Paganini Quartet

The Paganini Quartet was a virtuoso string quartet founded by its first violinist, Henri Temianka, in 1946. The quartet drew its name from the fact that all four of its instruments, made by Antonio Stradivari (1644–1737), had once been owned by the great Italian violinist and composer Niccolo Paganini (1782–1840).

In 1945 Temianka met the noted cellist Robert Maas, who had been with the Pro Arte Quartet. Maas had already secured the sponsorship of Mrs. William Andrews Clark, who was interested in forming a new string quartet. Meanwhile the famous patroness of chamber music, Mrs. Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge, had sponsored Temianka’s performance of the Beethoven violin sonata cycle at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C., with pianist Leonard Shure, and she also expressed interest in the project. Maas happened upon the four Paganini Strads at the shop of Emil Herrmann in New York, and mentioned them to Mrs. Clark, who promptly purchased the fabulous instruments for the Quartet's use. Gustave Rosseels, violin, and Robert Courte, viola, immediately accepted invitations to complete the ensemble, and soon they were heralded as “a great quartet born on American soil.” Temianka referred to it as the "spiritual heir of the Pro Arte Quartet."

In 1946 - 47 they played all the Beethoven string quartets at the Library of Congress; people began lining up at 5:00 a.m. to purchase tickets for the series, which was sold out in an hour. A recording contract with RCA Victor followed, and their rendition of the three Beethoven Opus 59 “Rasumovsky” quartets won the industry’s award for best recording of 1947.

The Quartet made its home in Los Angeles, California. During rehearsals they usually spoke French. The story of how the Paganini Quartet came into being is told in much greater detail in Henri Temianka’s book Facing the Music.

During its 20-year international career, the Paganini Quartet concertized continuously in large cities and small towns throughout the United States, as well as in famous concert halls around the world. They made joint appearances with Arthur Rubinstein, Andrés Segovia, Claudio Arrau and Gary Graffman. Their recordings included most of the Beethoven Quartets as well as those of Fauré, Verdi, Debussy, Ravel and others (see Discography, below). They also played the world premieres of works by Darius Milhaud, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Alberto Ginastera and Benjamin Lees.

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