TheHellmesberger Quartet was astring quartet formed inVienna in 1845. It was founded byJoseph Hellmesberger Sr. and was the first permanent named String Quartet.[citation needed]
ViolinistLeopold Jansa had started a string quartet in 1845. Hellmesberger took over from Jansa in 1849, retaining the other members.[1] Its initial composition was:
The quartet's composition remained "pretty constant until the mid-1860s".[2]
At one point,[when?] the composition was:
Hellmesberger's son,Joseph Hellmesberger Jr., joined the quartet in 1870 to play the second violin and became leader in 1891.
Ferdinand Hellmesberger, the son of Joseph Sr. and brother of Joseph Jr., joined in 1883 to play the cello.
The Quartet played an important role in Vienna's musical life through the performance of quartets fromLudwig van Beethoven,Johannes Brahms, andFranz Schubert, premiering several of Brahms' and Schubert's chamber works.[3] This includes the first public performance ofSchubert's C Major Quintet, D. 956 on 17 November 1850, twenty-two years after it was composed.
It commissioned and premieredAntonín Dvořák'sString Quartet No. 11, Op. 61, composed in 1881.
The programme of the opening concert on November 4, 1849 includedJoseph Haydn'sQuartet in C, Op. 76, No. 3,Spohr'sPiano Trio in A minor, Op. 124,[clarification needed] and Beethoven'sQuartet in F, Op. 59 No. 1.
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