campbell, Margaret (1999). "Nineteenth-century virtuosi". In Stowell, Robin (ed.). The Cambridge Companion to the Cello. Cambridge University Press. pp. 70–71. ISBN 0-521-62928-4.
• Avins, Styra. "Performing Brahms's music: clues from his letters". In Musgrave,Michael; Sherman,Bernard D. (eds.). Performing Brahms: Early Evidence of Performance Style. Cambridge University Press. p. 29. ISBN 0-521-65273-1.

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