Sam Girling’s edition of Franz Alexander Pössinger’s Three String Quartets Op. 8 is published in a series titled ‘String Quartets in Beethoven’s Europe’. The title itself already hints at the series’ aim, which is further explained by its general editor, Nancy November, in the preface (vii–viii): the series seeks to offer a broad overview of the European string quartet culture during Beethoven’s lifetime. By making works by lesser-known composers available in modern editions, the series seeks to contextualise the string quartets commonly performed in modern concert halls, the majority of which are by canonical composers. By presenting these works in modern editions, the aim is to make them accessible not only for research, but also for performance. The wide-ranging repertoire presented includes string quartets written for amateurs, for virtuoso performers, and for ‘connoisseurs’, encompassing both original works and arrangements.
As an example of what is nowadays referred to as the ‘Viennese classical string quartet’ or ‘wahres Quartett’ (true quartet), the term used by Pössinger’s contemporary Johann Conrad Wilhelm Petiscus in contrast to the ‘quatuor concertant’ and the ‘quatuor brillant’, Girling presents Pössinger’s string quartets Op. 8 in C Minor, F Major and A Major, published in 1804–1805. Girling, a trained percussionist, timpanist, and musicologist, completed his PhD in 2018 at the University of Auckland, focusing on percussion writing during the early nineteenth century. For his work on the edition of Pössinger’s Op. 8, he was granted a DAAD scholarship for a research visit to the Beethoven-Haus Bonn, Germany. In 2023, he created an edition of string quartets by Pierre Rode (Pierre Rode, Selected String Quartets, ed. Sam Girling, A-R Editions, Middleton, 2023), published in the series under discussion, and he also serves on the editorial board overseeing this series.
Franz Alexander Pössinger, born in Vienna in 1766, spent most of his life working at the Nationaltheaterorchester as a violinist and violist. Apart from one melodrama, some smaller vocal works, and a violin concerto, he composed primarily chamber music and arranged popular works, mostly operas, for chamber ensemble. He also played a role in the creation of Beethoven’s violin concerto, probably advising the composer on the solo violin part.
In an introduction (ix–xiii), Girling shares this basic biographical information about Pössinger, but also offers insights into the music of the edited quartets, analysing them briefly (x–xii). At the beginning of this section, a period review (published in 1808, about three years after the edition) provides an interesting perspective on the perception of the quartets by Pössingers contemporaries. Some information on the rationale behind the selection of this particular set of string quartets by Pössinger would have been useful, because quite a few other sets of string quartets by Pössinger are documented (Opp. 1, 2, 8, and a later one, for which the opus number is not provided, are mentioned in the introduction; additional works for string quartets by Pössinger include Opp. 17, 18, 48, 49, and 50, supplemented by some opera arrangements).
In the subsequent analysis, Girling discusses several features that are shared by all the quartets of Op. 8. Particularly noteworthy is his observation that all three quartets are ‘creating a sense of surprise’ at their opening. The editor connects this to the (most likely) private or semi-private performance setting, where a ‘burst of sound’ may have helped to capture the listeners’ attention. Another feature he discusses in detail is the use of imitative techniques, which can be seen, for example, in the fugal passage at the beginning of the last movement of the first quartet, which, Girling supposes, might be a ‘tribute to his … teacher Albrechtsberger’. In the final section of the introduction (xii–xiii), Girling offers some useful notes on performance practice, focusing on issues of bowing, uniformity between the parts and dynamic changes.
The musical text itself (pp. 3–111) is presented in a clear, readable manner. The only aspect of the edition that seems unnecessarily complicated is the decision to use four different ways of indicating editorial additions (dashed lines for slurs, ties and hairpins; parentheses for articulations; bold-roman instead of bold-italic for dynamics and square brackets for verbal dynamics and trills), an approach shared by other volumes of the series.
The critical commentary (pp. 113–15) is expectedly short, since the only source for this work is the contemporary printed edition. Girling based his edition on a single copy; a comparison with other extant copies would have been of interest, because differences between copies of the same edition cannot be ruled out. However, such an undertaking may have exceeded the scope of this volume. Also, a short description of the source would have been useful, evaluating, for instance, its overall reliability. After providing the title of the original edition as well as the location and shelf mark of the copy used for the edition, the editorial methods are very extensively and comprehensibly described, followed by critical notes.
In summary, while a few minor inaccuracies detract somewhat from the overall impression of a meticulously prepared edition (e.g. transcription errors in the German original of the quartets’ review from 1808, the claim that the four sets of string quartets mentioned ‘form a large part of his [Pössinger’s] oeuvre’, which raises the question of the general scope of his work, or the description of the publisher Thadé Weigl, together with Artaria, as a ‘leading early nineteenth-century Viennese’ publisher), the edition nevertheless constitutes a valuable contribution to both scholars and performers interested in early nineteenth-century chamber music.
