String Sextet (Parts)

Schulhoff String Sextet (Parts)
for 2 Violins, 2 Violas and 2 Violoncellos

Work on the String Sextet took over a period of four years. The first movement was completed in April 1920 in Dresden, but there was a three year gap before the remaining three movements were finished in Prague in 1924.

The premiere was given by the Zika Quartet on the 19th of July 1924 at the Donaueschingen Festival of Contemporary Music - none other than Paul Hindemith played the second viola part while his brother, Rudolf Hindemith was the second cellist.

It appears that the manuscript was subsequently sent to Universal Edition in Vienna for publication but was re-called for revisions in 1926. The revisions never materialised and it seems there were no further performances during his lifetime.

The Sextet is dedicated to Francis Poulenc and although there is no evidence of a personal contact between the two composers, Schulhoff was certainly familiar with Poulenc's work.

In 1978 the first printed score was published by Supraphon in Prague but without performance parts. During the mid-1980s the work began to be heard in concert halls not least due to the efforts of Gidon Kremer. This edition, prepared for Bärenreiter by the German pianist and Schulhoff advocate, Michael Rische, appeared in 1998.