death and the maiden   Hagen Quartett

The 2025/26 season is one of new encounters but also of farewells. The celebrated Hagen Quartet is embarking on its last concert tour and doing us the honour of offering a programme from the classical period to the 20th century that tells of beginnings and endings.
With its return to the traditional four-movement structure, Beethoven’s Quartet op.135 is one of the composer’s last finished compositions. It can be seen as a reversion to familiar musical practice. Schubert composed Death and the Maiden in 1824 during a highly productive period; he wanted to pave the way for the great symphony. The theme of death was particularly popular in the Romantic period – perhaps even more so in Schubert’s case due to his awareness of his incurable illness. Webern can say more in two minutes than most other composers in ten. His Five Movements for String Quartet op. 5 are seen as a departure from fixed tonality and traditional forms, and as his commitment to brevity. Webern abandoned classical musical structures in favour of an almost abstract form of his own choosing.

Hagen Quartett
Lukas Hagen, Rainer Schmidt – Violin
Veronika Hagen – Viola
Clemens Hagen – Cello