VCHpresents Chamber: Mozart's Violet and Beethoven's Serioso

MOZART’S VIOLET AND BEETHOVEN’S SERIOSO

22 JAN 2021 - 5 FEB 2021 WATCH THE STREAM ONLINE ON SISTIC LIVE

PROGRAMME

MOZART String Quartet No. 21 in D major, K.575 “The Violet” I. Allegretto II. Andante III. Menuetto and Trio. Allegretto IV. Allegretto

24 mins

Kong Xianlong, violin Chikako Sasaki, violin Wang Dandan, viola Jamshid Saydikarimov, cello BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 “Serioso” I. Allegro con brio II. Allegretto ma non troppo III. Allegro assai vivace ma serioso - Trio IV. Larghetto espressivo - Allegretto agitato Chan Yoong-Han, violin Zhao Tian, violin Marietta Ku, viola Jamshid Saydikarimov, cello

Your feedback helps us improve your concert experience. Take our survey and stand a chance to win a free ticket! www.surveymonkey.com/r/RLW8T6G

22 mins

PROGRAMME NOTES WOLFGANG AMADEUS MOZART String Quartet No. 21 in D major, K. 575 “The Violet” I. Allegretto II. Andante III. Menuetto and Trio. Allegretto IV. Allegretto It is unusual to refer to the work of a composer from his early 30s as ‘mature’, but Mozart’s three “Prussian” string quartets were written in 1789, a mere two years before his death at the age of 35, yet given their elegance, clarity, and quality, they deserve to be called products of his mature style. The Prussian Quartets are masterpieces of Mozart’s direct lyrical and transparent style, but are no less polished than his earlier Haydn Quartets, which are intricate, contrapuntal, and unexpectedly chromatic.

In 1789, Mozart was, as usual, heavily in debt and planned to write a set of six string quartets dedicated to Friedrich Wilhelm II, the King of Prussia, whose court he had visited recently. Whether this was a commission or if Mozart was hoping for royal approval is unclear, but only three were finished, and these were eventually published by the Viennese firm Artaria & Co. a few weeks after Mozart’s death.

The opening Allegretto begins with a gentle rising theme under undulating accompaniment. A relaxed conversation between all four instruments ensues, luminous and mesmerising. The understated Andante is marked by a serene atmosphere, with three ideas visited in turn.

Unusually, only the first is recapitulated and decorated, giving the movement a character almost like an opera aria, and indeed, the melody bears some resemblance to his 1785 song Das Veilchen (“The Violet”), giving the quartet its nickname. An elegant Menuetto follows, with a prominent violoncello part in the trio - was this intended to please the King of Prussia, who played the violoncello? The cheerful final Allegretto revisits the initial opening theme, which comes back repeatedly in a rondo treatment, between Mozart’s effortless witty contrapuntal developments. The extended coda seems to indicate he had not exhausted his fascination, and the ending with two bright chords feels almost like the lights coming on at the pub to indicate closing time.

LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 “Serioso” I. Allegro con brio II. Allegretto ma non troppo III. Allegro assai vivace ma serioso - Trio IV. Larghetto espressivo - Allegretto agitato Beethoven has the reputation of being a serious composer, yet curiously the String Quartet No. 11 in F minor, Op. 95 is the only work of his to have been subtitled “Serioso” by him. What prompted this name for his shortest string quartet? In 1810, Beethoven had just come out of a failed love affair, increasingly aware of his worsening deafness, his health was precarious and finances insecure. He could not have been in the best of moods.

This work shows signs of experimenting with elements not part of his style then, but were to feature in later works: shorter developments, unexpected outbursts, use of pregnant pauses, ambiguous rhythms, and tonal modulation. Perhaps this was why he wrote it was “written for a small circle of connoisseurs and is never to be performed in public”.

The opening Allegro con brio begins with a violent and fiery theme, whose mood erupts periodically through the other more placid themes taken up by viola and violin, angrily punctuated by burning unison scales. The second movement is an Allegretto rather than the customary Andante, in the remote key of D major. The first theme is a wistful cantabile which gives way to the second, which is treated as a fugato.

We find unexpected modulations, smouldering and unsettled counterpoint, topped with the phenomenon of the fugato theme losing notes from the end, getting shorter each time it returns.

The Allegretto is followed by an Allegro without pause, tight and driven. This quiet and intense movement without humour or lightness, and even the lighter Trio section is but a brief pause in a day of hard convict labour. The finale begins with a Larghetto expressivo, bleak and questioning as if depicting an agonised death scene. This is followed by an Allegretto agitato, but in the middle of the patient’s death throes, a gloriously brief and elated F major coda occurs - is this final redemption and the ascent of the soul, freed from the weight of cares? Perhaps this was Beethoven’s vision of the light at the end of the tunnel.

Notes by Edward C. Yong

SUPPORTED BY

sso.org.sg/VCHpresents

PATRON SPONSOR