Quartet for violin, viola, cello and piano in E minor op. 24

Awarded a prize by the Société des Compositeurs de Musique in 1893, premiered on 19 April 1894 (Salle Pleyel) and published in 1895, the Quartet for Piano and Strings in E minor, op. 24 by Fernand de la Tombelle reveals the different facets of the composer’s style. It would seem, according to the musicologist Jean-Christophe Branger, that this work may have been the result of a reworking of a first E minor quartet, premiered at the Société Nationale de Musique by the Quatuor Rémy on 17 March 1888 (with the composer playing the piano part). This initial version was composed of an Allegro agitato, an Andante choral, a Scherzo and a Finale: which suggests, therefore, that the last three movements were extensively revised before the work was entered into the competition run by the Société des Compositeurs de Musique. The turbulence of the opening “Allegro”, which recalls certain passages of Schumann, is followed, in the1893 version, by a highly expressive C major “Adagio”, in which the three string instruments enter into dialogue with the piano. After a jaunty scherzo-style third movement, the last movement brings the work to a sparkling close. In this quartet, La Tombelle gives equal treatment to the three string instruments. Composed after his first set of organ pieces (op. 23), which pay homage to the great organists of the time, the piano part of La Tombelle’s opus 24 clearly shows that his keyboard writing is just as inventive for the instrument which is king of the concert hall.