Under the slogan “Hommage à Schubert” the two most famous string quartets written by Schubert, Beethoven´s spiritual son and musical successor, will be performed, – “Rosamunde” as well as “Death and the Maiden”. The string quartets Nos. 13 and 14 are presenting the composer´s new demands for the chamber music and constitute Schubert´s intermediate step towards his great symphonies. In the second movements of both pieces the composer quoted his own previous works: in the first quartet he used a theme from his music for a theater play “Rosamunde”, in the second one – a theme from the song “Death and the Maiden”. Both themes became in fact namegivers for the quartets. Schubert´s artistic heritage includes a huge song repertoire which the composer came back to willingly, making his mature compositions sound melodiously.

Since last year you can hear good music on a regular basis in Donaueschingen, a picturesque township in south-west Germany: a new concert series was established there last year by the outstanding Chinese pianist Haiou Zhang. The “Öschberghof Klassik” concerts take place in the Beethoven concert hall in a recreation and golf resort Öschberghof. Within the framework of this concert cycle we proudly present a famous French string ensemble QUATUOR HERMÈS. The ensemble was founded in 2008 and includes Élise Liu and Omer Bouchez on violins, Lou Yung-Hsin Chang on viola and Yan Levionnois on cello.

Franz Schubert 

String quartet No.13 A minor op.29, D 804 “Rosamunde” (1824)

1. Allegro ma non troppo
2. Andante
3. Menuetto. Allegretto
4. Allegro moderato

String quartet No. 14 D minor op. posth., D 810 “Death and the Maiden” (1824)

1. Allegro
2. Andante con moto (variations based on the Schubert song “Death and the Maiden”)
3. Scherzo. Allegro molto
4. Presto