The Florida Chamber Music Project (FCMP) will perform Florence Price’s String Quartet in G Major (Unfinished) and Antonin Dvorak’s String Quartet in G Major, Op. 106 at 3 p.m. Feb. 23 at the Beaches Museum Chapel. The concert is sponsored by Holly and Redgie Gutshall.
Florence Price is noted as the first African-American woman to be recognized as a symphonic composer, and the first to have a composition performed by a major orchestra (the Chicago Symphony). She has composed more than 300 works. Her training was steeped in the European tradition, but her music reveals her Southern roots. It’s said she uses all of the instruments of the quartet well, especially the cello. This piece, String Quartet in G Major (Unfinished) is considered one of her most beloved pieces and shows the influence of Dvorak and other late Romantic composers formally and harmonically while bearing the distinct stamp of the African-American spiritual tradition.
String Quartet in G Major, Op. 106 by Antonin Dvorak was composed in 1895 and first performed in 1896. The piece contains four movements, beginning with a playful, fluttering theme that’s followed by a remote theme and counter melody. This quartet is defined by its lyricism and exciting rhythmic vitality. It’s said that this piece conjures a dialogue along the lineage with the voices of Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert and Brahms.
“Florence Price and Antonin Dvorak were alive at the same time and were influenced by some of the same music,” said FCMP Artistic Director Susan Pardue. “Florence Price admired the music of Dvorak, and the influence of that is audible in her music. Dvorak appreciated the music of African-American spirituals, even borrowing some of his material from the melodies of these spirituals. It is somehow fitting that Florence Price was from the community from which the music was borrowed and then she used some of it in her compositions as well.”
Tickets are $30 at the door or through 904TIX. Student tickets are $10 and available only at the door.
Beaches Museum Chapel is wheelchair-accessible and has free parking along Pablo Avenue near 4th Street North of Beach Boulevard. All concerts begin at 3 p.m. Attendees are invited to join the musicians after the concert for refreshments.
The Florida Chamber Music Project was founded 12 years ago by violist Susan Pardue. Joining her are violinists Patrice Evans and Ann Hertler and cellist Laurie Casseday. All are members of the Jacksonville Symphony.
For advance tickets online: flchambermusic.org.
