Pro Arte Quartet


The Pro Arte String Quartet is a string quartet founded in Belgium, which became affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1941.

History

Origins 1912-1941

The Pro Arte String Quartet was founded by Alphonse Onnou in Brussels in 1912. After becoming the Court Quartet to Queen Elizabeth of Belgium, the quartet began the first of many international tours in 1919. After the First World War it became famous for the performance of modern music and for its extensive recordings of Haydn. The composers Bartók, Milhaud and Honegger entrusted to the ensemble new works to premiere. The Pro Arte Quartet made its American debut in 1926 in New York and returned for 30 tours to the United States, often under the auspices of the chamber music patron Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. It performed at the inauguration of the Hall of Music at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. In 1932 it was named the "Quatuor de la Cour de Belgique". Its first visit to Madison, Wisconsin was in 1938. Two years later, the musicians were stranded in Madison by the outbreak of World War II and accepted a residency at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, the first such residency at a major American university.
The Royal Conservatory of Brussels holds a comprehensive collection of autograph and printed Second Violin scores from Laurent Halleux, who joined the Pro Arte Quartet when he was only fifteen and stayed with the group till 1943. It sheds light on the works performed by the quartet, especially from American composers from the early XXe s. such as Aaron Copland, Roy Harris or Louis Gruenberg.

1941-1947

While touring in Wisconsin in 1941 they were offered a permanent residency. In 1944, following the disbanding of the Kolisch Quartet, Rudolf Kolisch took up leadership of the Pro Arte in 1944, combined with a Wisconsin Professorship. In 1946, Robert Maas became the original cellist in the newly formed Paganini Quartet. In 1947, violist Germain Prevost, the last of the original members, resigned. In the late 1950s, the Pro Arte Quartet became members of the University's School of Music faculty in addition to being artists-in-residence.

Centennial anniversary commissioning project 2011-2012

The Pro Arte Quartet reached its centennial anniversary in 2012. To honor this occasion, the quartet embarked on a commissioning project to include up to eight new works, presented throughout the 2011-2012 season.

Personnel

The original personnel of the Pro Arte Quartet were:
1st violin: Alphonse Onnou

2nd violin: Laurent Halleux

viola: Germain Prévost

violoncello: Fernand-Auguste Lemaire
The current personnel are:
1st violin: David Perry

2nd violin: Suzanne Beia

viola: Sally Chisholm

violoncello: Parry Karp

Timeline



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bar:vln1-ab text:"Antonio Brosa"
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bar:vln1-dp text:"David Perry"

bar:vln2-lh text:"Laurent Halleux"
bar:vln2-ar text:"Albert Rahier"
bar:vln2-mfb text:"Martha Frances Blum"
bar:vln2-tm text:"Thomas Moore"
bar:vln2-jml text:"John McLeod"
bar:vln2-jkk text:"Jae-Kyung Kim"
bar:vln2-sb text:"Suzanne Beia"
bar:vla-gp text:"Germain Prévost"
bar:vla-bm text:"Bernard Milofsky"
bar:vla-rb text:"Richard Blum"
bar:vla-sc text:"Sally Chisholm"
bar:vc-fal text:"Fernand Auguste Lemaire"
bar:vc-fq text:"Fernand Quinet"
bar:vc-rm text:"Robert Maas"
bar:vc-cwe text:"C. Warwick Evans"
bar:vc-vg text:"Victor Gottlieb"
bar:vc-gs text:"George Sopkin"
bar:vc-ef text:"Ernst Friedlander"
bar:vc-lc text:"Lowell Creitz"
bar:vc-pk text:"Parry Karp"
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bar:vc-fal from:03/01/1912 till:02/01/1918 color:cello
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bar:vc-pk from:03/01/1976 till:02/01/2015 color:cello

Recordings

The Haydn Quartet Society was formed in 1932 by HMV and by 1936 the Pro Arte recorded five volumes of records available only as complete sets. The contents were: