Ravinia_2018_Issue_2_Week

JOSEPH HAYDN (1732–1809)

String Quartet No. in D major, .

String quartets occupied Haydn throughout

most of his career as a composer. He wrote the

rst of his quartets, which were entitled “di-

vertimentos”

according to their lighter musical

style and informal social function, as early as

. During the next years, Haydn elevated

the genre to the level of sophistication of sym-

phonies and concertos. By the time he com-

posed his nal quartet—the un nished D-mi-

nor work, .

: (op.

), of

—he had

established both the formal design and texture

of the string quartet. Haydn never ceased his

experimentation within the genre, and the later

quartets demonstrate enormous exibility of his

approach.

Haydn composed the six op.

string quartets,

: – , in

and

while working on

the oratorio

e Creation

. Count Joseph Erdödy,

an important patron of music in Vienna, had

requested the works the previous year. Some

of this music was completed by June

and

performed for the Swedish diplomat Freder-

ik Samuel Silverstolpe, who wrote, “A few days

ago I went to see Haydn again, who now lives

right next to me, since he gave up his customary

winter and spring lodgings in one of the suburbs

[Gumpendorf] and moved a whole quarter of a

mile away. On this occasion he played to me, on

the piano, violin quartets which a certain Count

[Erdödy] has ordered from him and which may

be printed only a er a certain number of years.

ese are more than masterly and full of new

thoughts.”

Artaria published these six works—comprising

Haydn’s last completed set of string quartets—in

in two volumes of three quartets each: the

rst appeared as op. , and the second as op.

e London publisher Longman Clementi &Co.

united these six under the latter opus number

later that year. Although Haydn observed the

four-movement structure typical of string quar-

tets, he explored unusual tonal relationships,

concentrated melodic writing, and new formal

designs within individual movements. e fresh

approach was immediately recognized by the

public, and a writer for the

Allgemeine Musika-

lische Zeitung

commented, “ ese quartets, the

announcement and arrival of which have really

delighted the reviewer, are again proof of the in-

exhaustible, never-ending source of mood and

wit that come from their famous composer; they

are wholly worthy of him.

e reviewer could

hardly single out any as being the best, for they

are all original and beautiful.”

e D-major

h quartet opens with an unpre-

tentious

Allegretto

theme in / time. Haydn

placed this simple melody within a complex for-

mal scheme combining theme and variations,

ternary, and sonata forms. e

Largo

movement

is a monothematic sonata in the unusual key of

F-sharp minor. Its

cantabile e mesto

rst-violin

theme opens with a rising arpeggio.

e same

melody, in C-sharp major and played by the

cello, serves as the second theme.

e minuet

begins with a rising arpeggiated chord similar

to the

Largo

’s opening theme. By contrast, the

minor-key

trio

contains a steady eighth-note

rhythm in the cello’s lower register. Haydn re-

vealed the witty side of his personality in the

nale’s rst theme, which opens with a repeated

cadential gure preceding a quiet, descending

rst-violin line. A contrasting theme begins

with a rising duet for the two violins that shares

a rhythmic outline with the rst theme. e ca-

dential gure that appeared out of context at the

beginning of the movement provides a conclu-

sive ending.

BÉLA BARTÓK (1881–1945)

String Quartet No. ,

One month’s time was all Bartók required to n-

ish his String Quartet No. . Composition began

in Budapest on August ,

, soon a er Eliz-

abeth Sprague Coolidge issued a commission

from her foundation. In typical fashion, Bartók

inscribed the nal measure of his score with

the completion date—September . None of his

other ve string quartets evolved at such a rapid

pace. e Kolisch Quartet played the world pre-

miere on April ,

, at the Library of Congress

in Washington, DC, and the Hungarian String

Quartet later introduced the quartet to the In-

ternational Society for Contemporary Music in

Barcelona in

A possible explanation for this accelerated com-

positional process was that Bartók duplicated

the arch-like format of his Quartet No. , the

only reuse of a large-scale structural plan in his

total string quartet output.

e Quartet No.

contains ve movements: the rst and

h are

fast, the second and fourth share both a slow

tempo and a three-part song form, and the third

is the scherzo-like centerpiece. Bartók brought

many re nements to the arch-form. Further-

more, the relatively accessible language and

expansive dimensions of this later quartet dif-

fer quite radically from its predecessor, written

eight years earlier.

Allegro

is shaped into a miniature arch

form, which Bartók identi ed in his own anal-

ysis of the quartet.

ree thematic ideas—the

harried, disjointed, repetitive opening theme;

wide-leaping motion in a quasi-triplet rhythm;

and a gentle ascending line—appear on rising

pitch levels (B- at, C, and D). Following de-

velopment, Bartók reverses the themes, inverts

their melodic direction, and climbs by whole

steps to the tonic (F-sharp, A- at, and B- at).

An abundance of brief motives, rather than in-

tegral themes, provides substance for the

Adagio

molto

. Here Bartók o ers atmospheric music (in

the general style of his “night music,” though

not so identi ed) concerned more with instru-

mental e ects such as trills, pizzicatos, and rapid

ornamental gures than thematic development.

Scherzo

employs the asymmetrical rhythms

of Bulgarian music that Bartók the musical eth-

nographer found so attractive. Opening and

closing sections count every measure as + + .

By contrast, the rst violin plays its -pitch os-

tinato in the

trio

section as + + + . Another

slow, motive-based “night music” movement

follows. Bartók replicated the proportions of his

second movement, and the musical substance on

this

Andante

is closely related to the earlier essay.

Finale

is another arch-shaped rondo move-

ment, with three themes surrounded by the

opening, dance-like “framing motive.” A highly

imitative passage serves as the initial thematic

idea. Uneven low-string chords ( + + ) com-

bine with a high, modal melody to form the

second theme. At the center, Bartók gives fugal

treatment to a transformation of the rst move-

ment’s main theme.

e initial two themes re-

turn in reverse order. Following an “indi erent”

recurrence of the rst-movement theme, the

coda gradually accelerates then decelerates.

Joseph Haydn

Béla Bartók

RAVINIA MAGAZINE | JUNE 18 – JUNE 2 , 2018

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