Villiers Quartet
Saturday 28th November, 7.30 pm
Joseph Haydn: String Quartet in B flat Major, Op. 76/4 (‘Sunrise’)
Vivian Fung: String Quartet No. 1
Ludwig van Beethoven: String Quartet in F Major, Op 59 No 1
Programme notes by Diana Rosenthal
Franz Joseph Haydn Quartet No 63, Op 76/4 ‘Sunrise’
I Allegro con spirito; II Adagio; III Menuetto – Allegro; IV Finale – Allegro ma non troppo
Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical Period who was a pivotal figure in the evolution of chamber music forms such as the string quartet and piano trio. He is widely recognised as the “father of the string quartet” because he transformed the genre from light aristocratic background music into a deeply expressive and conversational art form.
The Quartet no 63 in B flat major is the fourth in a set of six completed in 1797 which were commissioned by and dedicated to the Hungarian Count Joseph Georg von Erody and are known collectively as the ‘Erody Quartets’, though certain individual quartets have their own nicknames, as is the case with No 4 – ‘ Sunrise’.
The descriptive title ‘Sunrise’ is a comment on the opening of the first movement, in which the first violin opens with an ascending arabesque-like phrase over the sustained B flat chord of the other instruments. This opening violin phrase puts an emphasis on the interval of a rising semitone, a feature which will go on to pervade not only this first movement but the whole quartet. After the dreamy, quasi-improvisatory opening passage, the mood suddenly changes to a fast-paced and energetic orchestral-style tutti before a free inversion of the first theme is presented by the cello, the melody now curling downwards. Throughout the movement, Haydn reinvents the theme and passes it between all four voices with each instrument having a chance to shine. The slow movement is cast in the warm key of E flat major yet seems to conjure up an underlying sadness as it juxtaposes a steady 5-note ‘chorale’ theme (featuring again the rising semitone) with violin cadenzas and free fantasias on the theme. The Minuet here is no courtly dance but, rather, a fast-paced burly German waltz with a thumping downbeat. Again, rising semitones are all-pervasive. The Trio section is more pastoral or folk-like with its drone basses and octave doublings. The quick and playful Rondo Finale makes you want to tap your toe and enjoy a ride that sometimes tilts sideways or takes an unexpected turn or pause. An extended coda passage increases the tempo as fragments of the theme are tossed between the four players.
Vivian Fung String Quartet No 1
I Animato; II Interludium; III Pizzicato; IV Molto Perpetuo – Presto Possibile.
Vivian Fung is a Juno Award-winning Canadian composer. Born in Edmonton, Alberta in 1975, Vivian Fung studied at the Julliard School in New York City. Her compositions are known for reflecting her multicultural background along with the influences of her research into the diverse musical cultures of North Vietnam, Spain, Bali and Southwest China.
The String Quartet No 1 began life as a short single-movement work written for The American String Quartet in which the composer incorporated elements of the folk music of parts of Asia: this was to become the third movement, ‘Pizzicato’ of her first string quartet.
Movements 1, 2 and 4 followed, and they also have elements of Asian folk music. The first movement is lively with syncopated rhythms and long flowing melodic lines. The second movement is slow and atmospheric with hints of a folk melody superimposed over alternating chords which appear and disappear. The third movement is played pizzicato (plucked). The final movement is a moto perpetuo of swirling semiquavers that drive the work to an explosive conclusion.
Ludwig van Beethoven Quartet No 7 in F major, Op 59, No 1
I Allegro; II Allegretto Vivace e sempre scherzando; III Adagio molto e mesto; IV Theme Russe – Allegro
In the Spring of 1806, Beethoven began work on the first of three quartets dedicated to Count Andreas Kirillovich Razumovsky, Russian ambassador to Vienna and a great patron of the arts. The Count was supportive in another important way, too, in that he employed a quartet of string players (Schuppanzigh Quartet) whose talents allowed Beethoven the opportunity to hear his music played with precision and virtuosity. Access to these superb players encouraged Beethoven to make ever-greater demands in his quartet writing. At the Count’s request, Beethoven included a Russian folksong in each of the first two quartets.The first movement, an Allegro in F major, is in an expansive sonata form. It begins with a theme stated in turn by the cello and then the first violin, over a pulsating accompaniment in the middle voices. Thematic fragmentation ensues, with soloistic passages for each of the four players. There are sudden shifts of colour and mood. When the main theme returns, and we are expecting a repeat of the exposition, Beethoven quickly takes off in another direction instead, into a discursive development section. We feel wrong-footed again when Beethoven steers us back to the home key at the end of the development only to delay the restatement of the main theme for several more bars – a trick known as the delayed emotional recapitulation. The second movement is lively and playful. The musical material is equal parts rhythm and melody and there is much inventive interplay of the two. The third movement is marked Adagio molto e mesto (very slow and sad). Much of it is played very softly and in closely harmonized ensemble writing. You can read into it a stately grandeur or, equally, a private grief. At times, the texture is embellished with decorative passagework that foreshadows the adagios of Beethoven’s late quartets. A cadenza-like passage for the first violin leads directly into the final movement in which Beethoven fulfils the request from his patron and bases his movement around a Russian folk song. Although the listener would most likely be unaware of it, the original tune is a mournful slow tune in a minor key. Here, Beethoven has turned it into a jaunty rollicking number in F major! Towards the very end of the piece, he states the theme in a slow and reflective version as a nod to its origins (though still in the major). He then tosses that aside and finishes the piece with a grand flourish.