Preface

Summary

A centennial naturally invites celebration. The centennial of a string quartet, however, is an unprecedented occasion for celebration. The survival of any quartet for any length of time requires a very special chemistry that allows the fusion of four distinctly musical personalities into a transcendent, coherent entity. And it also requires the submission of individual careers to the interests of full-time ensemble playing. Finally, it requires the flexibility to assimilate new members as personnel changes take place.

Many quartets have endured for years, even decades. The replacement of any one member by a newer one inevitably requires adjustment and rededication. Some quartets have survived even recurrent turnovers in membership. But only one string quartet has managed to survive not only membership changes but also further crises, challenges, and transformations, to endure as a continuously active ensemble, under the same name, for a full century. That is the ensemble that began in Brussels, Belgium, as the Quatuor Pro Arte and continues to this day as the Pro Arte Quartet, based in its home in the School of Music of the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

Justifiably, that home institution generated a prolonged celebration of the centennial, in the years 2012–14, featuring concerts and the commissioning of new works. The crowning episode was a returnto- roots tour of the original homeland, Belgium, in the spring of 2014. This book represents a final contribution to the celebration.

My involvement in that final project was the work of Sarah Schaffer, the quartet's manager. She chaired superbly the advisory committee that planned the centennial and on which I myself served. Sarah has been a mentor, collaborator, and inspiration to me in this prolonged project, from its conception to its realization. She carefully and painstakingly read through a preliminary draft of the book, giving excellent advice; and she has given invaluable help in assembling the illustrations. Accordingly, I must give her much of the credit for what is good in the resulting volume, and absolve her from any if its faults or failings.