Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn

Next Performance:

23 July 2022, 18:00

St Georges Church, Parktown, Johannesburg

Programme notes by Kai Christiansen.

Quartet No. 14 ("Spring") in G major, K. 387, by W.A. Mozart

After moving to Vienna, acquiring a deeper education in Bach, meeting Haydn for the first time and encountering his landmark string quartets, Op. 33, published only a year before in 1781, a twenty-six-year-old Mozart turned again to the genre of string quartet. Motivated purely by inspiration and respect rather than the dictates of patronage or the good fortune of commission, Mozart worked hard over a period of roughly two years to compose what became the set of six quartets he dedicated to Haydn. Of the twenty-three quartets he wrote, even among the celebrated last ten, the "Haydn" quartets are considered Mozart's finest. In technique, variety, ingenuity and sheer musical brilliance, they constitute an important landmark of their own equal to if not surpassing Haydn's models (at least up to that time). Together, the twelve quartets of Mozart and Haydn combined comprise the first great watershed of Viennese Classical chamber music. The first, and in some ways, most impressive of Mozart's set is the String Quartet in G Major, K. 387, completed in December of 1782. The first movement sonata has two prominent themes, both sharply articulated by dynamic contrasts between loud and soft with segments that move in small chromatic steps. These qualities – frequent dynamic contrast and chromaticism – characterize themes in the other movements as well suggesting an artistic unity to the quartet as a whole, a rare trait this early in the string quartet history. The development is a rich example of the quartet as an enlightened conversation among friends, a musical conversation much in the manner of operatic recitative, a natural inclination for Mozart. As always with his chamber music sonata forms, the so-called "recapitulation" features significant elaboration and extension making the thematic recurrence more than a mere reprise, but in fact, a much fuller realization creating an elevated conclusion. The Menuetto theme begins with two gentle downward leaps, then combines both the loud/soft dynamics and the chromatic vocabulary from the previous movement into a jerky upward climb that hints at the future of the scherzo genre with a mild jest elaborated in contrary motion by the cello. The section is rounded off by a lovely, poised minuet phrase, all gallant propriety restored with the unaccented chromatic line trailing off in well-mannered conclusion. The second reprise inverts both the leaps and the chromatic line while shifting the melodic roles down into the cello and viola parts for a witty contrast that revels in Mozart's newfound facility for independent part writing. Yet another contrast exercises the full range and power of quartet texture as the trio begins with all four players in bold unison. Dramatic with its minor key, continued chromatic and dynamic tension, and a sorrowful sighing motif (in the cello), the trio introduces the first dark shadow in the quartet. With a formal plan of dramatic modulation even in the Menuetto, all four movements of this early classical masterpiece are ruled by sonata form. Moving to the warm glow of the sub-dominant key (C major), the Andante cantabile sings an exquisitely graceful song, sophisticated with shifts into pathos, its supple heroic reassertions and its radiant flairs of divine beauty. The dark intensity of the trio returns along with the stark intonations of all four instruments in unison. But this wayward tangent is lovingly coaxed back into illumination with gentle guidance that rises into a rich, polyphonic cadence that blossoms into four independent but interwoven threads. The marvel of this slow movement is beautifully expressed by Alec King who writes, "Mozart pours forth a stream of rapt, contemplative music . . . rich . . . soaring . . .with beautifully calculated climaxes. It is a remarkable example of the sustained, exalted feeling expressed with wonderful harmonic resource, yet without a single melodic phrase that is at all memorable in itself." The finale is a further miracle and an important milestone in the history of the string quartet and classical music in general. Cast in sonata form, its exposition is made of equal parts polyphonic fugue and homophonic melody with accompaniment, the ancient learned style and the fashionable gallant style seamlessly mixed into a wonder of exciting complexity and relaxing ease, a unified drama par excellence. The reintroduction of polyphony as a compliment to the accompanied lyricism of the progressive sonata form is one of the key events in achieving the mature classical style and it is difficult to find another example of the effortless, almost insouciant blend that Mozart attained here (the closest example being Mozart's own Jupiter Symphony whose finale uses almost the same theme). Each of the two thematic areas of the sonata includes both a fugato (a portion of a fugue) and an accompanied theme. The second thematic area even combines the first and second fugato subjects into a double fugato. The development begins with yet another fugato based on a new, third theme. With its Molto Allegro drive, its rococo shimmer and its contrapuntal grandeur, one would expect a conclusion of awesome might. Instead, Mozart ends with subtle, delicate finesse, quietly completing the final statement of the first fugato subject with its missing three-note tail for perfect harmonic closure as if he were whispering the simple solution to a perplexing but delightful riddle. In addition to highlighting the contrapuntal riches of the fresh but now mature quartet form, Mozart simultaneously demonstrates two other cardinal features of the genre: humor and intimacy.

Quartet No. 13 ("Rosamunde") in A minor, D. 804, by F. Schubert

Schubert grew up playing chamber music with his family and composed several youthful (and quite skillful) string quartets for these domestic affairs. His mature "professional" quartets composed for public performance date from the 1820's and include the single movement "Quartettsatz", the "Rosamunde", the "Death and the Maiden", and the final epic in G major completing a lifelong set of 15 numbered quartets. Written in 1824 when Schubert was still only 27 (with only four years left), the "Rosamunde" quartet would be the only string quartet performed and published during his lifetime. Overshadowed by the more dramatic quartets that surround it chronologically, the 13th quartet is notable for its suave but dark-tinged reserve, a delicacy of atmosphere, texture and Schubert's irrepressible signature: delicious lyricism. As he frequently did, Schubert borrowed melodic and rhythmic seeds from his other music – songs and incidental music – to crystallize a new work. These influences are detectable in all four movements, particularly the gentle song of the slow movement taken from an entr'acte for the play "Rosamunde" written a year earlier, hence, the quartet's nickname supplied by history rather than Schubert himself. The first movement is the most intense. A wistful melody with an underlying rhythmic urgency sets a mood that is trademark Schubert: hopeful yearning surrounded by despair. Using multiple themes, flexible textures, strong dynamics and briefly alarming swatches of fugato, the music rises and falls, each new positive gesture thwarted by an ever-stronger darkness. The middle movements are much more subtle. The Andante with the theme from Rosamunde softly sings but still rises to a startling peak of anguish if only briefly. The Menuetto is a surprise: instead of a lively scherzo, Schubert writes an atmospheric character piece that only gains its rhythmic sway tentatively, demure and uncertain. Only the trio brings relief with its chaste simplicity waltzing into the light. This kinder spirit pervades the finale, surprisingly gentle for Schubert. A moderately paced folk dance with a slight gypsy influence becomes a showcase for a masterful fantasy of textures and flickering tonalities confirming the Rosamunde quartet as a subtle delicacy among Schubert's "late" chamber masterworks.

Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13, by F. Mendelssohn

Mendelssohn's rise to mature talent was precocious and meteoric: he wrote the Octet at sixteen, the Overture to the Midsummer Night's Dream at seventeen and his first mature string quartet at eighteen. Despite the higher opus number and the occasional label, "No. 2", Mendelssohn composed Op. 13 two years before his next quartet, Op. 12 in E-flat Major, "No. 1." Op. 13 is astonishing by several measures besides the youth of its composer. It is lyrical, intensely passionate and utterly winning. It is also ingeniously constructed. The formal structure revolves around a tender love song that Mendelssohn wrote months before he began the quartet. The lied — Frage, Op. 9/1 — makes literal appearances in both outer movements while lending its spirit to the inner ones. A crucial motif from the song influences several themes across the quartet while other close relationships bind all the movements into stunning thematic unity. The finale literally quotes the previous movements eventually circling back to the very beginning to resume the introductory adagio and bring the song to a conclusion. Mendelssohn wrote one of the very first "cyclical" chamber works. Yet another amazing facet is the unmistakable influence of Beethoven. Beethoven composed his ineffable late quartets between 1824 and 1826; he died in 1827 right around the time Mendelssohn wrote his love song. Mendelssohn deeply admired Beethoven and, unusual for the time, was intently studying these radical chamber works written just a year or two earlier. Mendelssohn was way ahead of his time in drawing inspiration from music considered inscrutable by many of his contemporaries. Op. 13 makes several vivid references to Beethoven's quartets. It is packed with intricate, extended contrapuntal imitation including numerous fugal entrances and a massive chromatic fugue in the second movement. The slow introduction, the surging primary themes, the poignant lyricism, the tonal effects and even the key signature point directly to Op. 132. And then there is Mendelssohn's song. The title "Frage" means "Question" in English. The music begins with a three-note rising motif to the words, "Ist es wahr?" ("Is it true?"). Was Mendelssohn making a connection with Beethoven's finale quartet with its similar musical question "Muss es sein?" ("Must it be?"). As with Beethoven's musical query, Mendelsohn responds with a three-note answer at least twice: in the main theme of the first movement and again at the very end of the quartet. The connection seems undeniable. Regardless, Mendelssohn's questioning song is crucial to his quartet in terms of formal structure, thematic variation and even the dramatic use of recitative to punctuate his decidedly vocal orientation. In writing this extended instrumental "song without words", Mendelssohn became, like Schubert, a Romantic pioneer.