Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847)
String Quartet no. 2, in A minor, op. 13 (1827)
After Beethoven and Schubert, Mendelssohn was the most prolific major composer of string quartets during the Romantic era. Counting his 1823 “student” effort, he wrote seven, more than Brahms and Schumann combined. Among his six mature quartets, the Second, in A minor, stands out for its inventive handling of the ensemble and its extraordinary dramatic structure.
The first of its four movements begins with a slow, lyrical introduction in A major. It’s not long before the serene mood is shattered, though, by the sudden turn to the volatile minor mode, which is filled with churning, driving motives.
A respite, of sorts, is offered by the opening of the second movement, one that resembles, at least in passing, the tranquility of the first movement’s introduction. But it’s not long before the mood here becomes austere: a fugal figure interjects itself and the music takes off on a rhapsodic flight that only gradually wears itself out.
The third movement begins and ends with a melancholy tune for the first violin; in between comes a bit of impish, elfin fun. But all that’s forgotten at the beginning of the finale, which kicks off in the throes of passion: this is Mendelssohn at his most operatic. The movement’s first theme is a heaving melody reminiscent of the finale of Beethoven’s great A minor Quartet (op. 132) and, as the movement progresses, shards of earlier motives reappear. All this culminates in the magical closing bars, in which the first movement’s introduction comes back, now as a fully expanded hymn. It’s a marvelous anticipation of what Bartók would make famous a century later as “arch form,” and ties up one of Mendelssohn’s most striking creations with a haunting, dramatic stroke.
© Jonathan Blumhofer
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