10th string quartet (Beethoven)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Beethoven portrait, from around 1811.
Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz, dedicatee of the Quartets op. 18, on an oil painting by Friedrich Oelenhainz

The String Quartet No. 10 in E flat major op. 74 (Harp Quartet) is a string quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven .

Emergence

Beethoven composed the quartet in 1809 - two and a half years after the string quartet No. 9 in C major op. 59.3 , the third “Rasumowsky” quartet - and dedicated it to Prince Franz Joseph Maximilian von Lobkowitz , who had already commissioned and dedicated the quartets op. 18 . The nickname of the quartet, which does not come from Beethoven, has its origin in the harp-like pizzicati of the first movement.

Shortly before the composition of the Quartet op. 74, Vienna was besieged by the French troops in May 1809; Beethoven even sought protection from the noise of the cannon in his brother Kaspar Karl's cellar and is said to have tried to protect his dwindling hearing by pressing pillows against his ears. Due to the French siege, Beethoven was only able to begin his usual summer stay in Baden in August, where the quartet, together with the Piano Concerto in E flat major op. 73 ("Emperor") and the piano sonata No. 26 in E flat major, op. 81a (Les Adieux) was created.

Since Beethoven was already famous throughout Europe for works such as Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67 , Symphony No. 6 in F major, Op. 68 (“Pastorale”) and the 5th Piano Concerto, this leaves a comparison the simpler conception of string quartet No. 10 compared to the “Rasumowsky” quartets suggest that Beethoven was addressing a predominantly middle-class concert audience with this quartet, especially since the conquests of the French general Napoleon Bonaparte marked the future of aristocratic salon culture, which also included Beethoven's aristocratic patrons , seem questionable.

Sentence names

  1. Movement: Adagio - Allegro (E flat major)
  2. Movement: Adagio ma non troppo (A flat major)
  3. Movement: Presto - attacca (C minor)
  4. Movement: Allegretto con Variazioni (E flat major)

To the music

The quartet op. 74 lacks the intensity of the motivic theme development, the sonata movement dynamics and the modulatory boldness of the " Rasumowski Quartets ".

First sentence

The first movement starts with a contemplative Poco Adagio. This is followed by the resolute main theme, which is accompanied by the eponymous pizzicati. After the concentrated exposure, shaped by the main theme and pizzicato five-part follow implementation in C major , which holds back with variations. The recapitulation also lacks the development of the theme material, although it is 12 bars longer than the exposition . The movement ends with the coda dominated by sixteenths of the first violin and the pizzicati , which, likewise without developing a theme, contains a virtuoso 25-bar violin cadenza and with 59 bars is the longest coda in Beethoven's first ten quartets.

The first movement of op. 74 is the only movement in sonata form within this quartet. In addition to op. 74, this phenomenon only appears in Beethoven's quartet work in his C sharp minor quartet, op. 131 (here in the final movement).

According to musicologist Peter Schleuning, the violin solo in the coda with its chord breaks is inspired by the final movement in Johann Sebastian Bach's 4th Brandenburg Concerto .

Second sentence

The second movement is in the form of a rondo and is determined by soft modulations and surprising chord turns. The movement contains three sections, each with 23 bars, in which the main theme is dealt with; these sections alternate with two interludes.

A cantilena determines the sentence, which is varied three times in its course; in the last variation the pizzicati of the first movement can be heard again.

Third sentence

The five-part third movement is in the form of a scherzo, but not its character, and starts with a brisk, restless theme. Its rhythmic motif is inspired by Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 , which had premiered a few months earlier. Most of the long coda is in pianissimo.

In the C major Maggiore, Beethoven parodies rigid counterpoint exercises. Shortly before, he had his pupil Archduke Rudolf shortly before his escape from Napoleon's troops two work-books, "Materials for basso " and "materials Counterpoint " compiled.

Fourth sentence

There is a direct transition to the fourth movement, which is determined by the Allegretto and its six variations. While all instruments are involved in the first and fourth variations, the second variation is determined by the viola, the third by the second violin and the violoncello, the fifth by the first violin, and finally the sixth variation by the violoncello. The quartet's final movement ends in a rectangular unison . The coda, like the variations, is dominated by triplets . The coda ends in an allegro stretta in which all instruments are involved in an “accelerando”.

effect

The rehearsals for the quartet took place under Lobkowitz's string quartet ensemble. A world premiere by Beethoven's friend Ignaz Schuppanzigh and his Schuppanzigh Quartet is not documented. However, it is possible that Lobkowitz's cellist Anton Kraft premiered the quartet in one of his quartet concerts in collaboration with Schuppanzigh.

In May 1811 the Allgemeine Musikische Zeitung wrote , alluding to Beethoven's op. 18 quartets: “We believe we are speaking from the soul of all genuine friends of music and quartet music in particular when we express the wish that our B. should be in this Way, and would have given us a lot of similar things! ”, Because Beethoven's latest quartet op. 74 only contained“ gloomy spirit ”,“ the most dissimilar fantastically connected ”,“ gloomy confusion ”,“ little melodic context ”,“ Hin - and wandering from one idea to another ”and“ unnecessary jumble of hard dissonances ”; there was a lack of “high simplicity”, “loveliest melodies”, “the easy and pleasing”.

Contrary to the opinion of the first reviewers, the work is today considered to be rather easy to understand and not yet as profound and exploring the limits of the genre as the late quartets from op. 127 . However, due to its catchiness and ease of understanding, it was very well received immediately after its publication. The publication of the quartet by the Leipzig Breitkopf & Härtel publishing house in November 1809 was so successful that the piece was reissued in Vienna by Artaria publishing house just a month later .

The quartet op. 74, which can be seen as a bridge to Beethoven's string quartet No. 12 in E flat major, op. 127 , served Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy as a model , especially for his string quartet in E flat major, op. 12 .

literature

  • Matthias Moosdorf: Ludwig van Beethoven. The string quartets . 1st edition. Bärenreiter, 2007, ISBN 978-3-7618-2108-4 .
  • Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation . 2nd Edition. Rombach, 2007, ISBN 978-3-7930-9491-3 .
  • Harenberg cultural guide chamber music . Bibliographisches Institut & FA Brockhaus, Mannheim 2008, ISBN 978-3-411-07093-0
  • Jürgen Heidrich: The string quartets . In: Beethoven manual . Bärenreiter-Verlag Karl Vötterle, Kassel 2009, ISBN 978-3-476-02153-3 , pp. 173-218
  • Lewis Lockwood : Beethoven: His Music - His Life. Metzler, 2009, ISBN 978-3-476-02231-8 , pp. 255-258
  • Theodor Helm: Beethoven's string quartets. Attempt a technical analysis of these works in relation to their intellectual content . Leipzig 1885, 3rd edition 1921.
  • Ludwig van Beethoven: works. New edition of all works , section VI, volume 4, string quartets II (op. 59, 74 and 95), ed. from the Beethoven Archive Bonn (J. Schmidt-Görg et al.). Munich / Duisburg 1961 ff.
  • Joseph Kerman: The Beethoven Quartets . New York 1967
  • Hartmut Krones : String Quartet in E flat major. "Harp Quartet" op. 74 . In: A. Riethmüller u. a. (Ed.): Beethoven. Interpretations of his works . 2 volumes. 2nd Edition. Laaber, 1996, Volume 1, pp. 585-592

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: Cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation . 2nd Edition. Rombach, 2007, p. 309
  2. ^ Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: Cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation . 2nd Edition. Rombach, 2007, p. 472
  3. ^ Peter Schleuning: Johann Sebastian Bach - The Brandenburg Concerts . Bärenreiter, Kassel 2003, p. 119 f.
  4. ^ Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: Cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation . 2nd Edition. Rombach, 2007, p. 320 f.
  5. ^ Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: Cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation . 2nd Edition. Rombach, 2007, p. 308
  6. ↑ Allgemeine Musical Zeitung , May 22, 1811, Col. 349 f.
  7. ^ Jürgen Heidrich: The string quartets . In: Beethoven manual . Bärenreiter-Verlag Karl Vötterle, Kassel 2009, p. 193
  8. ↑ Harenberg culture guide. Chamber music . Mannheim 2008, p. 99.
  9. ^ Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: Cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation . 2nd Edition. Rombach, 2007, p. 309 f.