The Budapest Quartet was a string quartet established in Budapest in 1886 by Jenő Hubay and David Popper.
Johannes Brahms performed with the quartet and thought it was the best he had heard.Potter, The Cambridge Companion to the String Quartet, p.56
This quartet went under a variety of names. Outside Hungary, it was usually called "Quartet Hubay-Popper". Within Hungary it was called "Hungarian Quartet" or "Budapest Quartet". This was because Hungarians were fiercely patriotic.Brandt, Nat (1993), Con Brio: Four Russians Called the Budapest String Quartet, p.33. Oxford University Press
They performed for twenty-seven years.Avins, Performing Brahms: Early Evidence of Performance Style, p.29
Composition The quartet's initial composition was:
Jenő Hubay, first violin Viktor Herzfeld, second violin Bram Eldering, viola David Popper, cello
Herzfeld played in 1886-1889 and 1897-1899. Wilhelm Grünfeld (concertmaster of Budapest Opera) played in 1888 the 2nd violin and 1889 (later a teacher at the Music Academy). After then, two students of Hubay played the 2nd violin: in 1894 János Farkas and from 1895 Rudolf Kemény.Dr. Bela Diosy: Ungarischer Künstler Almanach: das Kunstleben Ungarns in Wort und Bild. Musik, Königlich Ungarische Universitätsdruckerei, Budapest 1929, p. 46 Elderling left the quartet soon. Violist from 1888 was Josef WaldbauerTibor Frank: Berlin junction: patterns of Hungarian intellectual migrations, 1919-1933 - Hungary and the German Cultural TraditionDr. Bela Diosy: Ungarischer Künstler Almanach: das Kunstleben Ungarns in Wort und Bild. Musik, Königlich Ungarische Universitätsdruckerei, Budapest 1929, p. 46Prof. Gianluca La Villa: Hubay e la Scuola ungherese del violino and from 1898 Gustav Szerémi.
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