Bergen Public Library Norway

Surely, Pierre Monteux is no.2 from the right? As a string quartet violist he had then already played for Johannes Brahms, something that would impress orchestra players when as an eminent senior conductor he happened to mention this fact, so many many decades later on, y compris the Sacre world première etc etc:) In fact, I think this is Grieg and string quartet with Mr. Unknown at the back.

This photograph was taken on the stage of the Salle Pleyel in Paris, at nº 22 rue Rochechouart, the very same concert hall where Chopin performed in 1841, 1842 and 1848 (the hall was demolished in the 1920s).

This photograph was taken by Gerschel, probably Charles Gerschel rather than the Frères Gerschel, in late April 1903, at the Salle Pleyel at 22 rue Rochechouart in Paris. It was first published in "Musica", a French musical magazine, in Vol. 2, no. 9, the issue for June 1903. The issue is available online, with permission for re-use, from the collection of the Sorbonne in Paris, the relevant page being at this address: agorha.inha.fr/inhaprod/jsp/view/view_diaporama_report.js... The musicians are the Quatuor Johannes Wolff, a string quartet rather than a quintet. From left to right, the four players are Johannes Wolff, first violin, Joseph Hollman, violoncello, Pierre Monteux, viola, and André Dulaurons, second violin. Edvard Grieg is sitting in front of the musicians, and Gustave Lyon, the managing director (Administrateur Délégué) of Pleyel, Wolff, Lyon et Cie, is standing at the back. The postcard from which this particular version of the image is taken was published in 1988 by Art Unlimited of Amsterdam, with a reference number of F1823, from an original in the possession of the Gemeentemuseum in Den Haag in the Netherlands. The incorrect spelling of "Lyon" as "Lijon" will have occurred in the Netherlands, where "ij" is frequently used as a phonetic alternative for "y". It appears in print on the rear of the 1988 postcard, implying that the information was probably incorrectly copied from a handwritten note on the original image. Grieg had conducted a large concert of his own music on 19 April 1903, at the Châtelet in Paris, and the report in "Musica" speaks of a similar chamber music concert taking place at the Salle Pleyel a week later, using the French expression "huit jours plus tard." So far no mention of the exact date of this further concert has come to light, despite extensive searches on Gallica, the online facility provided by the Bibliothèque National in Paris, though the concert's programme of music was both listed and reviewed in "Musica," on the same page as this photograph.

This is a portrait of the Swedish composer Wilhelm Stenhammar [1871-1927]. One of Sweden's greatest composers! Stenhammar composed his wonderful 6 String Quartets, 2 Symphonies, 2 Piano Concertos (of which No.1 of 1893 was part of the 'core repertoire' about 100 years ago, and performed in Berlin [1913] under one of the greatest conductors, Arthur Nikisch and the Berlin Philharmonic!)

This picture is not taken outside of Ole Bull's villa at Lysöen Island. Rather, the party has gathered in front of of the white tower erected in 1903 at the highest point on the island.