Quatuor Calvet

French string quartet ensemble, founded in 1919 by violinist Joseph Calvet.

Regarded as the world’s foremost quartet between 1930-1950 (along with Belgium’s Pro Arte Quartet); many composers dedicated works to them, including: Vincent d'Indy, Marcel Delannoy, Jean Françaix, Florent Schmitt, Henri Sauguet, Reynaldo Hahn and Joseph-Guy Ropartz.

In 1919, Calvet created his string quartet with Georges Mignot on 2nd violin (replaced by Daniel Guilevitch in 1929), Léon Pascal on viola, and Paul Mas on cello. Less than ten years later, the Calvet Quartet (with the support of Nadia Boulanger) performed a complete cycle of Beethoven's quartets in Paris. At the same time, Joseph Calvet and his quartet ardently defended the French music of their contemporaries, notably playing and recording the quartets of Fauré, Debussy and Ravel. The quartet disbanded at the beginning of the Second World War with the departure of Daniel Guilevitch, who was Jewish, to the United States (where he was to adopt the name Daniel Guilet). After initiating a Musical Youth Movement under the Occupation, Calvet reconstituted his quartet in 1944, with violinist Jean Champeil, violist Maurice Husson and cellist [a=Manuel Recassens]. This new formation was a great success after the war, and created quartets of the French repertoire, notably that of Florent Schmitt in 1948, as the previous formation had done with Guy Ropartz and Jean Françaix. The Calvet Quartet was finally disbanded in 1950.