The Budapest Quartet: A Century of Music at the Library of Congress

The Budapest Quartet played 462 concerts at the Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress between 1938 and 1962. They had a long and storied history dating back to 1917 - or actually 1886, when an ensemble of that name was formed by violinist Jeno Hubay and cellist David Popper, both already renowned musicians who met because they were both hired by Franz Liszt to teach at his Academy. Brahms played with them and declared them the best quartet he had ever heard. They disbanded in 1913, but in 1917 a few of their students decided to form a new Budapest Quartet (not to be confused with The New Budapest Quartet, formed in 1971 - this story never ends) in their honor. The old Budapest had three Hungarians with a Bohemian cellist; the new Budapest had three Hungarians and a Dutch cellist. By the time they played their first concert at the Coolidge, all the original members had been replaced, and the result became the subject of this famous joke, attributed to Jascha Heifetz:

What is one Russian?

An anarchist.

What are two Russians?

A chess game.

What are three Russians?
A revolution.

What are four Russians?

The Budapest String Quartet.

It should be noted, however, that first violinist Josef Roisman and violist Boris Kroyt were born in Odessa (which is now spelled Odesa. It was then part of the Russian Empire and later USSR but is now a port city in Ukraine.) The Schneider brothers - cellist Mischa and second violinist Alexander - were born in Vilna, now called Vilnius, Lithuania. Whether they should be considered “Russian” is no longer a joking matter. 

In any case, by 1938 they were for all practical purposes American. In fact, the quartet hadn’t been based in Budapest since the early 1920s, when they moved to Berlin. In 1934 they were forced into a nomadic existence by antisemitism and geopolitical instability, and soon after they were essentially stuck in the United States - a situation the Library of Congress saw as a golden opportunity.

In 1935 Gertrude Clark Whittall donated five Stradivarius string instruments to the Library of Congress. It’s an essential aspect of instrument maintenance that they continue to be played, so they started looking for an ensemble who would play them on a regular basis. By this time the Budapest had achieved celebrity status as the most successful classical chamber ensemble in the world, so the pairing of their artistry with these magnificent instruments under the aegis of this august institution was a winning situation for all.

The Budapest gave many concerts and made many recordings on these instruments and came to be associated with the Coolidge Auditorium. They helped define one another as representing the best of American culture, a point of pride especially welcome during the dark days of WWII. And it drew attention to how the Library of Congress became a refuge for great European artists displaced by the war, a place its culture could be preserved while its countries of origin were embroiled in conflict.

And the Budapest itself became part of that mission, collaborating with many other forced expatriates - among them the great cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, who, at age 18 in 1921, waded into the river separating the USSR from Poland carrying his cello over his head dodging the bullets of border guards so he could continue his studies in the West. His first stop was Leipzig, where a few years later he was playing in a cafe for food when Wilhelm Furtwangler heard him and invited him to be the principal cellist of the Berlin Philharmonic. He came to the United States for the first time in 1929, appearing with the Philadelphia Orchestra and New York Philharmonic, and ten years later he moved here. In the 1940s he taught at the Curtis Institute, spending his summers in Tanglewood. In 1947 he played a recital of Brahms and Shostakovich sonatas at the Coolidge Auditorium, and in 1960 he returned there to play Schubert’s C major String Quintet with the Budapest. By this time Piatigorsky - considered by many the greatest cellist of the 20th century - had finally found a forever home in Southern California, and the Budapest were about to cede their Library of Congress residency to the Juilliard Quartet - who will be our focus next week in our continuing celebration of a century of music at the Library of Congress.