Swan Hennessy - String Quartet No. 2, Op. 49 (1920)

Edward Swan Hennessy (24 November 1866 – 26 October 1929) was an Irish-American composer and pianist who lived much of his life in Paris. In his pre-War piano music, he excelled as a miniaturist in descriptive, programmatic music. After joining a group of Breton composers, he developed a reputation as a "Celtic" composer, drawing on his Irish heritage, and writing in a style that was unique in a French as well as an Irish context. In some works, he used jazz elements and took inspiration from funfairs and industrial noise, anticipating trends associated with the group of "Les Six".

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String Quartet No. 2, Op. 49 / Deuxième quatuor à cordes (1920)
Dedication: Terence McSwiney, Lord Mayor of Cork

1. Andante (0:00)
2. Allegro (3:04)
3. Interlude. Andante (8:12)
4. Allegro - Andante - Allegro (10:33)

The RTÉ ConTempo Quartet
Bogdan Sofei (violin), Ingrid Nicola (violin),
Andreea Banciu (viola), Adrian Mantu (cello)

Hennessy’s second string quartet is his most important work in an
Irish context. It is dedicated to the memory of Terence MacSwiney,
Lord Mayor of Cork, who died of hunger strike in an English prison
in October 1920 – an event that drew the world’s attention to the
situation in Ireland and one of many factors that eventually led to Irish
independence in 1923. It turns out that this particular string quartet is
one of the very few works of classical music that directly responded to
those revolutionary events one hundred years ago.

The work begins in C minor, with an Interlude in A major and a
Finale in C major. It was first performed in Paris, 3rd January 1922,
at the World Congress of the Irish Race in the presence of Éamon
de Valera, Constance Markievicz and Mary MacSwiney, by an Irish
quartet consisting of Arthur Darley, Terry O’Connor, George H. Brett,
and Joseph Schofield. The same musicians performed it about a
week later in Dublin. The Paris music critic of The New York Herald (26
January 1922) wrote a fairly good characterisation of the work’s four
movements and Hennessy’s intentions:

[It] begins slowly and sadly in a manner suggestive of the patriot’s
long self-imposed martyrdom. His gradual weakening and final death
are indicated by a subtle progressive change of rhythmic values. In
the three movements which follow the effort is to glorify Ireland,
and both the more sombre and the joyful sides of the Celtic genius are indicated. There is a clever counterfeiting of the notes of the
bagpipe, the occasional introduction of a bright theme from the
popular ballads. The triumphant finale acclaims the glorious future
of the new Ireland.

While the quartet as a whole is very much suited to express both the
mourning in the face of MacSwiney’s death (predominant in the first
movement and parts of the fourth) and the hope for a better future, the
brief Interlude stands out as a section without any change in mood and is
particularly touching. Noteworthy is also the very optimistic ending of the
quartet that anticipates Irish independence on the horizon.

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