Franciszek Lessel: String Quartet No.8, in B flat major, Op.19

Franciszek Lessel

(1780 – 26 December 1838) was a Polish composer.

String Quartet No.8, in B flat major, Op.19

Wilanów Strings Quartet
Tadeusz Gadzina (I violin), Paweł Łosakiewicz (II violin), Ryszard Duź (viola), Marian Wasiółka (cello).

I. Allegro assai – 00:00
II. Andante – 08:21
III. Menuetto. Presto – 15:18
IV. Finale. Allegro assai – 19:18

Franciszek Lessel is, alongside Józef Elsner and Ignacy Franciszek Dobrzyński among the leading representatives of the late Classical style in Polish music. Relatively little is known about the life of this prominent composer, who was appreciated by critics and audiences during his lifetime but became unduly forgotten after his death. Lessel was born around 1780 in Warsaw. His father, Wincenty Lessel, was a Polish composer, pianist and music teacher of Czech descent.
In his youth Franciszek performed in a string ensemble in Lviv (together with Karol Kurpiński and Karol Lipiński).
At the age of 19 he went to Vienna to take up medical studies. However, there is no conclusive evidence that he studied medicine. What we do know is that he studied with Haydn in 1799-1809, being one of the great composer's most talented pupils.
Back in Poland for good, he pursued a career as a concert pianist. For some time he served as a director of the Warsaw-based Amateur Musical Society. In later years, he worked in various professions unrelated to music, even though he never gave up composition.
Lessel's works were performed and published only during the composer's lifetime. They enjoyed a high

reputation not only in Poland but also in Austria and Germany (where they were published), as well as, to a smaller extent, in France and England. Lessel's oeuvre is very diverse. It comprises instrumental works: for solo piano – sonatas, fantasies (the first classical fantasies in Polish music), landler and polonaises, chamber music, songs for voice and piano, symphonies (of which only the finale of the Symphony in G minor of 1805 is extant) and for solo instrument and orchestra (concertos and variationes). Lessel's output also includes vocal-instrumental pieces (religious works and stage works). It is assumed that Lessel's

compositional legacy was more extensive than the lists of his compositions suggest.

The Quartet in B flat was written in 1824, after the composer's return to Poland. Until recently it was considered lost and was first performed at the Warsaw Musical Encounters in 1996.

The first and fourth movements are in sonata allegro form and are characterised by an excellent formal

design and a perfect sense of proportion. The first violin is assigned the concertante role in the entire cycle. The first movement begins with a firm, motoric and lively theme, which is the foundation of the whole Allegro assai. The second theme which appears soon is song-like and melodic and therefore stands in contrast to the previous one.

In the development, the composer uses motivic work, employing both themes and polyphonic technique. The highly lyrical and evocative second movement is in the key of G. The violins present a song-like theme in a slow tempo. As the piece progresses a second theme is introduced, more lively and light. Both themes are mutually interwoven and homophonic textures dominate in the piece. The third movement is a light, humorous minuet, whose character is reminiscent of a scherzo. The cheerful, dance-like finale is, like the first movement, in sonata allegro form. (from Album Booklet by Marcin Lukaszewski)