Beethoven: String Quartet in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4
Completed in 1800, Beethoven’s Op. 18, No. 4 quartet represents an early foray into the C minor sound world that would come to be a space of great angst and struggle for Beethoven, one that he would return to often as the backdrop for his most tortured works. Beethoven’s choice of key for this quartet is significant not only as it relates to the rest of his oeuvre — this piece shares its tonal center with the Fifth Symphony, “Pathétique Sonata” and the Third Piano Concerto, among others — but also in the context of his masonic associations. For freemasons, C minor represented a symbol of death, and was reserved by earlier composers for only their very darkest works. Beethoven’s proclivity toward C minor has led some scholars to consider his stormy works in that key the most faithful to his artistic spirit, while others criticize a reflexive levity in choosing that key as a default mode of passion.
In any case, the first movement opens with a worried lament in the violin while the other voices surge restlessly beneath it until slashing chords interrupt the pained lyricism. The eventual major mode does little to quell the apprehension stirred by the opening; instead of the welcome distraction of a contrasting melody, the second theme bears an eerie resemblance to its brooding predecessor, as if to cast a shadow of malaise on the sunny E-flat major.
The unfeeling clockwork that announces the second movement flies in the face of the expected tenderness of a slow movement, which is conspicuously absent from this quartet. What’s more, this alleged Scherzo feels more like a stiff minuet with the veneer of a fugue, while the actual Menuetto third movement, with its blistering tempo and angular odd-beat accents, is hardly danceable.
Virtuosic gypsy fiddling dominates the Finale while the other voices trade vernacular witticisms below. Amid the scorching flames of this devilish Allegro, we might catch a glimmer of C major that passes before we can be sure we heard it — but Beethoven never shows his hand, ending with a wink by including only the notes shared between C major and C minor.
© Graeme Steele Johnson for the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival
Completed in 1800, Beethoven’s Op. 18, No. 4 quartet represents an early foray into the C minor sound world that would come to be a space of great angst and struggle for Beethoven, one that he would return to often as the backdrop for his most tortured works. Beethoven’s choice of key for this quartet is significant not only as it relates to the rest of his oeuvre — this piece shares its tonal center with the Fifth Symphony, “Pathétique Sonata” and the Third Piano Concerto, among others — but also in the context of his masonic associations. For freemasons, C minor represented a symbol of death, and was reserved by earlier composers for only their very darkest works. Beethoven’s proclivity toward C minor has led some scholars to consider his stormy works in that key the most faithful to his artistic spirit, while others criticize a reflexive levity in choosing that key as a default mode of passion.
In any case, the first movement opens with a worried lament in the violin while the other voices surge restlessly beneath it until slashing chords interrupt the pained lyricism. The eventual major mode does little to quell the apprehension stirred by the opening; instead of the welcome distraction of a contrasting melody, the second theme bears an eerie resemblance to its brooding predecessor, as if to cast a shadow of malaise on the sunny E-flat major.
The unfeeling clockwork that announces the second movement flies in the face of the expected tenderness of a slow movement, which is conspicuously absent from this quartet. What’s more, this alleged Scherzo feels more like a stiff minuet with the veneer of a fugue, while the actual Menuetto third movement, with its blistering tempo and angular odd-beat accents, is hardly danceable.
Virtuosic gypsy fiddling dominates the Finale while the other voices trade vernacular witticisms below. Amid the scorching flames of this devilish Allegro, we might catch a glimmer of C major that passes before we can be sure we heard it — but Beethoven never shows his hand, ending with a wink by including only the notes shared between C major and C minor.
© Graeme Steele Johnson for the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival