11th string quartet (Beethoven)

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Beethoven portrait by Louis Letronne from 1814.

The String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 is a string quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven . It was created from 1810 to 1811.

Emergence

Beethoven dedicated his “Quartetto serioso”, as he called the quartet, to “To Herr von Zmeskall” , as “a dear memento of our long friendship here” . He was referring to the cellist Nikolaus Zmeskall von Domanovecz , who witnessed Beethoven's unhappy love for the doctor's daughter Therese Malfatti ; This unrequited love is said to have been the trigger for the quartet's gloomy mood. Beethoven was perhaps even more dismayed by the fact that Josephine Countess Deym, who had been loved by Beethoven for over 10 years, got married again. Beethoven reacted in dismay when his friend Zmeskall von Domanovecz returned the favor by sending him a box of Hungarian wine (Beethoven only expected such a form of thanks from the noble dedicators of his works): »Dear Z! They wanted to join me at a Schuppanzig etc., they distorted my pure sincere work. You are not my debtor, I am yours, u. now they have made me even more so, I cannot write how much this gift hurts me . '

In contrast to his previous quartets, which Beethoven tried to perform as quickly as possible, with this quartet - due to the negative reaction of the public to the " Razumovsky Quartets " - Beethoven's interest in a quick print run begins to wane. Beethoven revised this quartet in 1814, only three years after its composition, for a first performance by the Schuppanzigh Quartet, which is close to Beethoven . In his correspondence to Sir George Smart from London on October 7, 1816, the composer described the quartet as "written for a small circle of connoisseurs and [...] never to be performed in public" . The quartet was printed in the fall of 1816; the autograph from 1810 has been lost.

This quartet forms the end of Beethoven's “Middle Quartets”; It was not until 14 years later, in 1824, that Beethoven composed the next work of this genre, the String Quartet No. 12 (E flat major) op.127 .

Sentence names

  1. Movement: Allegro con brio (F minor)
  2. Movement: Allegretto, ma non troppo (D major)
  3. Movement: Allegro assai vivace, ma serioso (F minor)
  4. Movement: Larghetto espressivo - Allegretto agitato (F minor - F major)

To the music

The brevity of Op. 95, which is striking in comparison with Beethoven's previous quartets, is an indication of a compressive manner of composition; it is particularly evident in condensation in the harmony.

First sentence

The first movement begins with an energetic theme which, after a short running time, suddenly ends in a general pause without being further developed; it is answered by the violin with a conciliatory melody. The energetic tone of the theme, against which the secondary theme of viola and cello has little chance, prevails again and again until the movement finally ends in pianissimo .

In keeping with the concentrated compositional style of the quartet, there is no repetition of the exposition ; also for this reason the implementation is very tight.

Second sentence

The second sentence is designed in ABA form with a two-part B part. It begins with a gently descending melody from the cello, followed by a soft melody from the violin. A fugato develops from this melody and the second theme of the movement . The final chord of this movement is identical to the opening chord of the third movement.

The movement contains melodic and harmonic references to the first movement of the quartet.

Third sentence

The five-part third movement is in the form of a scherzo, but not its character. With the use of a grim theme, the energetic style of the first movement is taken up again; At times the grim mood of the third movement is interrupted by a chorale-like course of the music.

Fourth sentence

The short larghetto introduction to the fourth movement is replaced by the lively theme of the finale rondo; the work ends in a light-hearted F major.

Many attempts have been made to interpret this F major ending. Theodor Helm, for example, saw »the need to suffer and survival« and writes: »The soul has freed itself, cleansed from the oppressive, painful moods, it now swings happily into ethereal regions.« , While Paul Bekker says: »This inner liberation, this change from the plaintive observer is reflected in the F minor quartet with its surprising final turn. Thus the solution to life's problems is found « . The F major ending by Vincent d'Indy received criticism ; still others thought it was a joke or "romantic irony".

literature

supporting documents

  • Matthias Moosdorf : Ludwig van Beethoven. The string quartets Bärenreiter; 1st edition June 26, 2007, ISBN 978-3-7618-2108-4 .
  • Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: Cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation Rombach; 2nd edition May 31, 2007, ISBN 978-3793094913 .
  • Harenberg Culture Guide Chamber Music, Bibliographisches Institut & FA Brockhaus AG, Mannheim, 2008, ISBN 978-3-411-07093-0
  • Jürgen Heidrich: The string quartets , in: Beethoven-Handbuch , Bärenreiter-Verlag Karl Vötterle GmbH & Co. KG, Kassel, 2009, ISBN 978-3476021533 , pp. 173-218
  • Lewis Lockwood : Beethoven: His Music - His Life. Metzler, 2009, ISBN 978-3476022318 , pp. 255-258

further reading

  • Theodor Helm: Beethoven's string quartets. Attempt of a technical analysis of these works in connection with their intellectual content , Leipzig 1885, ³1921.
  • 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 1961ff.
  • Joseph Kerman: The Beethoven Quartets , New York 1967
  • Kurt von Fischer : "Never to be performed in public." On Beethoven's string quartet op. 95 , in: Beethoven-Jahrbuch 9 , 1973/77, ed. by Hans Schmidt and Martin Staehelin , Bonn 1977, pp. 87-96
  • Carl Dahlhaus : On the concept of the thematic in Beethoven. Comments on opus 95 and opus 102,1 , in: Beethoven 77. Contributions to the Beethoven Week 1977 , ed. by Friedhelm Döhl, Zurich 1979, pp. 45–64.
  • Reinhard Wiesend: Comments on the String Quartet op. 95 , in: Contributions to Beethoven's Chamber Music , Symposium Bonn 1984, Munich 1987, pp. 125–134
  • Hermann Danuser : String Quartet in F minor op. 95 , in: Beethoven. Interpretations of his works , ed. by A. Riethmüller et al., 2 volumes, Laaber, ²1996, volume 2, pp. 78-85

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Ludwig van Beethoven: Correspondence , Complete Edition, ed. by Sieghard Brandenburg, 7 volumes, Munich 1996–1998, volume 3, p. 335
  2. ↑ Ludwig van Beethoven: Correspondence , Complete Edition, ed. by Sieghard Brandenburg, 7 volumes, Munich 1996–1998, volume 4, p. 20
  3. ↑ Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation , Rombach; 2nd Edition; May 31, 2007, p. 327f.
  4. ↑ Ludwig van Beethoven: Correspondence , Complete Edition, ed. by Sieghard Brandenburg, 7 volumes, Munich 1996–1998, volume 3, p. 306
  5. ↑ Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation , Rombach; 2nd Edition; May 31, 2007, p. 329
  6. ↑ Lewis Lockwood : Beethoven: His Music - His Life , Metzler 2009, p. 257
  7. ↑ Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation , Rombach; 2nd Edition; May 31, 2007, p. 333
  8. ↑ Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation , Rombach; 2nd Edition; May 31, 2007, p. 337
  9. ↑ Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation , Rombach; 2nd Edition; May 31, 2007, p. 339
  10. ↑ Gerd Indorf: Beethoven's string quartets: cultural-historical aspects and work interpretation , Rombach; 2nd Edition; May 31, 2007, p. 336
  11. ^ Theodor Helm: Beethoven's string quartets. Attempt of a technical analysis of these works in connection with their intellectual content , Leipzig 1885, 1921, p. 167
  12. ↑ Paul Bekker : Beethoven , Berlin / Leipzig 1911, ²1912, p. 516
  13. ^ Joseph Kerman: The Beethoven Quartets , New York 1967, p. 182
  14. ^ Rey M. Longyear: Beethoven and Romantic Irony , in: The Creative World of Beethoven , ed. by Paul Henry Lang , New York 1971, p. 147