Sacconi Quartet
Saturday 31st January, 7.30 pm
Haydn: Quartet Op 33, no 3, ‘The Bird’
Freya Waley-Cohen: Dances, Songs and Hymns for Friendship
Beethoven: Op 132
Haydn and Beethoven notes by Diana Rosenthal
Freya Waley-Cohen notes by the composer
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
String Quartet in C major, Op 33, No 3 ‘The Bird’ (1781)
Allegro Moderato: Scherzo, Allegretto – Trio: Adagio, ma non troppo: Finale, Rondo – Presto
Haydn’s Op 33 set of six quartets has several nicknames, the most common of which is the ‘Russian’ quartets as they were dedicated to the Grand Duke Paul of Russia. Many of Haydn’s individual quartets also have nicknames due to certain innovative features or distinctive musical evocations. When Haydn published his Op 33 quartets, he claimed he had written them in a “new and special style”. Compared with the previous Op 20 set, composed nine years earlier, the Op 33 quartets sing with a warm light-heartedness many trace to the influence of Mozart as well as Haydn’s foray into comic opera.
The evocation of birdsong is evident in the very first notes of the sonata-form first movement, with a repeated pair of notes each with its own leading grace note forming a two-note ‘chirp’. The second subject theme, similarly, uses this birdsong effect. In the development section, the chirping figure is refashioned to become darkly moody and mysterious.
One of the distinguishing characteristics of the Op 33 quartets is Haydn’s decision to replace the expected Minuet movement with movements entitled ‘scherzo’, literally ‘joke’ in Italian. (Gli Schezi, the scherzos, is another nickname for the Op 33 set.). In the case of the second movement of Op 33, No 3, however, the title seems to contradict the dusky murmurings of what sounds more like a hymn or prayer, with the four instruments playing sotto voce on their lowest strings. Then, to comical effect, in the Trio section the birds return with a twittering duet for the two violins.
The third movement is a tender song, serene and warmly textured. It is cast in a condensed sonata form with a brief transition instead of a central development and with a first section repeat that is varied, rather than literal, with florid figuration for the first violin.
Listen out for the cuckoo in the madcap rondo finale’s recurring refrain. The main contrasting episode shifts to a darker minor mode with perhaps a hint of ‘gypsy’ dance that Haydn so often used. The coda is pure Haydn fun and wit – and then the music seems to disappear into thin air.
Freya Waleu-Cohen
Dances, Songs and Hymns for Friendship
This piece was written to celebrate 25 years since the founding of the Sacconi Quartet – with all original members! I started by coming to a rehearsal of the quartet, witnessing how they rehearsed Beethoven together, how they talked to each other both in and out of rehearsal time, made tea together, played their roles as quartet members and as friends. I thought of these 25 years of enduring friendship, all the different twists and turns of life they had seen each other through, and of my own closest friends and how those relationships deserved songs, dances and hymns to be written to them.
This quartet is written in 6 movements. The first is, SPIN, which starts with a fervent togetherness before each voice begins to spin its own yarn. SING is a song that sits between yearning, hope, and brief moments of serenity. PLAY is full of light and sparkle and shifting, dancing rhythmic underlay. STEP is a strident dance that turns a corner into a lightness of step that spins off into the distance. PRAY starts with a lilting off-kilter closely harmonised hymn and becomes a spacious song that always keeps a hymn nearby. The final movement is BE, in which a simple melodic fragment repeats, transforms, extends, and eventually is left just to be itself.
Ludwig van Beethoven (1770 – 1827)
String Quartet No 15 in A minor, Op 132
Assai sostenuto – Allegro: Allegro ma non tanto: Molto Adagio – Andante: Alla Marcia, assai vivace: Allegro appassionato – Presto
The Quartet in A minor Op 132 was written in 1825 and was dedicated to Count Nicolai Galitzin, as were Op 127 and 130. The number traditionally assigned to it is based on the order of its publication; it is actually the thirteenth quartet in order of composition. Written towards the end of his life, this quartet forms one of the five ‘late quartets’, a group of ground-breaking compositions that pushed the boundaries of form, harmony and expression.
The first movement is in a modified sonata form with a pseudo development section acting as a transition between the main exposition and a repeat of this material but now cast in contrasting tonal areas – all part of Beethoven’s reimagining of traditional sonata form.
The movement begins with 8 bars of slow music marked pp (very soft) and presents a steadily moving and very distinctive theme based on semitone steps which has a possible connection to Bach’s G minor Fugue from Book I of the Well Tempered Klavier and which infuses several movements of Beethoven’s final quartets. At the end of this short, soft, slow introduction we get a sudden strong chord and the Allegro movement begins with a flurry of semiquavers from the 1st Violin.
The Second Movement is like a minuet and trio, in triple time and at a moderate pace. It is full of gracefulness and charm, typical of the form, yet still with Beethoven’s persistent working out of ideas and his characteristic reluctance to finish an idea! This movement is cast in the tonic major (A major) of the main key of the quartet, thus offering freshness and relief. The way in which this movement provides calculated yet spontaneous simplicity in juxtaposition with passages of ferocious complexity in the other movements is a hallmark of Beethoven’s late quartets.
The Third Movement is the longest in the quartet. Beethoven wrote this quartet after recovering from a serious illness which he feared was fatal because he had been afflicted with intestinal disorder during the entire winter of 1824-25. He thus headed the movement with the words “Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart” (Holy song of thanksgiving of a convalescent to the Deity, in the Lydian Mode). The movement alternates between slow sections (the ‘hymn’ in a modal F) with faster sections marked “Neue Kraft fuhlend” (feeling new strength). The use of the lydian mode in the slow sections evokes the otherworldly sacred church modes of the Renaissance, suggesting an ancient song of praise to the deity.
The Op 132 has five movements in total, rather than the traditional four. The Fourth Movement is marked ‘Alla Marcia, assai vivace’ (very fast march) and it leads straight on (attacca) to the final movement. Despite its brevity, it is packed with; invention and impact. The march itself sounds antique, but this gives way to a dramatic and expressive ‘recitativo’ passage’ which, in turn, gives way to the opening of the finale.
The Fifth is a fast movement in sonata rondo form, following the pattern ABACABA. It is interesting to note, from Beethoven’s sketch books, that the theme of this rondo was originally meant for the finale to his Ninth Symphony – but this was abandoned in favour of the Choral Finale.