Bohemian Quartet

[1] The Quartet was founded in Prague by three pupils of Antonín Bennewitz (Karel Hoffmann, Josef Suk and Oskar Nedbal) and a pupil of Hanuš Wihan (Otto Berger [cs]); Bennewitz and Wihan were both teachers at the Prague Conservatory.

Wihan then directed the Quartet until 1913 when the strain of touring obliged him to retire from it and resume his teaching.

In 1906, the violist Nedbal had run off with Hoffmann's wife;[2] during the tour in England, his place was at short notice taken by Lionel Tertis and afterwards formally by Jiří Herold.

The group made repeated tours in Europe, especially with the quartets of Dvořák and Smetana, and were noted for their warm tone and fiery rhythms.

[1] Many key contemporary works were written for and/or first performed by the Bohemian Quartet.