Betti, Adolfo, 1875-1950

Betti was an Italian violinist and leader of the Flonzaley String Quartet.

From the description of Adolfo Betti Papers, 1907-1940. (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center (HRC); University of Texas at Austin). WorldCat record id: 145406492

Adolfo Betti, violinist and leader of the Flonzaley String Quartet, was born in Bagni di Lucca, Italy, on March 21, 1875. He soon displayed a gift for music, making his debut as a violinist at the age of seven. Many eminent musicians, including Puccini, were guests at his father's home and encouraged the boy to study music. In 1892 he entered the Liège Conservatory where he studied violin with César Thomson. Upon his graduation in 1896, Betti embarked on a successful recital tour through Austria, Germany, Italy, and England, and in 1900 he became Thomson's assistant at the Brussels Conservatory. In 1903 he was chosen by the Swiss violinist Alfred Pochon to become first violinist of the newly organized Flonzaley Quartet. He held this position until the quartet disbanded in 1929. From then until his death he divided his time between his home in New York and his villa in Bagni di Lucca, writing, editing early music, teaching, and occasionally appearing as a soloist. In 1933 Betti was awarded the Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge Foundation medal for his valuable services to chamber music. In 1936 he married the French cellist Madeleine Monnier. He died at his villa on December 2, 1950.

The Flonzaley Quartet was the creation of Edward J. de Coppet (1855-1916), a wealthy New York banker of Swiss descent. The American composer Daniel Gregory Mason, in his Music In My Time (Macmillan, 1938), called the quartet de Coppet's own supreme work of art, and described him as the ideal patron of the arts. De Coppet had a home in New York and a summer estate, Le Flonzaley, near Lake Geneva. A dedicated amateur musician, in 1886 he formed a semi-professional chamber group with his wife and some friends which for years gave regular performances in his New York apartment.

In Switzerland in 1902 de Coppet met Alfred Pochon, who taught with Betti at the Brussels Conservatory, and invited him to come to New York to join his quartet. Pochon went to New York and took up the new position, but before long he found that the outside demands on the members of the quartet left them insufficient time for rehearsals, so he suggested to de Coppet that if he could find four men willing to devote their time exclusively to quartet playing, a unique ensemble could be created. This idea appealed to de Coppet (the moreso as he was beginning to lose his hearing), and he allowed Pochon to assemble the musicians of his choice: Adolfo Betti, first violin, Ugo Ara, viola, and Iwan d'Archambeau, cello.

The first rehearsals took place at Le Flonzaley in the summer of 1903, and the following year the quartet began touring Europe and America. It immediately became one of the two most important American quartets of the first quarter of the century (the other being the Kneisel Quartet); it was also one of the first to make recordings.

De Coppet stipulated that the four musicians could take on no other work outside of practicing, rehearsing and performing together. As a result, they achieved a legendary perfection of ensemble. In addition to the standard repertoire, they championed both modern and early music, commissioning new works while also introducing audiences to forgotten pieces by 18th-century composers such as Sammartini, Leclair, and Boyce.

From the guide to the Adolfo Betti Papers TXRC99-A25., 1907-1940, (Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center, University of Texas at Austin)