The Elizabeth Pollard Fetter Chamber Music Program
The Department of Music and Dance encourages the study of chamber music of every style, configuration, and period.
Participation is open to all through auditions held at the beginning of each semester. Past groups have included string
quartets, quintets, and sextets, Baroque trio sonatas, piano trios, wind/string ensembles, drumming and jazz ensembles.
At least one member of each ensemble must register for credit (MU 47). Groups meet once a week with a coach for a
one–hour rehearsal and for an addition one-hour per week self-directed rehearsal. The culmination of the rehearsal
process includes a performance late in the semester. The Elizabeth Pollard Fetter Chamber Music Program supports
student musicians by selecting and providing funding for coaches.
Works studied and performed during the 2006-2007 school year:
- Béla Bartók, String Quartet No. 2
- Ludwig van Beethoven, Quartet No. 9 in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3
- Beethoven, Trio in B flat, Op. 11
- Johannes Brahms, Sextets No. 1, op. 18 and No. 2, op. 36
- Max Bruch, Acht Stücke, op. 83 for clarinet, cello, and piano
- François Couperin, "La Piémontoise," Fourth Sonata from
- Antonin Dvorak, String Quartet No. 12 in F majorDvorak, Piano Quintet in A major, Op.81
- César Franck, Violin Sonata in A Major
- Bohuslav Martinu, Duo No. 2 for violin and viola
- Clara Schumann, Romances for Violin and Piano, op. 22
- Dimitri Shostakovitch, String Quartet No. 3, op. 73
- Georg Philipp Telemann, Trio Sonata in G Minor for oboe, violin, and continuo, TWV 42:g 5
The Elizabeth Pollard Fetter Chamber Music Program has been an integral
part of the Swarthmore College performance program for three decades.
It began in 1975 as the "Pollard Scholarship Funds," with an initial contribution from Elizabeth Pollard
Fetter (Swarthmore, ’25) in memory of her mother, Emilie Garrett
Pollard (Swarthmore, 1893). With the passing of Elizabeth Pollard Fetter
in 1977, husband Frank Whitson Fetter (Swarthmore , ‘20) stepped
forward to endow "The Elizabeth Pollard Fetter String Quartet Scholarships
at Swarthmore College." Dozens of student musicians were subsequently
supported in their desire to explore the string quartet repertoire. In
2001, the program was renamed "The Elizabeth Pollard Fetter Chamber
Music Program." It was expanded to support the coaching of multiple
chamber music groups. Funding continues to be enhanced by successive generations
of the Fetter family, some of whom are Swarthmore alumni. Swarthmore College,
students and faculty past and present, and the community at large, has
been enriched by the musical communication made possible through the generosity
of the Fetter family.
The faculty supervisor of the Fetter Chamber Music program is Michael Johns; please contact him for further information.