The Hart House String Quartet is a Canadian string quartet that existed in Toronto from 1923 to 1946 . He was named after the Hart House Theater at the University of Toronto - in this theater the quartet gave its first performance on April 27, 1924 .
The quartet toured extensively throughout Canada, in 1929 made a large-scale European tour (Belgium, France, Great Britain, the Netherlands), in 1936 - 1937 . embarked on a world tour, visiting the United States, Mexico, Cuba, Austria, England, France, Italy, the Scandinavian countries and the USSR. Of the notable performances of the quartet, it should be noted that Ravel’s quartet performed in New York on January 15, 1928 as part of a concert in which Ravel himself first performed in the USA as a pianist. The quartet's repertoire included, in addition to the traditional works of the 19th century, the quartets of Debussy , Hindemith , Kodai , Prokofiev , Schoenberg and other newest authors. The last performances of the quartet took place already in 1946 , but passed without its leader, James Livi, who had vision problems (he was replaced by Coldofsky and Eli Spivak). In 1926 - 1930 the quartet made several recordings, becoming Canada's first recorded chamber ensemble.
Composition
First violin:
- Geza de Cres ( 1923 - 1935 )
- James Livy ( 1935 - 1945 )
Second fiddle:
- Harry Adaskin ( 1923 - 1938 )
- Adolf Koldofsky ( 1938 - 1942 )
- Henry Milligan ( 1942 - 1945 )
Alto:
- Milton Blackstone ( 1923 - 1941 )
- Allard de Ridder ( 1941 - 1945 )
Cello:
- Boris Hamburg ( 1923 - 1945 )