Music Chamber

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827) String Quartet No 6 in B flat Major Op 18/6

Allegro con brio ~ Adagio ma non ~ Scherzo:Allegro ~ La Malinconia: Adagio – Allegretto quasi allegro – Prestissimo

 

 

Haydn's Op. 76, the last set of six quartets he composed, are generally recognised as the pinnacle of his writing in the genre. They were completed in 1796-7 and published a couple of years later. No. 1 in G major, as befits the opening quartet of the set, is grandiose and symphonic in breadth and construction, with some impressive "orchestral" writing for the quartet, and with a broad tonal canvas including frequent explorations of the parallel minor mode.

 

Composed between 1798-1800 Beethoven’s B flat major Quartet, despite its designation as number 6, was actually the penultimate to be composed. It is thought that Beethoven placed this work last in the published series because the weight of the final movement, La Malinconia (Melancholy), would serve as an apt closing to the entire set. Beethoven paid homage to the tradition established by Haydn and by writing a set of six as they had done. The French music scholar Joseph de Marliave comments: “In these works of Beethoven’s youth, the clarity and freshness of Haydn are found linked with the grace of Mozart, but so far from being a slavish imitation of these two Masters, they form, as it were, the crowning achievement of their art.” The Op 18 Quartets were dedicated to Prince Franz Joseph Lobkowitz and first performed privately at weekly Friday morning quartet concerts at the home of Prince Karl Lichnowsky. The B flat Quartet opens with a short and lively movement. Of the second movement Adagio, de Marliave comments; “At the writing of this slow movement, Beethoven must have been enjoying one of the periods of relaxation that he was so rarely to experience during his life”. As for the third movement Scherzo Robert Haven Schauffer writes in The Man Who Freed Music (1929): “In the Scherzo of the B flat Quartet we catch Beethoven in the act of stealing the Twentieth Century’s thunder by inventing Jazz with its subtle, catchy syncopations & bizarre wit. An exaggeration, but this movement is recognized as the most original of the entire set. As for the finale, Beethoven provides written instructions in the score as to how he wants this section performed: Questo pezzo si deve trattare colla piu gran delicatezza. (This piece must be played with the greatest refinement). In his Guide to Chamber Music Melvin Berger comments: “From the point of view of musical development, this introduction is decades ahead of the rest of Op. 18. In some ways it presages the Late Quartets of the 1820s, with its moving evocation of grief and despair; it provides, as well, an insight into the depths of Beethoven’s emotional state.”