Classical Music | Music for Quartet

Recorded on 11/10/2010, uploaded on 11/10/2010

Musician's or Publisher's Notes

I. Allegro con brio; II. Adagio, ma non troppo; III.Scherzo: Allegro; IV.  La Malinconia: Adagio – Allegretto quasi Allegro   

Beethoven's choice to publish his first six quartets as a single opus was an overt tribute to Haydn and Mozart, both of whom had published their own multi-quartet sets. In preparation for the publication of the quartets in 1801, Beethoven was very calculated in positioning the individual quartets within the set.  The No. 6 quartet was the next to last quartet he finished writing, but was given the final position in the set because of its profoundly innovative last movement, titled "La Malinconia" (Melancholy).

The first movement is quintessentially "Haydnesque" in terms of style and form, but the music has a kinetic quality that gives it a revolutionary edge.  The Adagio second movement opens with a simple melody in the first violin part that is almost song-like in nature.  After an initial section of bright and beautiful music, Beethoven introduces a dark second theme played in unison by the first violin and cello. 

The scherzo is a rhythmic puzzle that has claws and fangs!  Written in triple meter, Beethoven takes this opportunity to force the quartet of instruments to play simultaneously in every imaginable subdivision.  The result is a movement full of unexpected accents and cross rhythms, all under the guise of a lighthearted dance.   

The last movement begins with an unexpected slow introduction that bears the title "La Malinconia", and a directive from Beethoven that says, "This piece must be treated with the greatest possible refinement".  From his Guide to Chamber Music, Melvin Berger writes: "From the point of view of musical development, this introduction is decades ahead of the rest of Op.18… it presages the Late Quartets of the 1820's, [and provides]  insight into the depths of Beethoven's emotional state."  The opening of the finale is full of shocking harmonies and unexpected dynamic shifts.  The pensive introduction leads to the main body of the finale, a buoyant rondo that is as much a dance as it is a song—playful and innocent.  Toward the end of the movement, the fast paced Allegretto is twice interrupted by brief restatements of the "Malinconia" theme, a technique Beethoven will revisit 20 years later in his Op.127 and Op.130 quartets.  After one final "Malinconia" utterance, Beethoven closes the quartet and his Opus 18 set with a dazzlingly virtuosic coda.          Kurt Baldwin

Courtesy of International Music Foundation.