Muzik Klasik Barat

Zaman Klasikal (1750-1820)

PengenalanPada zaman Klasikal, stail Baroque yang serius telah beranjak kepada stail yang lebih mudah dan ringan. Perubahan ini dipengaruhi oleh seni reka, seni bina dan seni lukis orang Greek dan orang Rom. Revolusi di Amerika dan Perancis serta peperangan Napoleon mengakibatkan kuasa politik dan ekonomi diambilalih oleh golongan rakyat jelata. Berikutan dengan itu, seni muzik juga menjadi terbuka kepada rakyat jelata. Pada masa itu kegiatan muzik berpusat di Vienna. Komposer-komposer berpeluang bekerja secara persendirian atau di bawah naungan golongan bangsawan. Karya-karya mereka dipengaruhi oleh muzik rakyat dan muzik popular pada masa itu. Persembahan muzik bukan sahaja terhad di istana malahan di tempat-tempat awam dan di rumah-rumah persendirian.

Ciri-ciri muzik zaman Klasikal adalah seperti berikut : - Muzik zaman Klasikal adalah lebih merdu dan senang dinyanyikan - Melodinya juga berunsur simetri dan seimbang. - Muzik zaman Klasikal kaya dengan pelbagai corak irama. -Penggunaan sinkopasi, fermata luar jangkaan, perubahan nilai not menambahkan kepelbagaian corak irama dalam muzik zaman Klasikal. - Muzik zaman Klasikal pada asasnya mempunyai tekstur homofoni. - Teksturnya fleksibel di mana ia boleh beranjak daripada satu tekstur ke tekstur yang lain sama ada secara lancar atau mendadak. - Mud muzik zaman Klasikal berubah-ubah dan pelbagai. Perubahan mud boleh berlaku sama ada secara beransur-ansur atau mendadak. - Muzik zaman Klasikal mempunyai dinamik yang berubah secara beransur-ansur atau mendadak. Untuk menghasilkan dinamik sedemikian, piano digunakan. - Muzik zaman Klasikal tidak lagi menggunakan basso continuo. - Muzik zaman Klasikal lazimnya berbentuk sonata, rondo, theme and variations dan minuet and trio.

Jenis muzik zaman Klasikal terdiri daripada muzik instrumental dan muzik kamar. Contoh muzik instrumental zaman Klasikal adalah seperti simfoni, concerto dan sonata. Contoh muzik kamar zaman Klasikal adalah seperti string quartet, piano trio, piano sonata dan clarinet quintet. Orkestra zaman Klasikal merupakan orkestra standard yang terdiri daripada empat seksyen iaitu seksyen alat bertali, sekyen alat tiup kayu, seksyen alat bras dan seksyen perkusi. Bilangan pemain muzik adalah lebih ramai berbanding dengan orkestra zaman Baroque. Dalam orkestra

zaman Klasikal, alat bertali merupakan seksyen yang paling penting kerana alat bertali lebih banyak memainkan melodi. Alat tiup kayu menghasilkan warna ton yang kontras. Alat ini kerap memainkan bahagian solo. Alat tiup kayu membantu melengkapkan harmoni dan juga mengukuhkan kelantangan bunyi.Timpani merupakan alat perkusi yang popular dalam orkestra zaman Klasikal. Alat ini digunakan unutk memain irama.

Tokoh Muzik Zaman Klasikal

Tingkatan Dua

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Ludwig Van Beethoven

Muzik Era Klasikal (1750 – 1825)

Pengenalan

Pada era klasikal, idea-idea baru telah mula bercambah dan budaya barat mula berubah. Rakyat biasa mula mempersoalkan kemampuan golongan istana dan memperjuangkan hak individu. Di Amerika Utara, Koloni British melalui kesatuan Boston Tea Party mengadakan protes berkenaan cukai. Revolusi di Amerika Utara dan Perancis serta peperangan Napoleon menyebabkan keadaan politik dan ekonomi tidak stabil.

Seni muzik dapat dinikmati kepada rakyat jelata. Kegiatan muzik berpusat di Vienna. Komposer-komposer berpeluang bekerja secara persendirian serta berkarya  di bawah naungan golongan bangsawan. Karya-karya mereka dipengaruhi oleh muzik rakyat dan muzik popular pada masa itu. Persembahan muzik bukan sahaja terhad di istana malahan di tempat-tempat awam dan premis-premis persendirian.

Ciri-ciri muzik era klasikal

muzik era klasikal adalah lebih merdu dan senang dinyanyikan melodinya juga berunsur simetri dan seimbang. muzik era klasikal kaya dengan pelbagai corak irama. penggunaan sinkopasi, fermatta luar jangkaan, perubahan nilai not menambahkan

kepelbagaian corak irama dalam muzik era klasikal. muzik era klasikal mempunyai tekstur homofoni. Terdapat perubahan  daripada satu

tekstur ke tekstur yang lain sama ada secara beransur-ansur atau mendadak. mud muzik era klasikal sentiasa berubah-ubah dan mempunyai kepelbagaian. Perubahan

mud juga boleh berlaku secara beransur-ansur atau mendadak. muzik era klasikal tidak lagi menggunakan basso continuo seperti yang terdapat pada era

baroque.

muzik era klasikal lazimnya berbentuk sonata, rondo, tema dan variasi serta  minuet dan trio.

jenis muzik era klasikal terdiri daripada muzik instrumental dan muzik kamar. Contohnya, simfoni, concerto dan sonata. Muzik kamar era klasikal terdiri daripada string quartet, piano trio, piano sonata dan clarinet quintet.

orkestra era klasikal terdiri daripada empat seksyen iaitu seksyen alat bertali, sekyen alat tiup kayu, seksyen alat brass dan seksyen alat perkusi. Bilangan pemuzik lebih ramai berbanding orkestra era Baroque. Dalam orkestra era klasikal, alat bertali merupakan seksyen yang paling dominan kerana alat bertali lebih banyak memainkan melodi. Alat tiup kayu menghasilkan warna ton yang kontras. Alat ini kerap memainkan bahagian solo. Alat tiup kayu membantu melengkapkan harmoni. Timpani merupakan alat perkusi yang popular dalam orkestra era klasikal.

String Quartet No.14, Op.131 (Beethoven, Ludwig van)

Movements/Sections

7 movements I. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo II. Allegro molto vivace (D major) III. Allegro moderato (F♯ minor) IV. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile (A major) V. Presto VI. Adagio quasi un poco andante (G♯ minor) VII. Allegro

Composition Year 1826

Genre Categories

Quartets; For 2 violins, viola, cello; Scores featuring the violin; Scores featuring the viola; Scores featuring the cello; For 4 players; For piano 4 hands (arr); Scores featuring the piano; Scores featuring the piano 4 hands; For 2 players; For piano (arr); For 1 player

Composer Beethoven, Ludwig van Opus/Catalogue Number Op.131

Key C♯ minor

Movements/Sections

7 movements I. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo II. Allegro molto vivace (D major) III. Allegro moderato (F♯ minor) IV. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile (A major) V. Presto VI. Adagio quasi un poco andante (G♯ minor) VII. Allegro

Year/Date of Composition 1826 First Publication 1827 (April) - Mainz: Schott

Dedication Baron von Stutterheim Piece Style Classical

Instrumentation 2 Violins, Viola, Cello

Beethoven String Quartets

6 String Quartets, Op.18

1. String Quartet No.1 in F major

2. String Quartet No.2 in G major

3. String Quartet No.3 in D major

4. String Quartet No.4 in C minor

5. String Quartet No.5 in A major

6. String Quartet No.6 in B ♭ major

3 String Quartets, Op.59 ("Rasumovsky")

1. String Quartet No.7 in F major

2. String Quartet No.8 in E minor

3. String Quartet No.9 in C major

Late Quartets

String Quartet No.12 in E ♭ major, Op.127

String Quartet No.13 in B ♭ major, Op.130

Große Fuge in B ♭ major, Op.133

String Quartet No.14 in C♯ minor, Op.131

String Quartet No.15 in A minor, Op.132

String Quartet No.16 in F major, Op.135

String Quartet No.10 in E ♭ major, Op.74 ("Harp")

String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op.95 ("Serioso")

http://imslp.org/wiki/String_Quartet_No.14,_Op.131_(Beethoven,_Ludwig

Beethoven's String Quartet in C# minor, Op. 131.

"The compositional abyss reached by Beethoven in the creation of the C-sharp-minor Quartet was so grave a threat to the composer's fundamental musical principals that a return to less radical presuppositions was mandatory if his style was to survive at all."

Within the works of Ludwig Van Beethoven he has been categorized as post classical and pre-romantic, fitting into neither of the two genres completely, but rather somewhere in between. In his career Beethoven produced 9 symphonies, 11 overtures, 5 piano concertos, 16 string quartets, 9 piano trios, 10 violin sonatas, 5 cello sonatas, 32 piano sonatas, 2 Masses, a violin concerto, an opera, and an oratorio. The span in which Beethoven composed these pieces has been divided into three different periods, which are contingent upon style and creative output. They are dimly noted as the first period, the second period, and the late period. Beethoven's works were so often direct reflections of his experiences and of the world that lived around him. In his late period especially, Beethoven's compositions were so inherently personal that they could hardly be imitated or understood, even by his contemporaries.

Beethoven's chamber music for strings, which include three string trios, six string Quartets, and two string Quintets, exemplifies and sets the stage for the gradual loosening of his reliance on the piano as the catalyst of his compositional style. Solomon, p.132- 133 Beethoven's last works were a set of string quartets, including Beethoven string quartet 14, which were pushed along in

part by a commission from Prince Nicholas Galitstin. So while very sick and very deaf, Beethoven concentrated his creativity onto composition for strings, only a few years after completing his Ninth Symphony. Cooper, p.35 Of these works included the Beethoven Op 131, Quartet in C# minor, which was the last large-scale piece written by Beethoven. The sketches for the Beethoven Opus consume three times as many pages as the final and finished product. The C# minor Quartet is referred to by many as the quintessential epitome of Beethoven's style during his late period. Composed between 1825 and 1826, the Quartet in C# minor, Beethoven Op 131, is considered to be Beethoven's defining quartet.

Dedicated to Baron Joseph von Stutterheim, the C# minor Quartet is said to be the last of the experimental quartets. Sadie, v2 p.396 Beethoven's final quartet, the F major Quartet returns to the more conventional four-movement format. Wallace, p.64 The piece reveals his interest in various elements such as thematic variations, continuity, intentionally making the divisions between phrases unclear, qualities of improvisation, and the inner layering of the fugue presented in the first movement throughout the span of the piece. The independent voices in Beethoven string quartet 14 allow room for the use of counterpoint as well as contrapuntal composing. The piece starts out with a slow heart wrenching fugue, which presents musical ideas that can heard and detected throughout the entire work. Contrapuntal writing seams to be present within some of the variations of them within the fourth movement. The Beethoven string quartet 14 was rehearsed several times at Mathias Artaria's at the beginning of August, 1826 though it was never performed within Beethoven's lifetime. It was in fact performed for Schubert in November 1828, just five days before Schubert's death. Solomon, p.416-417

The Beethoven Opus Quartet in its entirety consists of seven movements, which are played through without pause which gives the whole work a sense of fluidity and unity. The first movement, Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo, consists of a fugue in the tonic key of C# minor. This part of the piece in my opinion is what evokes raw emotion and sadness. On its way to the key of D major, this first movement plays a heavy emphasis on the Neapolitan chord structure, primarily toward the end of the movement leading into the next movement in the new key of D major, which is the root of a Neapolitan chord in the key of C# minor. "The second movement, Allegretto molto vivace, in D major is in a compacted sonata form. It is based on a single theme which is a folk like tune first presented against a triple drone that shifts between the tonic and the subdominant." Grout, p.536 "The famous Neapolitan position of the second movement contributes a great deal to its strange ephemeral quality and is still sufficiently vivid in the listener's memory to validate the Neapolitan echo at the end of the finale." Tyson, p.156

"Movement three, Allegro moderato, in B minor is in fact only eleven measures long, functioning as a set up into the following movement and modulating from B minor to E major, the dominant of the next movement." Grout, p.536 "The fourth movement, Andante, in A major consists of a theme made up of two double periods, with six variations and a coda that encloses an incomplete seventh variation." Grout, p.536 The theme in this movement is in a binary form with a simple harmonic structure going from the tonic to the dominant in the A section and from dominant back to tonic in the B section. This basic form is recycled in all of the following six variations. These variations occur through deviations in rhythm, time signature, tempo, character and registers in which the instruments play in. "This variation movement was so extensively altered that one or more complete leaves had to be removed from the score in every variation

except for one, while what began as the final score in the finale gradually degenerated into the status of a sketch." Cooper, p.164 "Movement five, Presto, in E major is essentially a scherzo, though in duple time rather than triple time, with a trio that returns twice in rondo fashion after the return of the scherzo." Grout, p.536

"The sixth movement, Adagio, in the key of G# minor consists of twenty-eight measures in the form ABB with a coda, introducing the next movement." Grout, p.536 The seventh and final movement, Allegro, returns back home to the tonic key of C# minor and follows the traditional sonata form. If you listen to the piece you will notice that Beethoven is extremely subtle in his transitions from movement to movement. They are so subtle in fact that they can be practically undetectable to the untrained ear. The seven movements in Beethoven String Quartet 14 have the effect of one sliding into the next. "The fugue in the first movement acts as an exposition, presenting the basic tonal and thematic material that is worked out in the rest of the piece." Sadie, v2 p.386 First Beethoven moves up a half step from the home key of C# minor to D major in the second movement. After that, the third of D major F# becomes the dominant of the third movement in B minor, which acts as a recitative introduction to the fourth movement in the key of A major. The fifth movement is in E major which act as the dominant of the fourth movement in A, and is also the relative major of the home key of C# minor. Then, another third to dominant relationship is attained by going from the third of the E major fifth movement to the G# minor sixth movement which is a dominant introduction to the seventh movement going back to the home key of C# minor. "This final theme was originally sketched in F# minor as the scherzo. One of the reasons for its transposition to C# minor for the finale, with a scherzo in E major substituted in its place, must have been that the Quartet had several movements in relatively flat key areas already, and in particular it also had a heavy emphasis on F# minor in the first movement." Cooper, p.124

So besides movements three and six, which are essentially considered to be introductions into the movements that follow them, the other movements of the Beethoven opus are rather conventional forms which are pieced together effortlessly in the order; fugue, compacted sonata form, introduction including the theme and variations, scherzo with the trio, and introduction including a sonata for in the allegro. Beethoven's String Quartet 14 in C# minor, Op. 131 is said to be the most closely integrated of all his large compositions.

"This piece may be seen to be the culmination of his significant effort as a composer ever since going to Vienna. The seven movements run continuously into one another, and for the first time in Beethoven's music there is as emphatic and unmistakable thematic connection between the first movement and the last, not a reminiscence, but a functional parallel which helps bind the whole work together. A work of the deepest subtlety and beauty, at the end this quartet still seems to hinge on a stroke of the most elemental nature, as rushing D major scales in the finale recall the Neapolitan relationship set up between the opening fugue in C# minor and the following Allegro in D." Sadie, v2 p.389

When a friend asked Beethoven which of his quartets did he consider to be the best, Beethoven answered, "Each in its own way, Art demands of us that we should not stand still." However, the composer later eluded that Beethoven Op 131 was his greatest work in this genre.

Ludwig van Beethoven was born in 1770 to Johann Beethoven and Maria Magdalena. There was a certain inevitability that Ludwig's life would be related to music in one way or another because his father had made a career as Bonn's court musician. At four years of age the child started to receive musical training from his father, which he took to well. With the passing of another four years the young Beethoven played his first public performance, consisting of various concertos and trios. By the pre -pubescent age of 12, Beethoven's first work , the Dressler Variations, was published (Cooper, 12). While his career continued to blossom at a fast pace, there was no doubt that Johann's initial aspirations of his son becoming the next Mozart were becoming, by the very least, realized. Beethoven went on to become one of the biggest composers in history--some would argue the best in history . When it was all said and done, Beethoven had composed "9 symphonies, 11 overtures, incidental music to plays, a violin concerto, 5 piano concertos, 16 string quartets, 9 piano trios, 10 violin sonatas, 5 cello sonatas, 32 piano sonatas, many sets of piano variations, an oratorio, an opera, and 2 Masses, as well as arias, songs, and numerous lesser compositions" (Grout, Palisca, 514).

Beethoven's list of musical feats is astounding when one considers the poor conditions from which they came. Both his family life and personal life experienced unfortunate turbulence: On July 17, 1787 Beethoven's mother dies of consumption; November 25 of the same year his one-year-old sister dies; December 18, 1792 his father dies; summer of 1797--an undocumented period--possibly a serious illness occurred that led to his eventual hearing loss; 29 June, 1801 Beethoven writes a lengthy letter to a friend revealing a hearing deficiency; and on October 6, 1802 he writes the Heiligenstadt Testament, in which he reveals to his brothers his suicidal urges due to his hearing loss and sense of separation from the world (Cooper, 12-16).

From this point onward, health became an increasingly large obstacle in his life. During the last few years of his life Beethoven continued working on his art despite numerous ailments , attempted treatments, and deafness. Some of the most notable of which were his last five quartets: Opus 127, 130, 131,132, 133 (otherwise known as the Grosse Fugue), and 135. Op. 131 has received arguably more attention because of its unique qualities. Beethoven considered it his favorite of the collection probably for the same reasons that critics of his time described it as "distasteful", "... not very interesting" (Winter and Martin, 21), and composed "without any listeners in mind but himself" (Winter and Martin, 4). An indicator of the level to which he might have cared about these critiques could be summed up in a response he had to one of his violinists, Schuppanzigh, when he complained about the difficulty of a particular part of Beethoven's music. Beethoven remarked "Do you think I worry about your lousy fiddle when the spirit moves me?" (Blum, 230).

Beethoven composed Opus 131 in C# minor between November 1825 and July 1826. He died three months prior to its June of 1827 publication date (Winter and Martin, 245). During the later years of Beethoven's life, a certain form for quartet writing had been established. Op. 131 became famous because it broke the rules of this form. Normally, a string quartet would consist of four movements. In this case, Beethoven decided he needed seven in order to complete his vision. This length of piece requires an approximate 40-minute period of focus by the players and the audience. The piece starts with a slow fugue, an unusual introductory movement. Additionally, he visits a total of six keys in this piece, as opposed to the standard two or three.

Also, the manner by which the moods and forms evolve in the piece contradicted the typical technique (Lam, 236).

This piece is about conflict and its ultimate resolution--not an uncommon theme in itself. However, instead of conflict being created within the movements, it is created by the juxtaposition of the movements themselves. They are, as Joseph Kerman describes, contrasting, yet mutually dependent parts. Another unprecedented aspect of this piece is its overall continuity. There are no double bars between movement numbers 2 and 3, 3 and 4, and 6 and 7, and only fermata notes or rests between 1 and 2, 4 and 5, and 5 and 6. According to Kerman, there must be no breaking of attention, no catching of breath, no tuning of instruments, and no uncrossing of legs (326). The first movement has received much attention because of its unique placement within the composition. A good place to begin understanding this movement, as well as others later in the essay, is from the players' perspectives. David Blum did exactly this in his book of interviews with the Guarneri Quartet entitled The Art of Quartet Playing. Blum, as well as the four who were interviewed, agreed that making the section about Opus 131 in C# minor the last chapter would be a good way to pay homage to the master. When asked to make general comments about the first movement here is what they said: The fugue has a "rich yet inward quality"; another says that it is tragic and foreboding--"a prelude to all that is to come"; "the fugal subjects are developed skillfully but not with flashy technique just for technique's sake"; one described the opening movement as "mystical meditation and yet deeply human." Basil Lam, an author on Beethoven's works, says that "In the opening movement of O p. 131 Beethoven goes back to an earlier polyphony than Bach's. The canonic episode beginning in bar 65 has the remote beauty of masters even before Palestrina, Josquin, Ockeghem or Dufay." Technically, it was wise to start a piece that contained six main keys with a fugue because it grants the composer the ability to map out with impartial authority a complete aural terrain. In this case, Beethoven could outline the entire tonal palette of C# minor all within the first movement (Kerman, 328).

This fugue in C# minor has been compared to the fugal section in the slow movement of Op. 95. Steinberg suggests that "in light of the Grosse Fugue, it was as if he were rendering a peace offering to the gods" (Winter and Martin, 236). It has also been noted that the theme of the C# minor fugue is suggested in the trio of the second movement of Op. 132 (Lam, 53). Evidently there were quite a few common characteristics and traits among Beethoven's quartets.

The beginning to Op. 131 is a bleak one, yet the cello conveys strength, not grief. One can sense a potential for vital energy and ethereal vision because of the cello's authoritative voice. Relentless chromaticism slowly reveals a clearer tonal palette . The reoccurring D-natural becomes an idea that Beethoven returns to in the last movement. Also, the Neapolitan chord in the first movement makes a nice segue into the second movement which is in D-major. Beethoven achieves this shift with C# octaves that ascend gently to D.

In the second movement, we see that same octave leap become a motive. The Guarneri members describe this movement as having elements of sad as well as bittersweet qualities. It has a dance-like character that might have been derived from some sort of folk music. A musician playing this movement should convey effortlessness, fluency, and continuity (Blum, 189). It eventually takes shape as a fugue-style piece. It visits E major (V/V) as well as the dominant which marks

the beginning of the second subject. The energy dies down a bit with the second movement, thus creating the first contrast within the piece. However, it does not take long to rouse the beast again. The third movement is a transitional section and succeeds in carrying the listener forward once again.

According to the Guarneri players , the two opening notes of the third movement in b minor should have "a feeling of grandeur." Number 3 has an almost march like quality. The listener can sense that the machine is oiled up and functioning like it should. Wagner said "'tis as if the master, grown conscious of his art, were settling to work at his magic" (Winter and Martin, 251). The whole movement takes a single theme and creates six variations on it. The first variation maintains its original meter, tempo, and motivic content. The second variation evokes a dance-like quality. The third variation recalls the two-part canonic episode from the opening fugue.

Beethoven describes this material as to be played seductively or coaxingly. Variation 4 is quite ornamented with the help of the 6/8 meter. The fifth variation outlines a bare skeleton of the tune via syncopated rhythms in 2/4 . The last variation, in Kerman's words, "treats the repetitions of the strains most dramatically--which is quite paradox, in view of the fact that this is the hymn-variation and undoubtedly the spiritual center of the entire quartet" (Kerman, 336). This type of extreme variation of a subject was very typical of Beethoven's third period style. Kerman believed that this transitional movement's purpose was to delay the dominant relationship between numbers 2 and 4, which are in the keys of D major and A major, respectively. The movement ends with a coda that would otherwise seem like the seventh variation.

The fourth movement in A major is started with pizzicato in the cello. It explodes as a confrontation by using a climactic detail from the fourth movement (Kerman, 327).This sets the tempo for the movement, at least for the time being. The Guarneri players remind us that all of the movements, accept for the first, contain a shift in time signature and tempo. The variations in relation to the theme are dealt with more freely than they were in Opus 127. According to Soyer, one of the members of the Guarneri Quartet, "each variation has a melodic and expressive character quite its own, sometimes seemingly remote from the original material." Another player says that "Elements of a decidedly rustic character are unexpectedly placed side by side with the sublime, yet everything sounds inevitable in its context." Steinhardt, another player, notes that starting at bar 70 a startling dance-like quality emerges. It reminded him almost of a tango. This movement ends with a clean break, preparing everyone for the next confrontation.

The first two measures of the fifth movement, a duple-time scherzo in E major, are like the curtain raiser, according to Blum's interview. The cello's burly exclamation is like a giant, and the violins take a few moments before they respond to it. The two sets of octaves have an operatic feel, similar to an orchestral accompaniment in recitative (Kerman, 327). It is this duple-time scherzo that is possibly the most childlike of all of Beethoven's scherzos (Kerman, 338). Standing as a piece on its own, this movement would seem "flat". However, taken in context it functions beautifully. Beethoven wanted to create a resting place before getting back to the worries that exist in the sixth movement that were foreshadowed in the opening fugue (Kerman, 338).

The sixth movement in G# minor arrives with anticipation by the listener. The fourth movement, being in A major, is actually what leads the listener to No. 6. Throughout the entire piece, Beethoven plays with the notion of half step modulation. In the first movement it was C#/D, B#/C#; in the second it was D/C#, A#/B; and in the third it was A/G#, D/C# (Winter and Martin, 249). By the time the sixth movement comes around the listener's ears are attuned to that half step shift. Therefore, the G#/A transition from No. 4 to No. 6 comes quite naturally, and it enforces this theme. However, this is not to say that it does not contrast the scherzo that precedes it. This adagio has a manic depressive, mournful quality to it (Blum, 220). It serves as the dominant preparation to lead the listener, finally, back into C# minor.

One word was used by one of the Guarneri players to describe the finale--"turbulence." Soyer, from that set of interviews exclaims that "after half an hour of playing, this wood-tearing, flesh-tearing movement has quite an effect." One of the most unique aspects about Opus 131 in C# minor is that it finds its center of balance in the last movement, as opposed to the middle, like most compositions (Kerman, 335). Rests are used throughout the movement in order to create heightened impact. An important cut-time- rhythmic motive of eighth, quarter, eighth rest, eighth, bar line, quarter, etc., is used as well. Remarkably, the appearance of a full-blown sonata form appears for the first time in the whole piece. The ending in C# major comes rather abruptly--a fierce affirmation by Beethoven. Blum writes: "maybe there's hope."

Blum included statements of the musicians he interviewed from directly after a performance of this piece--before they had time to put their instruments down. This is what he heard: Soyer: "It's savage, utterly savage- the culmination of the entire work."; Dalley: "Grotesque and wild! It has invincible energy."; Tree: "A relentless dance, a demonic dance--and yet, what wonderfully tender moments, what an enormous emotional range."; Steinhardt: "He's shaking his fist at destiny. It's terrifying--but suddenly everything is released and it overflows with joy, with ecstasy."; and Dalley again: "You want to bark like a dog" (Blum, 230).

http://www.lvbeethoven.com/Oeuvres_Presentation/Presentation-StringQuartet-14-Opus131.html

Ludwig van Beethoven

String Quartet No. 14 in C sharp minor, Op. 131

Despite its opus number, this quartet came after the Fifteenth (1825), one of three composed to meet a commission from Prince Nikolai Golitzin. The others were Nos. 12 and 13. Like the Thirteenth and Fifteenth, this C sharp minor Quartet consists of more than the usual three or four movements. There are, in fact, seven movements to this massive work, and its form, as one might suspect, is also most unusual.

The quartet begins with a fugue, marked Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo. The mood throughout is somber, but with a religiosity and tenderness that seem to suggest the composer's sense of his own mortality (Beethoven died in March 1827). Near the end of this movement the music fades, then leads directly into the second movement, marked Allegro molto vivace, which

seems as if it could be a more typical first movement. It begins at a pianissimo level with a theme that might seem more suited to a Rondo finale. A transitional theme appears next, and eventually we arrive at a second subject. The material is reprised but afterward there follows no actual development section. Instead, an expanded coda develops the transitional theme. At this juncture, the traditional sonata-allegro form seems obscured.

The third movement begins without pause, and actually serves as a brief interlude to the long slow movement, which is marked Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile. It consists of a theme and six variations, most of which involve harmony rather than the essence of the melody itself. This movement is one of the most profound and complex Beethoven ever fashioned in the chamber genre. Each variation is played in a different tempo, thus creating a true "variety" that, to some ears, may seem at first to impart a disjointed quality. Yet, Beethoven's invention and cleverness are present everywhere. The fifth variation, for instance, with its deftly-wrought syncopation, is wonderfully mysterious and the coda slyly starts off as if it will become yet another variation, but it subtly returns to the main themes, then brings the movement to a close with a gentle fade.

The Presto fifth movement is brimming with energy and charm. It is an attractive, humorous Scherzo with a trio section and may be, despite a few innovative touches by Beethoven, the most traditional of the movements comprising this quartet. Its rather abrupt and harsh ending leads to a brief interlude-like Adagio quasi un poco andante. The sixth movement, like the third, is very brief.

The finale begins with a gruff theme, that is immediately followed by a less fierce but darker theme. A third melody is introduced shortly afterward, closer in character to the last, but expressing sadness and melancholy. The themes reappear, with the form thus far seeming to suggest the movement could be a Rondo. But Beethoven veers toward thematic development, as if to say he has finally found his way to the sonata-allegro form. There follows a recapitulation but with many highly imaginative changes in the previous material. A powerful and tragic coda closes what many consider Beethoven's greatest quartet. It was first published in Mainz in 1827 and was dedicated to Baron Joseph von Stutterheim.

Parts/Movements

1. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo2. Allegro molto vivace3. Allegro moderato4. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile5. Presto6. Adagio quasi un poco andante7. Allegro

http://www.allmusic.com/composition/string-quartet-no-14-in-c-sharp-minor-op-131-mc0002363096

Exploring Beethoven’s Quartets: Richard Wigmore writes about Op.18:5, Op.59:3 and Op.131

String Quartet in C sharp minor, Op. 1311. Adagio, ma non troppo e molto espressivo –2. Allegro molto vivace –3. Allegro moderato –4. Andante, ma non troppo e molto cantabile –5. Presto –6. Adagio quasi un poco andante –7. Allegro

While we might like to imagine Beethoven composing his late quartets of 1824-26 in hermetic isolation from the world, the truth is that they were created in response to a growing public demand for string quartets. Several publishers vied to acquire the rights to the three works (Opp 127, 132 and 130) that Beethoven had written at the behest of Prince Nicholas Galitzin. And while he was still wrestling with the Grosse Fuge finale of Op. 130, he received a lucrative offer from the Paris-based publisher Moritz Schlesinger for Op. 132 and 130, plus a third, as yet unwritten, quartet. This turned out to be the C sharp minor, begun in late 1825 and finished the following summer. According to Karl Holz, Schuppanzigh’s second violinist after his quartet was re-formed in 1824, Beethoven himself regarded the C sharp minor Quartet as his greatest. But though there are accounts of earlier private performances, including, poignantly, one to Schubert on his deathbed, it was not heard in public until 1835.

Ever unpredictable in his dealings with publishers, Beethoven eventually sold the rights not to Schlesinger (who later received the F major Quartet, Op. 135, in compensation) but to Schott of Mainz, noting that it was ‘patched together from various bits filched here and there’. Schott failed to see the joke, and had to be reassured that the work was in fact brand new. Perhaps the ‘various bits filched here and there’ were an ironic reference to the work’s novel plan – seven sections played virtually without pause – and its wilful diversity. Anticipating Mahler’s dictum that a symphony must contain ‘the whole world’, Beethoven seems to have designed Op. 131 to embrace a vast range of forms, textures and feeling, ranging from the unearthly elegy of the opening fugue to the street tunes and knockabout humour of the Presto, from the gliding, quizzical second movement to the truculence and lyrical pathos of the finale.

Yet Beethoven being Beethoven, he welds diversity into a profound unity. He fashions tight motivic links between sections, drawing much of the material from the prominent pairs of semitones in the fugue theme (B sharp-C sharp, A-G sharp), and alluding to the fugue theme in the finale. Beyond this, the sections do not so much end as dissolve into each other, creating the

impression of a vast single span that traverses various related keys before finally reasserting C sharp minor.

Beethoven’s opening fugue testifies to his studies not only of Bach’s ‘48’ but also the rarefied vocal polyphony of Palestrina. But the music ranges through a wider spectrum of tonalities than we ever find in a Bach fugue, straying as far as E flat minor and B major before settling in A major for an ethereal canonic episode for the two violins. Beethoven then builds in a series of waves to a great climax, with the cello tolling the main theme in longer note values against rising sequences in the first violin and syncopations in the inner voices.

As the music seems to ebb away on bare octaves, C sharp rises softly to D and the second movement – a secretive, quizzical scherzo – steals in. This is in effect a continuous variation on a gently rocking melody which makes prominent play with the pairs of semitones from the fugue. As so often in these late quartets, Beethoven here uses simple, even childlike, material in odd and subversive ways. After a sudden boisterous outburst – the first fortissimo in the work – the movement fades inconclusively. Then two brisk cadential chords initiate a few bars of quasi-operatic recitative, complete with cadenza-like flourishes: a brief interlude between the scherzo and the central variation movement.

The key of the variations, A major, had been prominently ‘flagged’ in the opening fugue. While the theme, again, is of studied simplicity (Wagner described it as ‘the incarnation of innocence’), the scoring is anything but naive. The melody is shared between the two violins, a subtle division made more clearly audible on the repeat, when the second violin drops down an octave. Each of the six variations has a tendency to grow more intense and/or animated as it proceeds. Beethoven also indulges his fondness for extreme and bizarre contrasts. The third variation, for instance, marked Andante moderato e lusinghiero (lusinghiero = coaxing, or seductive), begins as a dulcet canonic dialogue for viola and cello but ends in a grotesque, dissonant orgy of trills. The sublime meditation of the fourth variation – a slow, spiritualised waltz – culminates in a chain of trills. Then, with a sudden shift from A to C major, Beethoven launches a coda that becomes riotously infested with trills before dissolving into the ether.

A blunt E major cello arpeggio kick-starts the fifth movement, a duple-time scherzo full of zany disruptions of rhythm, dynamics and tempo. The Trio section – a smoother, less frenetic variant of the opening tune – comes round twice and feints at yet another reprise; but Beethoven deflects this into a madcap, slightly eerie coda where the instruments play the main theme sul ponticello (ie with the bows close to the bridge).

The sixth section is a brief but intensely poignant Adagio quasi un poco Andante that functions as an introduction to the finale. Here sonata form – used for the only time in the work – is the vehicle for the most dynamic and confrontational music in the quartet. C sharp minor makes its first reappearance since the fugue; and the sense that the finale completes a mighty circle is reinforced by its tight thematic and tonal links with earlier movements, most obviously in the main theme’s piano answering phrases, which reorder the fugue’s first four notes. The luminous ‘second subject’ – one of Beethoven’s most sublime inventions – reaches its apotheosis in the recapitulation, first in a remote D major (echoing the key of the second movement), then in C sharp major. The coda darkens immediately into C sharp minor before pulling strongly towards F

sharp minor. Only in the very last bars does Beethoven insist on C sharp major. But after that long stretch of F sharp minor the effect is faintly unsettling, echoing at a vast distance the ambiguously poised ending of the opening fugue.

 

Richard Wigmore

http://thebeethovenproject.com/exploring-beethovens-quartets-richard-wigmore-writes-about-op-185-op-593-and-op-131/

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

String Quartet No. 14 in c-sharp minor, Op. 131(for 2 violins, viola and cello)

I. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo

II. Allegro molto vivace

III. Allegro moderato

IV. Andante, ma non troppo e molto cantabile

V. Presto

VI. Adagio quasi un poco andante

VII. Allegro

Composed in 1826, when Beethoven was around 56 years old 40 minutes (approximately)

When the Russian Prince Galitzin approached Beethoven with a commission for “one, two or three” quartets, he helped catalyze one of the most wondrous creations in all of chamber music: the ineffable “late” quartets of Beethoven. After finishing the three commissioned quartets, Beethoven kept on composing adding a forth and fifth quartet and a final revised movement comprising a singular corpus of sustained musical thought and feeling of tremendous scope and arguable unity. All for the string quartet. Spanning a working focus of two years time, these are Beethoven’s final compositions, testament to his enduring devotion to the string quartet, witness to his mastery, transcendence and everlasting dominance of this august genre.

Beethoven took the classical string quartet from Haydn and Mozart and, over the course of his life, radically expanded the art form in every conceivable way. He not only made his quartets

longer, more complicated and more difficult to play, more impossible, he also made them more intellectually and emotional intense. More majestic, tragic, funny, simple, brilliant, imponderable and miraculous. Simply, more profound, more alive, more vividly real. The fourth of the late quartets in the order he composed them, Op. 131 is, by ample testimony, the greatest of them all. It was Beethoven’s favorite. Schubert’s final musical request was to hear Beethoven’s Op. 131. Wagner wrote a florid, poetic tome about the epic greatness of Op. 131. There is no ultimate objective judgment, but these are fine, suggestive pointers. It is not ingenuous to say that this just might be la crème de la crème.

With seven movements and typically, the longest duration of any of his quartets, Op. 131 would seem to be Beethoven’s most expansive utterance. All seven movements are played without pause creating a single giant continuous structure embracing an initial somber but lyrical fugue, two vibrant scherzi, a colossal theme and variations, connective recitative, a wisp of heartbreaking adagio and a dazzling finale cresting in mountainous developments alongside the most delicate, visceral, effervescent and tensile textures imaginable. For both the first and the last movements, is it revealing to consider that Beethoven had composed the monolithic Op. 133 Grosse Fuge immediately prior. The central theme and variations by itself is among Beethoven’s greatest creations. And it is not the technical details that most amaze. It is how the music makes one feel.

Attempting to write about Op. 131 reaches a glorious impasse: 1 word is too many, 10,000 are not enough. There is and will always be the music. Thanks to Prince Galitzin, and Beethoven

http://www.earsense.org/chamberbase/works/detail/?pkey=571

String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131

Ludwig van Beethoven

Beethoven’s late string quartets have been regarded with awe and wonder since they were written, with Op. 131 probably leading the pack. Beethoven was said to consider it his own favorite and Wagner was extravagant in his description of the piece in his 1870 essay on the composer. Beethoven completed it in May 1826, making it the penultimate of his 16 completed quartets chronologically, though not in numbering. He may have heard it in a private performance before he died, but it was apparently not played publically until 1835.

Beethoven’s long evolving experiments with directing the flow of an entire work towards its end find perhaps their fullest fruits in Op. 131, cast in seven sections played without pause. These seven sections, however, are basically the four conventional movements with a fugal introduction and two connecting interludes. Despite the minor mode, the shifting chromaticism, and the contrapuntal intensity (and Wagner’s avowal that it is “surely the saddest thing ever said in notes”), the opening Adagio is more contemplative than sorrowing. It ends with an ascending C-sharp octave leap, which is bumped up a half-step to launch the ensuing fleet Allegro molto vivace. This sunny and rhythmically lively section has the tempo and extroverted character of a typical first movement, but none of the tension or drama.

The third section is a brief ensemble recitative that sets up the slow movement, a ravishingly expressive set of variations – in different meters and tempos – on the sequentially yearning theme presented by the violins in tandem. The whirlwind Presto that follows (jumpstarted in a seeming “mistake” by the cello) is in effect the work’s scherzo, a superficially blithe movement that is constantly on the edge of technical disaster, with odd “molto poco adagio” disjunctions and a coda that begins with glassy sul ponticello (on the bridge) whistling.

The brooding Adagio sixth section introduces the furious finale, the only full sonata form in the Quartet. The second theme is derived from the subject of the opening fugue, the latent anger and energy of which now explodes. “This is the fury of the world’s dance – fierce pleasure, agony, ecstasy of love, joy, anger, passion, and suffering; lightning flashes and thunder rolls; and above the tumult the indomitable fiddler whirls us on to the abyss,” Wagner wrote. “Amid the clamor he smiles, for to him it is nothing but a mocking fantasy; at the end, the darkness beckons him away, and his task is done.”

— John Henken

http://www.laphil.com/philpedia/music/string-quartet-no-14-c-sharp-minor-op-131-ludwig-van-beethoven