FREE Courtroom Concert: Artaria String Quartet

Program: CROSSING PATHS WITH THE SCHUMANNS
This program invites listeners to hear these works not as isolated masterpieces, but as conversations across time—between composers bound by admiration, grief, mentorship, and shared artistic purpose. Together, these quartets illuminate the emotional and intellectual landscape of Romanticism at its most intimate.

Hosted by composer Abbie Betinis, our popular Courtroom Concerts take place at noon most Thursdays in the Landmark Center in downtown Saint Paul. This series features accomplished musicians and composers from the Twin Cities and surrounding area, as well as occasional musical newcomers to the area. These one-hour concerts are free and open to the public.

Program Notes:

CROSSING PATHS WITH THE SCHUMANN’S: The nineteenth century was an era of intertwined artistic lives. Composers did not work in isolation but in close dialogue—with one another’s music, ideas, and personal circumstances. The Schumann’s stood at the center of this vibrant network, connected to composers who shaped and were shaped by their artistic ideals. This concert series traces those intersections: emotional, stylistic, and historical crossings that illuminate the evolution of the string quartet during the Romantic era.

Fanny Hensel (1805–1847)
String Quartet in E-flat major (1834)

Fanny Hensel’s String Quartet is a remarkable achievement, both musically and historically. Composed in 1834, it is one of the very few large-scale chamber works she allowed to circulate beyond her private musical salons. A composer of extraordinary craft and imagination, Hensel moved fluently between Classical forms and Romantic expressiveness, creating music of warmth, clarity, and emotional sophistication.

The quartet reveals her command of texture and pacing: the expansive opening Adagio unfolds with lyrical confidence, while the Romanze offers intimate, song-like writing that reflects her deep affinity for vocal music. The final movement’s vitality and rhythmic drive assert her voice with unmistakable authority.

Hensel’s work formed part of the musical world that shaped Robert and Clara Schumann, who admired her talents and shared her commitment to expressive integrity over virtuosity for its own sake.

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
String Quartet in B-flat major, Op.67 (1876)

Brahms’s final string quartet reflects both confidence and reflection. Composed decades after the Schumann’s’ deaths, Op.67 nevertheless stands as a testament to their enduring influence. Robert Schumann famously hailed the young Brahms as the future of German music, a declaration that profoundly shaped Brahms’s artistic path.

In this quartet, Brahms reconciles Classical balance with Romantic warmth. The opening Vivace is genial and buoyant, while the Andante offers introspective lyricism. The Agitato introduces tension and rhythmic complexity before the finale—a set of variations—brings the work to a playful, radiant close.

Unlike the weighty drama of Brahms’s earlier quartets, Op.67 feels relaxed and autumnal, suggesting a composer at peace with his lineage, fully aware of the path laid out by Haydn, Beethoven, and Schumann.

About the Artists:

“Minnesota’s foremost teaching and performing string quartet”, the Artaria String Quartet is an “exceptional ensemble with impressive confidence in its interpretations”. Winners of the prestigious 2004 McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians, Artaria was featured on Twin Cities Public Television as part of the Minnesota Originals series and was named 2013-14 Minnesota Public Radio Artists-in-Residence.

Artaria was formed in Boston and mentored by members of the venerable Kolisch and Juilliard Quartets. Their “refined and thoughtful playing” brought them to the attention of Alexander Schneider, violinist of the legendary Budapest Quartet, who invited them to make their New York debut on his own New School Concert Series. Since then, they have performed at major venues throughout the United States and Europe, on national television and public radio, and at top international music festivals.

In 1992, Artaria competed at the 4th Banff International String Quartet Competition in Banff, Canada. Earning numerous awards from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, and the Minnesota State Arts Board for excellence in performance and educational outreach, Artaria are founders of the highly regarded Artaria Chamber Music School in Saint Paul, MN, Stringwood Summer Chamber Music Festival, in Lanesboro, MN, and the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, an international showcase for top-tier collegiate and pre-college string quartets hosted each April in Sundin Music Hall.

This season, they are celebrating their 40th year of chamber music performing and educating.