LCCMF 9.23 — OurConcerts.live

ROBERT SCHUMANN (1810-1856): Quartet in A Major, op. 41, no. 3 (1842)
Andante espressivo – Allegro molto moderato
Assai agitato
Adagio molto
Finale. Allegro molto vivace

BEDŘICH SMETANA (1824-1884): Quartet No. 1 in E minor, “From My Life” (1876)
Allegro vivo appassionato
Allegro moderato à la Polka
Largo sostenuto
Vivace

Parker Quartet
Daniel Chong, violin
Ken Hamao, violin
Jessica Bodner, viola
Kee Kim, cello

ROBERT SCHUMANN: Quartet in A major, op. 41, no. 3 (1842)

Schumann focused on certain genres for discrete periods of time. 1842 was a chamber music year, during which he composed the three op. 41 string quartets, his famous piano quintet, and a piano quartet. Although the composer struggled with bouts of depression during this time, it was largely a fruitful period in Schumann’s compositional life. He had completed over one hundred art songs in 1840 and two symphonies in 1841.

As always, Schumann set out to compose his quartets having deeply studied the works of composers who came before. The first movement of op. 41, no. 3 has a very Beethovenian introduction. A “falling fifth” motive can be heard several times, but the melody is not fully formed and the harmonic backdrop is ambiguously chromatic. Once the body of this sonata-form movement gets going, Schumann presents the motive as part of his main theme, then goes on to develop it in a variety of keys and textures. In the final moments, the falling fifth

achieves a feeling of resolution, played by the cello in the home key of A major.

For his second movement, Schumann trades out the usual scherzo for a theme and variations with a distinctly scherzo-like character. The second variation is highly contrapuntal, another nod to Beethoven (and, of course, to Bach). By contrast, Schumann’s romanticism is on full display in the adagio third movement. The lyrical opening transforms into a brooding texture anchored by a rhythmic ostinato in the second violin. Over this slowly churning backdrop, the music rises to several anguished peaks before coming to a rest as the ostinato, now in the viola, slowly dies away.

The dotted rhythm of that ostinato reappears immediately in the opening of the finale, this time embedded in the movement’s theme. Interestingly, the first chord of the finale is the same as the first chord of the entire piece, with identical voicing. Like much of Schumann’s piano music from the previous decade, this movement is structured as several episodes of contrasting texture and mood, before galloping towards the joyful finish.

BEDŘICH SMETANA: Quartet No. 1 in E minor, “From My Life” (1876)

Written two years after Smetana became fully deaf due to syphilis, the Czech composer’s Quartet No. 1 in E Minor, subtitled From My Life, is an autobiographical work exploring both Smetana’s personal suffering and the musical influences of his Bohemian roots.

Due to the programmatic nature of the quartet, it does not follow a specific form; rather, the four movements trace the journey of Smetana’s life. The first movement depicts the composer’s passionate artistic youth, and it hints at the suffering to come. The second movement is more lighthearted and references the polka, a traditional Czech dance style. Smetana loved dance as a child and composed dance music in his young adulthood. The romantic, expressive third movement evokes the composer’s love for his first wife, Kateˇrina, who had died over a decade earlier of tuberculosis.

The final movement begins triumphantly, with lively, dancelike rhythms. In a letter to his friend, the musicologist Josef Srb-Debrnov, Smetana writes that the fourth movement “describes my discovery that I could incorporate national elements in my music, and my joy in following this path until it was terminated by the onset of my deafness, the outlook into a sad future… [and] a feeling of painful regret.” The onset of Smetana’s deafness appears clearly in the music, in the form of a high, sustained note that emerges halfway through the movement. This note, meant to represent the persistent ringing in the composer’s ears that portended his deafness, causes a profound shift in mood. Nostalgic chords surround a gently rocking viola line as the music fades away.

Smetana composed the quartet in 1876, and in 1878 the work received a private premiere in Prague with a young Antonín Dvořák performing the substantial viola part. While Smetana is known widely for his orchestral and operatic compositions, the string quartet has become one of his most famous works of chamber music.