Ravinia 2023 Issue 3

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732–1809) String Quartet in G minor, H. III:33 Haydn wrote some 77 string quartets between 1762 and 1803, spanning nearly his entire ca- reer as a composer. During that period, the string quartet developed from a light form of entertainment into a highly sophisticat- ed genre, largely through his contributions. Haydn valued the form so highly that he devoted his first two opus numbers to string quartets. He titled the early works “diverti- mentos,” a popular type of composition for small groups of instruments. These first ven- tures in string ensemble writing contained five movements that alternated dances with slow- er movements. Stylistically, they exhibited a lightness of expression and texture, featuring a dominant violin melody supported by high- ly subordinate parts in the other instruments. The six op. 20 works (H. III:31–36) heralded a new phase in the string quartet’s evolution. Popularly known as the “Sun” quartets after the image on the published title page, these 1772 creations adopted a four-movement structure—fast outer movements, a slow movement, and a minuet (sometimes the middle movements appeared in reverse or- der)—which became the genre’s standard for- mal design. Haydn’s use of fugue, motivic de- velopment, and an expanded harmonic language accounted for more serious and in- tense expression. No less significant was the equal melodic importance finally achieved by all four instruments. Grateful for the divine inspiration that pro- duced these quartets, Haydn signed each with a note of thankful praise: op. 20, no. 3, con- cluded with the phrase “Praise to God and the Blessed Virgin Mary with the Holy Spirit.” Several published editions appeared during Haydn’s lifetime, each conveying a different sequence of works. Hungarian scholar Lász- ló Somfai, whose research has established the compositional order of the op. 20 col- lection, considers the “third” (in G minor) to be the earliest piece written. His hypoth- esis takes into account several old-fashioned Joseph Haydn by Thomas Hardy (1791) characteristics, among them the designation “basso” instead of “violoncello” for the lowest part, the placement of the minuet in second position (this dance piece appears in its “tra- ditional” third-movement location in only three op. 20 quartets), and the absence of a fu- gal finale—an “innovation” of this collection. Haydn commences his G-minor quartet with a weighty, though by no means ponderous, essay in minor key. In fact, the Allegro con spirito possesses more of a buoyant dance- like quality—resulting in part from its un- predictable seven-measure phrases—than the surprisingly restrained minor-key minuet that ensues. Expansive lyricism, shared by the first violin and cello, prevails in the gorgeous Poco adagio . A carefree spirit emerges in the finale, although the concluding phrases fade away and end midstream. JOHANN SEBASTIAN BACH (1685–1750) The Art of Fugue , BWV 1080 The Art of Fugue is a monumental collection of fugues based on a single subject, whose print- ed edition was left in an unfinished form with Johann Sebastian Bach’s death on July 28, 1750. The project was hastily completed under the direction of the composer’s eldest son, Carl Philipp Emanuel, and published in Leipzig in 1751. The exhaustive exploration of fugal tech- niques in The Art of Fugue serves as a fitting climax to Bach’s distinguished career, but also a crowning achievement of the Baroque. The history has become muddled through a series of misinterpretations, falsifications, and romanticizing. The first printed edition, en- titled Die Kunst der Fuge ( The Art of Fugue ), comprised 13 complete fugues (each with the heading “Contrapunctus”), four canons, an extraneous earlier version of one Contrapunc- tus, an incomplete fugue, and a setting of the chorale melody “Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein” (“When We Are in Greatest Need”), which through the years came to be associ- ated with the title “Vor deinen Thron tret ich hiermit” (“I Stand before Your Throne”). Bach notated the music in open score, with each melodic line assigned to an independent musical staff and, presumably, to a different instrument. Eighteenth-century musicians viewed this collection as an encyclopedic compilation of all known fugue techniques. The long-accepted historical account fol- lowed a seemingly logical sequence of rea- soning, since the collection occupied Bach during his final years, and the composition of Contrapunctus XIX (the “unfinished”) was indeed interrupted at measure number 239 by his death. The original printed score ex- plained that the final chorale setting was in- cluded “to compensate the friends of [Bach’s] Muse by the four-part church chorale added at the end, which the deceased man in his blindness dictated on the spur of the moment to the pen of one of his friends.” Legend has it that this chorale was the final creative act of a dying man, a swansong uttered “before the throne” of God. In recent years, scholars have challenged nearly every detail of that account, demystifying The Art of Fugue without diminishing its impor- tance to music history. Bach conceived of the collection not as a compendium of all possible fugue techniques but as a set of contrapuntal variations, or manipulations, of a single theme. Also, Bach likely composed The Art of Fugue for performance by a single keyboard instru- ment, since north German keyboard players were accustomed to reading from open score. Work on the collection lasted much longer than previously believed, with some pieces dating back to the late 1730s. The “unfinished” fugue was probably completed by Bach on a missing sheet of manuscript paper, which was mysteriously misplaced by the time C.P.E. Bach traveled to Leipzig to settle his father’s affairs. Finally, the deathbed dictation of the chorale “Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein” is a myth originating in the 19th century. Bach had composed a version of the chorale as early as 1714. The printed score of The Art of Fugue included the chorale solely as recom- pense for the incomplete final fugue. DMITRI SHOSTAKOVICH (1906–1975) String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp minor, op. 108 Shostakovich composed his String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp minor, op. 108, in March 1960 while suffering in Moscow from the artistic caution and paranoid fallout of the public persecution of Nobel Prize–winning author Boris Pasternak, known as the “Pas- ternak Affair.” This quartet offers a belated memorial to Shostakovich’s wife of 22 years, Nina Vasilievna, who died on December 5, 1954. No clues regarding the programmatic content of this work survive; even the man- uscript score has disappeared. The Beethoven Quartet gave the premiere on May 15, 1960, at Leningrad’s Glinka Concert Hall. The Weydenhammer Portrait Fragment of Johann Sebastian Bach The diminutive scale of this quartet—about twelve-and-a-half minutes of music—is de- ceiving, for it reflects not a paucity of ideas, but a highly concentrated economy and inte- gration of material. Shostakovich identifies three movements in the score (the third is subdivided), but these are played without breaks. In fact, the piece condenses a four-movement sonata cycle into a single ma- trix of related rhythmic and melodic motives, rather than themes proper. At the beginning of the Allegretto , the unaccompanied first vio- lin offers two key motives: a descending scale and a threefold repetition of one pitch. Even- tually, the cello adds a two-note pattern. The second theme area combines a cello melody with staccato 16th notes. A slower, pizzicato version of the descending scale motive marks the beginning of the recapitulation. Sweeping, ballade-like arpeggios in the sec- ond violin provide support for the muted, Lento first violin melody. A dotted rhythm emerges in the second violin, and the viola and cello state a contrasting theme. Near the end, the viola makes an incomplete reference to the ballade accompaniment. Immediately, the final movement—effective- ly, two movements conjoined—startles with its nervous, scherzo-esque melody, an inver- sion of the quartet’s opening theme. The viola quotes a slow-moving fragment, perhaps a musical motto for Nina. Shostakovich contin- ues the Allegro with an extended fugue com- prising an omnipresent dotted pattern and streaming 16th notes. A folkish viola and cel- lo melody bears a close likeness to the cello’s theme from the first movement. The ensem- ble reintroduces rhythmic and melodic traits of the quartet’s opening theme. The Allegretto might be viewed as a connected, yet inde- pendent movement. Its muted violin melody bears a faint kinship to the second movement. A staccato theme provides contrast. Final rhythmic and melodic reminiscences of the first movement’s theme draw the quartet to its conclusion. –Program notes © 2023 Todd E. Sullivan Dmitri Shostakovich (1960) RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIA MAGAZINE 39