In Orchestra Hall at Symphony Center, members of the Civic Orchestra of Chicago perform a program of fascinating works by three composers whose musical genius was undervalued during their lifetimes. The fifth string quartet by Joseph Bologne, the Chevalier de Saint-Georges and the first known classical composer of African ancestry, was first published as part of a set of six in 1773. Rebecca Clarke was a leading soloist and chamber musician in the 1910s and ’20s, yet her Poem for String Quartet was left unpublished until 2004. Of the 400 works composed by Fanny Hensel (née Mendelssohn), her passionate string quartet had no record of performance until after her death.
PROGRAM
BOLOGNE, CHEVALIER DE SAINT-GEORGES String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 1, No. 5
CLARKE Poem for String Quartet
HENSEL String Quartet in E-flat Major
SPONSORS
The 2020/21 Civic Orchestra of Chicago season is generously sponsored by The Elizabeth F. Cheney Foundation.
Major funding for the Civic Orchestra Fellowship Program is provided by The Julian Family Foundation.
The Negaunee Music Institute is endowed by a generous gift from The Negaunee Foundation.
This program is sponsored in part by grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Illinois Arts Council Agency.
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