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[see a review of this concert]
Arnold Steinhardt, violin
John Dalley, violin
Michael Tree, viola
Peter Wiley, cello
Founded in 1964, the Guarneri String Quartet performed its debut at the Marlboro Music Festival. The original Guarneri String Quartet -- violinists Arnold Steinhardt and John Dalley, violist Michael Tree, and cellist David Soyer -- stood as the longest running string quartet in the world without a change in personnel for more than thirty-five seasons, until the replacement of Mr. Soyer with cellist Peter Wiley. The quartet has presented a special series of concerts in its home town of New York at the Metropolitan Museum of Art since 1965. In 1982, then-mayor Ed Koch presented the Guarneri with the very first New York City Seal of Recognition. The Guarneri became the only quartet to receive the Association of Performing Arts Presenters’ Award of Merit, in 1992. Mr. Steinhardt published “Indivisible By Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony” in 1998. The Guarneri’s 40th Anniversary was celebrated over the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 seasons during which they continued to tour extensively throughout the United States and Europe. In 2004, the Guarneri received Chamber Music America’s highest honor, the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award, for its lifetime of service and achievement in the field. After a concert career of 45 years, the Guarneri String Quartet announced that it will retire at the completion of the 2008-2009 season. Chamber Music Columbus is honored to be hosting one of the Guarneri String Quartet’s final concerts ever. Chamber Music Columbus first presented the Guarneri String Quartet on December 8, 1967, and then subsequently on October 4, 2000, and February 11, 2006. The Guarneri String Quartet appears through arrangement with Herbert Barrett Management, 505 Eighth Avenue, Suite 601, New York, New York 10018.
Ludwig van Beethoven (born Bonn, December 16, 1770; died Vienna, March 26, 1827)
Quartet in E-flat major, op. 127 (composed 1824-1825)
Maestoso; Allegro
Adagio, ma non troppo e molto
cantabile
Scherzando vivace
Finale
Prince Nicholas von Galitzin, an amateur cellist and the man responsible
for the first performance of the Missa Solemnis, wrote to Beethoven
in November of 1822, commissioning one, two, or three new string quartets
for his ensemble in St. Petersburg. Having written no quartets since
his Opus 95 in 1810, Beethoven needed little encouragement to
re-cultivate this most fertile creative soil as soon as he finished the mass
and the Ninth Symphony. In January 1823, he accepted the
commission, though he didn’t begin work in earnest for yet another year.
Unfortunately, Galitzin was even slower to pay than Beethoven was to
compose. The three quartets (opp. 127, 132, and 130, in order
of composition) were completed and delivered by 1825, but Galitzin had paid
only for the first by the time of Beethoven’s death in March 1827. The
two estates would carry on the dispute over the remaining two for a number
of years before Galitzin’s heirs eventually paid Beethoven’s heirs for the
works.
Galitzin certainly got his money’s worth for the Quartet in E-flat
major, op. 127, even though Beethoven was dissatisfied with the its
first performance by the Schuppanzigh Quartet on March 6, 1825.
Visually supervising the rehearsals (he was, of course, totally deaf by this
time), the composer could see the frustration and confusion in the players’
demeanor. He immediately handed the work over to Joseph Boehm and his
quartet, whose performance within the month was much better received.
Thus was Beethoven emboldened on the experimental path through the string
quartet that was to occupy him for the remainder of his compositional life.
Each movement of Opus 127 opens with some type of introductory deep
breath, as if shoring up strength for the struggles to follow. The
chordal Maestoso (2/4) opens the exposition (E-flat major), the
development (G major), and the recap (C major), offering three pillars of
stasis in contrast to the contrapuntal lyricism of the Allegro
(3/4). The two-part Adagio (12/8) theme, related to the
Benedictus qui venit of the Missa Solemnis, and its
far-ranging variations constitute one of the last of Beethoven’s expansive
slow movements. Variation I finds the theme in the cello;
Variation II (Andante con moto) is a violin dialogue; the glowing third
variation (Adagio molto espressivo) is a simplified version in E
major; the fourth features a development on fragments of the theme; the
fifth sends the first violin soaring before the coda.
After a pizzicato introduction, the Scherzando vivace (3/4) becomes
playfully fugal with its dotted rhythms; the trio (Presto, ¾) has
an impulsive violin theme over chordal accompaniment. The Finale
(2/2) has no tempo indication but is full of folksy dance episodes and all
varieties of contrast. After a change of meter (6/8) and violin
trills, the movement slows down and lightens up, concluding with three
emphatic chords.
Ludwig van Beethoven (born Bonn, December 16, 1770; died Vienna, March 26, 1827)
Quartet in A minor, op. 132 (composed 1825)
Assai sostenuto; Allegro
Allegro ma non tanto
Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen
an die Gottheit, in der lydischen
Tonart: Molto adagio; Neue Kraft
fühlend: Andante
Alla marcia, assai vivace
Allegro appassionato
After completing the Missa Solemnis, op. 123 and the
Symphony no. 9, op. 125 in 1824, Beethoven devoted the remainder of his
compositional life to the string quartet. Yet even in an oeuvre as
astounding as that of Beethoven, the Quartet in A minor, op. 132
stands out as unusual: five movements, the third of which is an
extended song of thanksgiving for his recovery from a serious illness in
April of 1825. Nowhere is Beethoven’s legendary confrontation with
fate more evident than here. Sketches for the remaining four
movements, however, predate that particular crisis.
From the lower instrumental depths rises the slow introduction (Assai
sostenuto) in soft, otherworldly tones. Feverish and marked by
sudden changes in mood, the first movement proper (Allegro)
contains two other main themes: the first, a sort of violin cadenza
answered by the cello; the second, more calm and lyrical.
In sharp contrast to the haunted quality of the opening movement, the
scherzo (Allegro ma non tanto) features dance rhythms and a sense
of well-being. It brims with canonic imitation and calming unison and
harmonic passages. The first violin dances high above the accompanying
drone in the trio section, a “musette” full of humor and pastoral joy.
Next is one of Beethoven’s -- or anyone’s -- strangest movements. The
“Song of thanksgiving to the deity, from a convalescent, in the Lydian mode”
looks back to the ancient church modes for its melodic and harmonic
vocabulary, but forward for its structure and subjectivity. The
contemplative chorale (Molto adagio) recurs three times, becoming
increasingly animated by rhythmic flourishes that could symbolize the
composer’s recovery. Alternating with these passages is a quicker,
more complex tonal Andante section labeled “Feeling new strength.” The
final appearance of the chorale, marked “With the most intimate feeling,”
makes for a poignant and spare climax.
From this most sublime moment, a more jarring contrast than a march could
hardly be imagined. This brief Alla marcia leads into a long
recitative by the first violin with restless accompaniment. The main
theme of the Allegro appassionato had been Beethoven’s original
idea for the last movement of the Symphony no. 9, before he
conceived that work’s choral finale. Toward the end, the first violin
and cello both soar to their upper registers for a last iteration of the
rondo theme. A turn from minor to major for the coda closes this most
astonishing of quartets.
--
Program notes by Jay Weitz, Senior Consulting Database Specialist for music,
OCLC Online Computer Library Center, Dublin, Ohio.
He is a contributing performing arts critic for the weekly
alternative newspaper Columbus Alive
(http://www.columbusalive.com).