The concert of the Lutosławski Quartet will be filled with masterpieces of chamber music. Two of them came from the pens of the greatest masters of the 20th century. During the evening, the musicians will also perform a piece by Joseph Haydn, who is rightly called the father of the string quartet.

First, we will hear the String Quartet No. 7 in F sharp minor op. 108 by Dmitri Shostakovich, completed in 1960 and dedicated to the memory of Nina, the composer’s first wife, who died in December 1954. The piece consists of three attacca movements – Allegretto, Lento and Allegro, and is one of Shostakovich’s shortest quartets. This is a work typical of his style – full of violent emotions, combining nervousness with melancholy. Then we will listen to the String Quartet in C major op. 20 no.2 by Joseph Haydn. It comes from a collection of six works of this genre called “Solar Quartets”. Haydn finished work on them in 1772, when he was already one of the most recognizable composers in Europe. These pieces only strengthened his position, which is not surprising as they are full of beauty and musical expression, so you can listen to them with great pleasure.

The concert will close with a composition by the Czech composer Leoš Janáček, whose last decade of life was marked by a strong affection for Kamila Stösslova, almost 40 years his junior. However, the odds were against Janáček: both were married, and to make matters worse, the artist’s passion was not reciprocated. Nevertheless, she was a source of inspiration for him, and he shared his ideas for new works in letters written to his beloved. He also did so while composing the 1st String Quartet “Kreutzer Sonata” inspired by a novel by Leo Tolstoy. The violent and often contradictory emotions experienced by the protagonists became the basis for creating one of Janáček’s most personal, stormy and moving works.