I’m on it sweetie!
The key of C# minor was rarely used by Beethoven; in fact, the “Moonlight” Sonata was the only other piece to use that as its tonic key. After a six movement quartet with very different parts, Lou decided to write a quartet that was totally integrated. This quartet is made up of seven movements, but all joined together to make one great arch of sound.
It starts with the only slow fugue that Beethoven ever wrote, marked “adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo” in 2/2 time. This echoes the “Moonlight,” which also began with a slow movement. It’s a song of mourning, and Wagner said it was “the saddest thing ever said in notes.” At the end the first violin reaches up to a D for the transition to the next movement...
Which is a short jig in 6/8 marked “allegro molto vivace” in D Major. It’s a kind of highland fling, and the deep darkness turns to light. This jig is in sonatina format, which means no development section. The jig fragments lead into...
A short preface marked “allegro moderato” in B minor and then “adagio” in E Major. It’s there to provide a lead-in to...
A fourth movement in theme-and-variations format marked “andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile” in A Major. Each variation has its own character – one sounds like “Goodnight Irene” – and one has the hilarious effect of each instrument throwing loud pizzicati at each other. Then the cello gruffly clears his throat...
For a scherzo in 2/2 time marked “presto” in E Major. This is a music box run amok. Every time it runs down, Lou winds it up again and sets it running. The instruments send fragments at each other for repetition to include pizzicati. At the end he uses the ghostly technique of having the musicians play on the bridges of their instruments. He cadences decisively in E Major, but then he cadences again, just as decisively, in the wrong key of G# minor...
For a preface in G# minor marked “adagio quasi un poco andante” that sounds at first like a Beethoven slow movement, a conversation with God. It’s so sad, but you realize quickly that it’s too sad. It’s Beethoven writing a short parody of a Beethoven slow movement and making fun of himself. You’ll recognize the first movement fugue subject as the melodic material. It leads into...
A finale in C# minor and 2/2 time marked “allegro” which is finally a movement in sonata format! The second subject in E Major uses melodic material from the scherzo and the third variation from the prior movement. The development is based on the first subject. The recap flows seamlessly out of the development, and the second subject now appears in C# Major. The coda presents a problem. If the final C# Major chords are played in tempo, they sound trivial. Over the past two centuries the custom has arisen of playing the final chords at a faster clip for a bravura ending.
Two years after the premiere, 31 year old Franz Schubert was on his deathbed, and Beethoven had been dead for a year. The quartet that premiered this piece played it for Schubert in his room, and Frannie became so excited that the people present had to hold him down. He had just heard the future of music and realized, with no small amount of horror, that he wouldn’t be there to participate.
Tomorrow night it’s Beethoven’s final quartet.