Ševčík-Lhatsky Quartet

The Ševčík-Lhatsky String Quartet was a well-known Czech musical ensemble founded originally as the Ševčík Quartet at Warsaw in 1903, which remained in existence in the 1930s.

Personnel

The founding members of the Quartet were as follows:

1st violin: Bohuslav Lhatsky
2nd violin: Karel Procházka
viola: Karel Moravec
violoncello: Bohuslav Váska (until 1911), succeeded by Ladislav Zelenka (until 1914), and by Antonio Fingerland.

Origins

Bohuslav Lhatsky, Karel Procházka and Karel Moravec were all pupils of the Czech violin teacher Otakar Ševčík (b. 1852), who had control of the violin department at the Prague Conservatory between 1892 and 1901. The master's method was based on the semitone system, the fingers remaining at equal distances on all the strings during the technical studies, leading to great safety, precision and fluency in performance. Following the success of his pupil Jan Kubelik, his students gathered in great numbers at his residence at Pisek. This Quartet was the later counterpart of the Bohemian or Czech Quartet, which was formed by four pupils of the Prague cello professor Hanuš Wihan a decade previously.

Recordings

(as 'Sevcikovo-Lhotskeho Quartet')

• Dvořák: Quartet no 6 in F major op 96 (HMV 78rpm European issue, AN 332-334).
• Smetana: Quartet no 1 in E minor (HMV 78 rpm European issue, AN 326-329).
• Glazunov: Quartet no 4 in A minor op 64, Scherzo (HMV 78rpm, European, AN 339).
• Borodin: Quartet no 2, Nocturne (HMV 78rpm, European, AN 339).

Sources

• A. Eaglefield-Hull, A Dictionary of Modern Music and Musicians (Dent, London 1924).
• R.D. Darrell, The Gramophone Shop Encyclopedia of Recorded Music (New York 1936).