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TALICH QUARTET 13
His chamber music corresponds almost without exception to personal dramas.
In his scores he expresses his hopes and despairs; he paints a self-portrait that is
not to be found in his larger-scale works. Perhaps these compositions were also
therapeutic...
When he wrote his Piano Trio in 1855 he had recently lost his four-year-old daughter
Bedriska. Twenty years later, his String Quartet no. 1 in E minor (‘Frommy life’) was
another cry of despair: in the night of 19-20October 1874, at the age of fifty, hewent
completely and irreversibly deaf. He gave up his many official positions, including
that of director of the Provisional Theatre of Prague, and his creative activities were
severely hampered.
Completed in December 1876,
String Quartet no.1 in E minor, ‘From My Life’
,
lasting almost half an hour and in four movements, corresponds to the synopsis
of a tragedy, the progression of an illness. In a finale oscillating between the rustic
strains of a polka and the fateful onset of deafness, it is astonishing that the work
ends on a relatively hopeful note.
The quartet was performed privately at the home of Josef Srb-Debrnov, with
Antonín Dvořák playing the viola. The first public performance took place in Prague
(Konvikt) on 29 March 1877.