String Quartet in D minor (Sibelius)

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The string quartet in D minor “Voces intimae” op. 56 is the most famous chamber music work by the Finnish composer Jean Sibelius . It was published in 1909 and premiered on April 25, 1910.

Origin, structure and style

The work was written at a time when Sibelius had become an internationally known composer. His previous oeuvre was predominantly characterized by a classical to late romantic style, supplemented by Nordic folk elements. The examination of modern forms of music of the dawn of the 20th century , including through personal exchanges with Arnold Schönberg , Igor Stravinsky and Claude Debussy , hit Sibelius in a creative crisis and triggered a search for a new, personal musical language. A protracted disease of the larynx, which made it necessary to remove a malignant tumor during the compositional phase in 1908/1909, like his increasingly escalating alcohol addiction, contributed to a phase of life marked by depression and anxiety.

The creative process is well passed down by a diary that Sibelius kept intensively at the time and is overshadowed by crises and self-doubts. However , Sibelius was extremely satisfied with the finished work, which he finally handed over to his publisher Robert Linau in the spring of 1909. He gave the quartet the nickname "Voces intimae" (Eng. Inner voices ), which is generally interpreted to mean that it is a very personal work. It has five movements and is designed as follows:

  • Andante - Allegro molto moderato
  • Vivace
  • Adagio di molto
  • Allegro ma pesante
  • Allegro

The quartet is dominated by a melancholy, mysterious mood and is clearly more virtuoso than Sibelius' previous quartets in terms of voice and melody. Expressionistic and brusquely dissonant motifs tell of the composer's endeavors to find himself anew. The dark heart of the quartet is the slow third movement, an adagio, which is characterized by fluctuating tempos and rubati and seems agonizingly aimless due to its themes and harmonies that drift apart again and again. Only a harmonious F major ending leads to a certain unity and release, until the quartet continues its journey into the unknown with two further, sometimes breathless and aimless movements.

reception

The quartet was received with astonishment when it premiered in 1910 and met with mixed feedback. Over time, however, it established itself as a frequently performed and popular string quartet, which is still played by well-known performers today. Together with the 4th Symphony , which was composed a little later , the quartet is considered a turning point in the Finnish composer's oeuvre and an example of the transition from late Romantic music to modernism.

The character of the work is also seen as the composer's autobiographical commitment to his inner turmoil and insecurity at the time. Another interpretation, which does not necessarily contradict this, is the composer's play with the listener's expectations and the deliberate creation of a “tension of failure”.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Four at one stroke , Deutschlandfunk, October 24, 2010
  2. ^ Antonio Baldassarre: Genre history as a problem: The string quartet Voces intimae in D minor op.56 by Jean Sibelius , in: The string quartet in the first half of the 20th century , Verlag Hans Schneider , Tutzing 2004, p. 107