String Quartet No. 6 (Mendelssohn)
The String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80 ( MWV R 37) is the last completed work by the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy . He created it in the year of his death in 1847. It occupies a unique position both in Mendelssohn's oeuvre and in the history of the genre of the string quartet .
Origin, structure and style
When Mendelssohn, who had been suffering from health problems for several years, returned to Leipzig from a trip to England in May 1847, he learned of the unexpected death of his sister and most important reference person, the composer Fanny Hensel . Badly hit, he and close family members went on a vacation to Interlaken , Switzerland. After an initial inability to compose, he finally went to work and completed it in Leipzig in September of that year. The sentences are:
- Allegro vivace assai - Presto
- Allegro assai
- adagio
- Finale: Allegro molto
The resulting work represents an incomplete, but previously far-reaching break with the formal requirements of the classical string quartet and also Mendelssohn's own previous contributions to the genre, which until then were based on the structures of Ludwig van Beethoven's formative string quartets , albeit with an individual one Mark. The expressive and powerful character of the work also astonished the contemporary audience to the utmost, since Mendelssohn's compositions were previously characterized by great inwardness.
The first movement is dominated by angry, dark tremoli right from the start . Unrestrained, expressive motifs emerge, only to sink back into a seemingly aimless stream. The tempo is characterized by a sharp dotted rhythm, which is driven further in the energetic Scherzo by syncope and a stubborn ostinato . The Adagio, which changes to A flat major after a harmonious, idiosyncratic sigh , seems forgiving with its lyrical singing, until the finale returns to the gloomy turmoil of the first two movements.
reception
Due to the background of the time it was written, the work was and is often viewed as autobiographical. The work is a homage or a “requiem” for his deceased sister and an expression of his desperate grief. Based on this premise, many reviewers claim to have found various allusions to the compositions and musical preferences of Fanny Hensel in the work. At its world premiere, the work was recorded with reserve. Many contemporary critics considered it non-quartet-like, too symphonic or experimental, although it was often the same critics who had criticized him that his chamber music works and other compositions had too much formalistic surface gloss.
Two months after the completion of the work, Mendelssohn died after several strokes. The often raised question of which path Mendelssohn's oeuvre would have taken after this potentially revolutionary string quartet must remain unanswered. The memory of Mendelssohn, which at first quickly faded, did not allow his last work to have any direct influence on the genre of the string quartet and makes it stand out as a singular phenomenon. String quartets comparable in their radical peculiarity did not appear until several decades later during the transition from late romantic to modern .
literature
- Friedhelm Krummacher : History of the String Quartet , Volume 3, Laaber-Verlag, Regensburg 2005
Individual evidence
- ^ Friedhelm Krummacher: History of the String Quartet , Volume 3, Laaber-Verlag, Regensburg 2005, p. 105
- ↑ Sibylle Ehrismann 9: Requiem for Nanny , in: Musikfreunde magazine of the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde in Vienna, November 2005 edition ( Memento of the original from October 12, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ Friedhelm Krummacher: History of the String Quartet , Volume 3, Laaber-Verlag, Regensburg 2005, pp. 105 ff
