THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET

3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms

Romanticism, “the New Fantastic Essence”

Greetings. I'm Arnold Steinhardt, and I and my colleague Mia Chung welcome you once again to
the World of the String Quartet and to Program Three, "The Humanists." The Romantic Era, or
the humanists as we prefer to call it, can be described in a few admittedly vague and general ways.
One could say that the Classical Era was objective while the Romantic subjective, that classical
composers were more interested in formal structure, Romantic composers in free, uninhibited
expression, that the Romantic artist through his genius revealed the world in expressing himself.
All those qualities describe Ludwig van Beethoven perfectly as he evolved from a composer firmly
in the Classical Era to one whose music boldly challenged traditional ideas and dared to express
something far more personal and openly emotional.

The four composers we will talk about and listen to, Franz Schubert, Felix Mendelssohn, Robert
Schumann, and Johannes Brahms, were inspired and awe-struck as they studied one Beethoven
string quartet after another, and also unnerved at the thought of following in his footsteps by
writing their own. But fearful and challenged as they might have felt at the onset, their string
quartets were not only masterful but also expressions of that new Romanticism which Beethoven
significantly helped usher in, a Romanticism which Goethe called "the new fantastic essence... the
longing and restlessness bursting all bounds and losing itself in the infinite".

© 2015 Arnold Steinhardt

THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET
3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms
Death and Schubert

Schubert lived from 1797 to 1828. He was born some 28 years after Beethoven, but outlived him
by only one year. Thus, he lived during a time when the string quartet was thriving. But, by the
time Beethoven had composed his Opus 59 or "Razumovsky" quartets in 1806, the romantic
concept of the virtuoso pianist slash composer was already on the rise, drawing attention and
interest in the direction of chamber music that involved the piano. But so long as Beethoven, the
great string quartet composer was alive, the medium remained of interest to composers and
listeners.

Schubert was one composer who successfully integrated a romantic sensibility that was born of
personal suffering, into the distinctly classical parameters of the string quartet. In his most famous
quartet, "Death and the Maiden," he accomplished this by integrating lieder, or art song, into the
work. Arnold will tell us more about this song, which Schubert had composed some seven years
before the quartet, and even more importantly, he’ll tell us what it reflected about Schubert's frame
of mind in the face of ongoing personal struggle.

Franz Schubert once said, "Think of a man whose health can never be restored, and who from
sheer despair makes matters worse instead of better. Think, I say, of a man whose brightest hopes
have come to nothing, to whom love and friendship are but torture, and whose enthusiasm for the
beautiful is fast vanishing, and ask yourself if such a man is not truly unhappy." Schubert confided
these heartbreaking feelings to a friend, during a time when he had been hospitalized in all
probability for an outburst of tertiary syphilis. The possibility of an early death must have weighed
heavily on his mind when shortly after in 1824, he composed his Death and the Maiden String
Quartet in D Minor. The quartet takes its name from the song, "Der Tod und das Madchen,"
("Death and the Maiden",) a setting of a poem of the same name by Matthias Claudius. The theme
of the song, which Schubert wrote in 1817, provides the basic material for the quartet's second
movement.

The poem reads as follows: The maiden speaks first. Pass me by, oh pass me by, Go, wild skeleton!
I am still young, go, dear one, And touch me not! And Death speaks: Give me your hand, o fair
and tender form! I am your friend, I do not come to punish. Be of good cheer, I am not wild, You
shall sleep softly in my arms." There is no longer room for doubt. Death is front and center in
every movement of the quartet, each in A minor, and each grappling with the forces that would
eventually snuff out Schubert's life.

The first movement's fearful opening chords that announce its verdict of doom, the dirge-like
second movement in which Death speaks to the young woman, the manic and menacing scherzo
of the third movement with the briefest lyrical ray of sunshine in its trio section, and the fourth
movement's tarantella of death. One can speak of The Death and the Maiden's form, its equal
division of labor among the four voices, and the evolution of Schubert's quartet skills, but it is the
epic scale of this quartet--its "heavenly length" as Schumann called it--its wealth of feeling, and the
sheer drama of the music that cause listeners and musicians alike to leave a performance of
Schubert's masterpiece deeply moved if not entirely stunned and shattered. Sheer drama, indeed.

What has always struck me about this quartet is the rather fast tempo designations of all four
movements. Schubert rarely allows the intensity of the music to wane. The first movement is
marked allegro, meaning "fast," the second is andante con moto, "a walking tempo with motion," is
andante con moto, "a walking tempo with motion," the third is "presto" meaning "very fast" and
the fourth prestissimo, or "as fast as possible." Even the "slow" second movement involves a lot
of motion.

We'll take a closer look at the second movement's rhythmic activity in the "Nuts and Bolts"
segment of this program. The fast tempo designations do much to enhance the fiery, brutal,
fearsome and dramatic nature of this music. Even when there are moments of major mode hope,
they are fleeting and quickly overrun by the prevailing terror.

[MUSIC]

© 2015 Arnold Steinhardt and Mia Chung

THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET
3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms
Nuts and Bolts: Slow Movement—Schubert, “Death and the Maiden”

As composers of the Romantic era, Mendelssohn, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms exhibited a
strong love for and ability to compose gorgeous melodies. Nowhere is the melody more front-and-
center than in the slow movements of their string quartets. Today, I'll be demonstrating the ideas
and building blocks found in the slow movement of Schubert's String Quartet in D Minor, "Death
and the Maiden." In this theme and variations movement, Schubert uses the melody from his
previously- written song by the same title as the basis for a series of variations that wax and wane
in intensity. Since the melody and/or the harmonic content of the theme remains the same for the
most part with each iteration of the theme, Schubert uses other musical features to create a sense
of dynamic direction for the movement. He achieves emotional intensification and relaxation
through the use of changing rhythms, dynamics and mode. First let me play the dark theme which
is set in the key of G minor, but ends in a sunnier G major. The first half of the theme goes like
this:

[MUSIC]

This is repeated, and then the second half occurs, which is repeated as well.

[MUSIC]

In the score, the theme and the variations repeat both halves of this theme. Notice the plodding
rhythms which bring to mind a funeral procession. The rhythms are made up primarily of half and
quarter-notes. All subsequent variations preserve this harmonic presentation and melodic content
with a few notable changes, which I'll get into in a moment.

In the first variation of this theme, Schubert creates a sense of motion by introducing the pulsating
triplet eighth notes in the inner voices of the quartet, and the violin's melody also moves along with
faster rhythmic values, but the dynamic marking starts off "pianissimo," or very quiet.

[MUSIC]

In the second variation, the first and second violins play accompanimental figures in sixteenth
notes at a slightly louder dynamic, that of "piano."

[MUSIC]

and in the third variation, Schubert combines eighth and sixteenth notes with all four voices
playing "fortissimo," or very loud, right off the bat.

[MUSIC]
Up to this point, Schubert has been intensifying the texture by using smaller and smaller rhythmic
subdivisions of the beat and increasing the dynamic level of each succeeding variation. I should
mention, however, that even though the rhythmic subdivisions of the beat are getting smaller, the
sense of the larger beat has remained the same. Also, Schubert ends this particular variation in G
minor instead of G major to make way for the contrast that follows. Since Schubert has managed
to work the intensity up to high point, he proceeds by relaxing the pace in the fourth variation.
Here, in "pianissimo" or in a very quiet dynamic, Schubert brings back the triplet eighth notes in
the first violin, and he changes the key to a sunny G major, which relaxes the feel of this variation.

[MUSIC]

Then, in the fifth and final variation, Shubert restores the dark minor mode, and the rhythmic
intensity heard earlier on. He combines triplet eighth notes in the cello, with running sixteenth
notes in the first violin, and in the second half of this variation, 16th-note rhythms take over in the
top three voices, and again, the dynamic marking is "fortissimo." As the variation proceeds, the
relaxation process begins with the inverse of what occurred in the rhythms of the opening
variations. Triplets return in the first violin, but Schubert slows the supporting harmonies down
considerably to whole- and half- notes, again, in a "pianissimo" dynamic to create a greater sense
of calm.

Over the course of this final variation, Schubert brings back the half- and quarter-note rhythms of
the opening theme while the accompanimental rhythms slow again to duple eighth notes and
eventually quarter notes in the viola. Notice as well that the dynamic level has dropped even lower
to "pianississimo."

Finally, in the closing restatement of the opening theme, Schubert restores the original rhythms
and texture of the opening, except for a few exceptions-- Schubert ends the movement in G major
instead of minor, the dynamic level is quieter, pianississimo, and he moves the texture up an octave
in register. Let me play this closing statement for you.

[MUSIC]

Although the theme has remained the same throughout this movement with its many variations,
Schubert has inventively taken us on a journey that begins tragically and with alternating moments
of intensification and relaxation reaches a moment of repose.

© 2015 Mia Chung

THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET
3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms

Aizuri Demonstration: 2nd Movt. Cello Variation

[MUSIC]

Wonderfully played. Of course, Karen, everybody's eyes and ears are turned on you. This is a great
cello variation. But underneath, things are going on that the listener might not be quite as aware of,
that are hugely important in giving the personality, the atmosphere to your cello solo. So I would
love to take this engine apart, so to speak, and hear the different parts of it. So Ayane, would you
kindly play the viola part to this variation?

[MUSIC]

It's so bare-boned. It's so disarmingly simple. But now, Zoe, if we add the second violin part to
this, what does that sound like?

[MUSIC]

It's amazing, suddenly this tells a completely different story. It's just another texture, and a much
more interesting one. And Miho, if we add the first violin part to this, what does that sound like?

[MUSIC]

I have the feeling that I've just opened up my watch after having looked at it to see what the time is
all these years, just to understand, how does it work? And I see all these moving parts inside, and
they're fascinating. They're intricate. but they're all completely necessary for this whole thing to
work. And so now let's put the lid back on the watch and hear this beautiful cello variation at least
a little bit of it, with all the parts together.

[MUSIC]

Thank you. And that is Schubert's genius.

© 2015 Arnold Steinhardt

THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET
3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms

Op. 13, an Homage to Beethoven

Two years after the 16-year-old Felix Mendelssohn composed his string octet, a work of
miraculous invention and beauty, he astonished and dazzled the musical world once again in
1827 with his first string quartet, opus 13 in A minor. Just to clarify, his opus 12 string quartet is
actually his second. The A minor is a work of remarkable craft and youthful ardor, but with such
depth of feeling in all four movements that one suspects a very old soul inhabited his 18-year-old
body.

A very old soul, Ludwig van Beethoven, certainly provided inspiration for the quartet. Beethoven's
last quartets had been published two years earlier and Mendelssohn, smitten by them, studied
each in detail and then as a form of homage, included near quotes from many of his quartets. It's
one thing to pay homage to someone, or to steal, but Mendelssohn also stole from himself by
quoting from his song "Ist es Wahr?" ("Is it True?") which he had written only months earlier.
The three note motive from "Ist es Wahr" appears in the opening Adagio, in all four movements,
and is brought back one last time in the Adagio that concludes the quartet. Those bookend
Adagios, both in A major, are deeply affecting but they also provide a striking contrast to the rest
of the quartet, mostly in a minor key, and often turbulent and passionate.

You know, a quality cherished by writers is something often referred to as “a voice." Some
distinctive and remarkable set of characteristics that set a writer aside from the rest of the pack.
The young Mendelssohn undoubtedly drew inspiration and a certain amount of substance from
Beethoven. But at that early age, he already had this special quality himself. A voice. That sound
of his music that is instantaneously recognized, and deeply affecting.

[MUSIC]

© 2015 Arnold Steinhardt

THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET
3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms

Is It True?

This work is another stunning example of a song's connection to string quartet writing. The
quartet is openly programmatic, meaning that there's extra musical meaning or association, but the
association remains somewhat abstract as compared to Schubert's "Death and the Maiden" quartet.

The first movement begins with a slow introduction and the song, "Frage" (or Question) which
Mendelssohn penned earlier in 1827 is quoted. As Arnold mentioned, he uses a three-note musical
motive that embodies the question in the song, "Ist es wahr?" meaning "Is it true?" The complete
poetry for the song is as follows: "Is it true that over there in the leafy walkway you always wait for
me by the vine-draped wall? And that with the moonlight and the little stars you consult about me
also? Is it true? Speak! What I feel only she grasps--she who feels with me and stays ever faithful to
me, eternally faithful."

According to Mendelssohn, the use of the "Is it true?" motive in the quartet is simply a point of
departure. In other words, the music expresses the sentiment of the question, but does not
represent the images captured in the poem. Beethoven's use of a similar question may explain
more. He employs a similar one, "Muss es sein?" or "Must it be?" in the final movement of his late
complete work, the string quartet, Opus 135.

Many have tried to explain Beethoven's use of this question in the work, but without certainty.
Perhaps, Mendelssohn's own question, "Is es wahr?" was simply meant to pay tribute to the quartet
master whose works Mendelssohn so greatly admired. Beethoven died in March of the same year
that Mendelssohn composed his Opus 13 quartet.

© 2015 Mia Chung

THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET
3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms

A Youthful, Masterful Quartet

The astounding thing about this work is that it is Mendelssohn's first string quartet, and yet it is the
picture of musical precociousness. He was only 18, but profoundly drawn to Beethoven's Opus
95, Opus 132, and Opus 135 string quartets, as well as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and his late
piano sonatas.

One would imagine that the energy and dynamism of Beethoven's Opus 18 or Opus 59 string
quartets would be more attractive to Mendelssohn's teenage imagination. Not so. He was out to
create something distinctly innovative and personal, as inspired by Beethoven's late works. In other
words, he was swinging for the fences. The A major Adagio sections which both open and close
this work are signs of this. Mendelssohn uses these sections in a cyclical manner, and that is, the
Adagio theme which is presented in the first movement, returns at the very end of the last
movement, thus binding the work together. These A major bookends enclose the work, almost
like quotation marks, or like the effect of a camera zooming into a scene and zooming out at the
conclusion of a movie. He also gives the third movement the designation of "Intermezzo" instead
of "scherzo" to capture a lighter feel in the opening measures of the folksy movement. And finally,
Mendelssohn incorporates fugal sections in the second and fourth movements, as well as recitative,
a musical texture that imitates speech. These are the trademarks features in Beethoven's late
compositions. Unlike Beethoven's late works, however, which were rather esoteric and inaccessible,
Mendelssohn manages to infuse the classical structure of this string quartet with youthful emotions
while fulfilling the expectations of masterful four-part writing. String quartet players see that this
work is extraordinary to play. Arnold will tell us more about what it's like to perform it in concert.

In our Guarneri String Quartet's very first public appearance, we performed this Mendelssohn
Quartet, and it remained in our repertoire throughout our career. From the very first of our
rehearsals, the opening notes just grab at the heart in such an emotional and poignant way that it
was hard for us to separate ourselves from the roles of performer and listener, such was the force
and depth of the music. The work ends in a similar vein, with one last poignant cry from the first
violin and hushed, pulsating chords from the lower voices. Yet another Beethoven homage, this
time from the Cavatina movement of his Opus 130 quartet. And all the many times we performed
the Mendelssohn, its last fading notes inevitably created an atmosphere so moving that audiences
were reluctant to clap afterwards; perhaps that silence was the greatest tribute listeners could afford
to Mendelssohn and to his genius.

[MUSIC]

© 2015 Arnold Steinhardt and Mia Chung

THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET
3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms

Aizuri Demonstration: Telling Op. 80’s Story

Greetings. The Aizuri string quartet and I are going to discuss Felix Mendelssohn's very last string
quartet, Opus 80 in F minor. Now, this quartet has a very special and a very sad story behind it,
and so it places kind of a special burden on a string quartet. I mean, obviously the music, the notes,
speak for themselves. But this one has the following abbreviated story, and that is that Felix
Mendelssohn's sister Fanny, who he loved dearly, had just died. It was a shock, and I think he was
in shock, and his way of grieving was Opus 80, the F minor quartet. And so the question is, for a
string quartet sitting down to play this piece, yes, you learn the notes. You learn how to work
together. You obey all Mendelssohn's markings. But then what else is there? How do you convey
the sadness that Mendelssohn felt at this moment?

Well, in the slow movement - the rest of the quartet I think is quite turbulent, musically - but the
slow movement is the heart of the piece. And we're trying to-- we're kind of going on a journey
with Mendelssohn as he struggles emotionally with the death of his sister, and he really tries to
come to terms with it. And so there are passages where you hear crying, and sighing,
breathlessness. Also, you know, really missing a sister and reaching and hoping to kind of connect
with her again, but then it slips from him. And then on the other side, there are passages that are
warmer, and maybe he's really trying to be more at peace. There might be something hopeful. And
so we're trying to kind of straddle these two different kinds of grieving and coping.

But I mean, as he's experiencing these things, it's not calculated emotion. It's spontaneous emotion
and it’s changing emotion. Of course you feel that in the movement. But to capture this change,
how do you deal with different elements? For example, how do you deal with the sense of moving
forward or moving back? Just the kind of freedom in the music?

I think where he marks either a crescendo, which is growing in sound, or a diminuendo, which is
coming away in sound, kind of shows us the parts of the music where he wants you to feel like his
emotions are almost about to burst out of his body, or are increasing in intensity. And then in the
diminuendos, it's either kind of a decay, like of resignation? A feeling of resignation, or just, like,
sorrow, or feeling kind of like coming back inside of yourself because you're so sad. And he marks
that, that spontaneity in the music. And I think it's up to us to make it come to life between, you
know, just playing together, and kind of seeing, watching each other's signals.

And one additional tool that we have, I guess as a quartet, the goal is to sort of be storytellers
together. And one of the tools that we use is our vibrato. And the vibrato will evolve, because it's
tapped into our hearts. It's tapped into our emotions. So when the music is very lonely or bleak,
that might be a moment where we use very minimal or zero vibrato, to convey a feeling of
coldness and loneliness. But when we're being overtaken by emotion, whether it's hopeful or
overwhelmingly sad, those are moments where the vibrato really can support that feeling.
So, you have these powerful elements. You have the sense of motion of a wave moving forward
slightly, or moving back slightly, and these are the things that Mendelssohn can't write. And he
can't write, necessarily “use a little bit more vibrato, or less, wider or narrower”. But these things
are what make the music, and what make you your personality as a string quartet. Well, this
movement is one of the most exquisitely beautiful, and emotional, deeply touching and moving
movements that I know. Would you play it for us now?

[MUSIC]

© 2015 Arnold Steinhardt

THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET
3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms

Schumann’s Birthday Gift to Clara

One note falls into another-- a gentle sigh of sadness within the briefest of musical statements.
Then comes another pair of those descending notes with a different mood-- indignant, even
anguished. And finally, a third set, but this time, one note falling into the other in a way that
invokes peace and harmony in the world. And so begins Robert Schumann's String Quartet, Opus
41 number three in A major, the last of three quartets he completed in 1842, with an introduction
that is the very essence of heart-on-the-sleeve romanticism.

[MUSIC]

Schumann composed this quartet in a mere four days, dedicated it to Felix Mendelssohn, and had
performed by Ferdinand David's string quartet as a birthday present for his wife Clara Schumann.
This must have pleased Schumann greatly, for he regarded the string quartet as one of music's
highest forms and the writing of one a composer's rite of passage.

The emotion-laden first movement introduction leads, surprisingly, to a relatively cheerful main
section. It includes a dance like first theme and lyrical second theme with a quirky offbeat rhythmic
underpinning--charming to listen to but maddeningly difficult for a string quartet to master. The
second movement is a highly original theme and variations, and the fourth and last movement a
brilliant tour de force that banishes any darkness from the preceding movement.

But it is that very third movement, song-like and drawing on Schumann's gift for lieder, that seems
to be the heart, the touchstone of the entire quartet. This is the moment in which Schumann ceases
to merely write beautifully crafted music. Instead, he bares his soul, troubled as it often is, for all of
us to hear, feel, and in some cases, to empathize with.

Perhaps this intensely Romantic movement can be thought of as a fully developed elaboration
based on the compact yet emotional story told in the quartet's initial introduction. The movement
begins lyrically and peacefully enough but the mood quickly evolves into longing and anguish
expressed through the medium of a dramatic but oddly deranged-sounding march-- an unlikely but
powerful moment typical of Schumann's unorthodox creativity. Eventually, the song-like first
theme of this spacious and deeply moving movement reappears-- sonorous and heartfelt as ever.
Then it slips into a coda of such hypnotic beauty that one is loath to break its magic spell with the
sound any other music, not even with the rousing last movement Schumann's last and wonderful
string quartet.

[MUSIC]

© 2015 Arnold Steinhardt

THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET
3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms

Schumann’s Lofty Standards

Schumann, who was not only a composer, but also a music critic once said, "First, the proper
quartet should avoid symphonic furor and aim rather for a conversational tone in which everyone
has something to say. Second, the composer must possess an intimate knowledge the genre's
history, but should strive to produce more than mere imitations of Haydn, Mozart, and
Beethoven."

This is a tall order, no matter the gifting of the composer, but quite reflective of the burden that all
composers of the 19th century quartet carried. In 1842, Schumann composed his three quartets,
Opus 41 trying to meet these standards. It is important to note that Schumann was prone to
mania. He spent the whole year composing just chamber music.

Of the three quartets, Opus 41, number three, captures the essence of Schumann's inventiveness
most vividly. In the slow third movement, Schumann's gift for writing lieder, or art song, certainly
comes to the fore. However, it's in the "scherzo" movement, that we experience something quite
extraordinary, and that is his colorful structural imagination. In this movement, Schumann uses
theme and variation structure. Typically, we hear the theme first and then the variations. The quirk
here is that Schumann presents three variations first, right up front, followed by the theme for the
movement in canon, which is strict imitation, between the first violin and viola. A fourth variation
and coda, or closing section, then finish off the movement. Though brief, this movement captures
the essence of Schumann's creative genius-- his willingness to allow the nature of the music to
shape the structure of the movement. Thus, in his own highly individualistic way, Schumann meets
his lofty standards.

© 2015 Mia Chung

THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET
3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms

Brahms, Patient and Persevering

Brahms took his string quartet writing seriously. He threw away the first twenty he had written
before consenting to publish his two quartets, Opus 51, he worked on them for many years, then
had them played at a secret private concert, and revised them once again. The Opus 51 quartets are
dedicated to Theodor Billroth, who was a talented amateur pianist and violinist. They became close
friends, often shared musical insights, and Brahms frequently sent Billroth his original manuscripts
for comment before publication. Did Herr Billroth have a hand in Brahms' masterful skills binding
the C Minor's movements together with common material? We will never know for sure, but any
case, sheer skill immediately takes a back seat with the very turbulent and anguished beginning at
this quartet. Even when the grand orchestral scale of the first movement eases into a more lyrical
mode, it is tinged with melancholy, and these dark qualities set the tone for much of the quartet.

[MUSIC]

The second movement, stately, noble, and thoughtful its onset-- turns poignant with hushed,
pleading triplets, before returning to the music of the inspired opening. The third movement is
again pervaded by melancholy, but its middle section stands apart with a much lighter, dance-like
feel--a relief from the churning nature much of the quartet. And the fourth movement, again
thickly orchestral in feel, reverts back to its dramatic anguished nature but interspersed with
moments of great longing. The opening material appears one last time in a coda that hurtles toward
the end with greater and greater speed, its last notes rushing upwards almost exactly as the very
opening notes of the quartet do, but with withering intensity. Brahms was already forty years old at
the time of publication, we should be thankful for his patience and perseverance for they gave birth
to this wonderful C Minor Quartet, a work of high drama and unforgettable beauty.

© 2015 Arnold Steinhardt

THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET
3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms

Upholding Tradition

As Arnold remarked, Brahms, who lived from 1833 to 1897, was highly self-critical, as judging
from his many fruitless attempts to produce a first string quartet. The same can be said of him as a
symphonic composer. In both cases, the shadow of Beethoven loomed large and Brahms was
acutely aware of his chosen responsibility to assume Beethoven's mantle even at the end of the
19th century. Brahms was, in essence, trying to uphold the great classical tradition of Haydn,
Mozart and Beethoven, not wanting to give up on its creative possibilities.

Now, Brahms chose the key of C minor for the Opus 51, number one, quartet. This key is one we
associate with tragic works. Think for example, of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. Indeed, Brahms
communicates the intensity and seriousness that we associate with this key, but he also makes
extraordinary demands on the quartet as he strives for a symphonic sound. The C string is the
lowest, most resonant string on the cello, and is thus the foundation for the rich soundscape that
Brahms loves. This immense, symphonic sound palette pushes the capabilities of four string
instruments to the limit. During many moments in this work, one can almost imagine an orchestra
playing the music. This dense sonority is also what makes the expression possible. As the
instruments strain to play the loud dynamics and to cover the sweeping gestures that move in leaps,
one experiences a physical depiction of anguish and yearning. This symphonic texture however is
also what makes the gentler, lighter, and more poignant passages all the more intimate. We
encounter this kind of expression in his slow movement, the Romanze.

[MUSIC]

Some consider Brahms's greatest string chamber works to be those that add additional instruments
to the mix. Think of his sextets, which include two violins, two violas and two cellos, or his works
that combine the piano with strings. One wonders if the additional instruments brought him that
much closer the sound ideal that he longed to capture.

© 2015 Mia Chung

THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET
3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms

Conversation: Fewer Quartets

It's important to note the decline in the number of string quartets in the nineteenth century as
seen in the case of Schumann and Brahms. During the time of the first Viennese school of Haydn,
Mozart and Beethoven, the string quartet flourished. Haydn composed 68 quartets, and Beethoven
16. Even Schubert penned 15 quartets and Mendelssohn six, plus some assorted movements. One
can argue that Mendelssohn was the only composer of the high Romantic era or the middle of the
19th century, who composed a significant amount for the string quartet. What accounts for this
sharp drop-off during the middle to the end of the 19th century? Arnold, I turn to you for wisdom
on this matter. What explains the significant decline in number?

Well, Mia, I guess you can think of this in many different ways. First of all, you can think of the
high regard that all these composers regarded the string quartet medium, and that it would be their
dream to write a great string quartet. On the other hand, unfortunately, there were all kinds of
practical considerations to think of, and I can imagine Schumann coming home and saying, "Clara,
the market has dropped out of the string quartet business, and we've got a bunch of kids to feed
and we've got the rent to pay." These kind of very mundane considerations. And him saying, "You
know I think I'm gonna go on to other mediums. Because maybe the string quartet will come back,
maybe it won't, But maybe I should think more of writing another symphony, another virtuoso
piano piece," and on and on." I know this is-- it's a mundane aspect of life for these giants of
music. On the other hand it had to be one of their considerations.

I think that makes a lot of sense. Because if you think of the romantic sensibility, mean it's the
ideal of the individual, right? The one person on stage. Whether that's the virtuoso concerto
performer in front of an orchestra, or the pianist playing a cycle of piano pieces, or a singer singing
lieder, but there's something about the idea of the individual sort of captured the ethos of
Romantic sentiment perhaps more completely than, say, the cooperative dynamic of four people in
a string quartet.

I am not a composer, I have no talent in that direction. So for me, composition is a little bit like
alchemy. It's magic for me. And you know, I imagine the great composers, I imagine Beethoven
waking up and saying, "Tonight I'm going to write a symphony in B flat major." You know, or,
"I'm going to write a nonet," or whatever "...because the Muse has captured my imagination." But
it wasn't that simple for even these great geniuses. But I think another practical consideration had
to be the fact that somebody like Schubert played a string instrument. Chamber music, and
specifically quartets were a little bit like mother’s milk to him. He grew up in his family playing
them for fun. And so for him, in a way, it would be a little bit like falling off a log to just begin to
compose string quartets at an early age. And indeed he did. And the same is true for Mendelssohn,
in that he played quite well the violin, and participated in some performances of his octet, as a
matter of fact. For Schumann and Brahms, it was more of an abstract issue, these instruments,
because they did not play these instruments themselves.
Right. And here they are, trying to go and fulfill this rite of passage, if you will, in writing a string
quartet, because the quartet was still regarded so highly. It was viewed as, like, the test of true
craftsmanship that all composers would have to take and fulfill at a very high level. So they do this
perhaps out of a sense of compositional obligation, if you will. And I wanted to ask you with
regard to that idea, the idea that perhaps Beethoven had exhausted so much of the possibility in the
string quartet medium, as he had done with the symphonies and piano sonatas, et cetera, et cetera.
With many of these instrumental mediums. Beethoven had done it all, and so there was this
extraordinary pressure on composers that came after Beethoven to do something new and
innovative. But the question is always, "But how? Or what?" So, that must have been a very
daunting challenge for these Romantic composers.

I don't think I would've wanted to have been composer at that time. You know, it must have been,
"Oh my gosh, how do we follow in Beethoven's footsteps?" And not just for string quartets, as you
mention, for symphonies, for everything. Because everything he did was so groundbreaking. It was
new, almost in terms of, you could think of space travel. You know, it was that kind of new. And
so I can understand that even the traditionalists--and Brahms was a traditionalist in many senses,
even though he was a master at his craft, would have tried to strike out in different areas. And
waited a long, long time before he actually dared to follow in the great man's footsteps.

Right. And in terms of string quartet players, like when Schuppanzigh dies around 1830, I would
imagine the other quartets that followed were probably greatly satisfied with the canon of string
quartet literature. In other words, the works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert. And
Mendelssohn. And they must have been deeply satisfied in the achievement as it already stood.

Yes. So, they had -- these composers had their violinists. Mendelssohn had his Ferdinand David,
who helped him significantly with his own concerto. But the big question mark for me is Brahms'
violinist Joseph Joachim, who's arguably one of the greatest violinists of his era, and who had a
deep friendship with Brahms, not just at the time when Brahms wrote his three string quartets, but
for decades. And Joseph Joachim was not only known as a great soloist, and a great teacher and
conductor, but he was also famous for his Joseph Joachim String Quartet, which toured extensively
for something like thirty years. And so I can imagine Joachim whispering in Brahms' ears, "Write a
string quartet, for heaven's sake." But of course, he might have taken his advice because he did
write 20 string quartets. And looked at each of them and said, "This doesn't make it," and he threw
them all away. So perhaps Joachim was the great influence as far as string quartets are concerned,
throughout Brahms' life, but we just won't know about it because all those quartets went to the
trash bin.

Right. And we think of all these cycles of six string quartets that -- composers like Haydn and
Beethoven and Mozart. You know they're all released in batches of six, a tradition that goes back to
the Baroque era with the partitas, and the suites that were all released in groups of six. Here we
have Schumann and Brahms, they composed three string quartets and not necessarily all at once,
for example, in Brahms' case. So, I guess three is perhaps the new six? It's either the new six or it
was just sheer happenstance. If you look into modern times, you say, "Well, Bartok wrote six
quartets," but that really doesn't hold water because on his deathbed he had already written notes
for a seventh string quartet, so he did not have six in mind either. So, it's—it’s an interesting
subject because you had Haydn, who just--it just gushed forth from him, his 68 string quartets and
then you had Beethoven with 16. And, you know, as time went by you would think, "Well, the well
is running dry." But then in modern times you have Shostakovich, also not a string player, writing
15.

Right. Well you've pointed us in the right direction, now, Arnold, because it seems that a future of
the string quartet resides not necessarily in Austro- Germanic culture, but it moves East, to Eastern
European countries. And so in the next show, in "The Internationalists," we'll be exploring the
work of Eastern European composers and how they became the next hope for the string quartet
medium.

© 2015 Arnold Steinhardt and Mia Chung

THE WORLD OF THE STRING QUARTET
3. The Humanists: Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms

Joachim to the Busch String Quartet

The Joachim String Quartet was arguably the most distinguished and well-known performing
group since the Schuppanzigh Quartet's reign during the time of Beethoven. Joseph Joachim, born
in 1831, died in 1907, was one of the most admired and influential violinists and musicians of his
time. He was a composer, conductor, teacher, soloist and friend and advisor to Johannes Brahms,
as well as the first violinist of a quartet that was active for almost 40 years. The Joachim Quartet
toured extensively and their repertoire was devoted in large part to works of Haydn, Mozart,
Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, and of course Brahms.

A large lithograph of the Joachim Quartet with Beethoven's Opus 59 #3 String Quartet on their
music stands has hung for decades in one at the Curtis Institute of Music's teaching rooms. It was
there when I struggled with my very first string quartet assignments as a student at Curtis and it is
still there today.

The recording machine was invented in 1877, and there are thankfully a few recordings of Joachim
as soloist, but it is tantalizing to think that the Joachim String Quartet could have recorded
something for posterity. They could have, but they did not, and sadly, we are only left with that
lithograph as a poor visual substitute.

The Busch String Quartet almost literally picked up where the Joachim left off with a gap of only a
few years. Adolph Busch, composer, conductor, and one of the greatest German violinists of the
first half of the 20th century, founded the Vienna Konzertverein Quartet in 1912 and then the
Busch String Quartet in 1919, a group that performed worldwide with him as first violinist for the
next three decades. Busch not only formed these quartets but also was almost entirely responsible
for their musical vision. The Busch Quartet was admired for its interpretations of Schubert,
Brahms, but especially Beethoven.

Unlike the Joachim Quartet, the Busch Quartet recorded extensively. In listening to their
recordings of late Beethoven Quartets, a modern listener would not be particularly impressed by
their technical polish. What captivates is their choice of tempos, the avoidance of lush sound for its
own sake, and the utter directness and musical depth of their interpretation. The Busch Quartet
was at that time the most typical model of a string quartet with one leader, almost always the first
violin, whose name adorned the quartet, such as the Schuppanzigh, The Joachim, the Capet, and
the Rose string quartets. These were the quartets that dominated the string quartet field of that
time and created the vision that inspired quartets to follow. We string quartet players of this era are
forever grateful for the legacy that they handed on to us.

© 2015 Arnold Steinhardt