Quatuor Mosaïques 1797, in Eisenstadt

CAL PERFORMANCES PRESENTS PROGRAM NOTES Friday, April 13, 2012, 8pm Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) with gentleness, or touched sober steadfastness First Congregational Church Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 76, No.4, with vision.” “Sunrise” The six Op. 76 Quartets were written on commission from Count Joseph Erdödy, Composed in 1796–1797. Premiered September 28, scion of the Viennese family who had encour- Quatuor Mosaïques 1797, in Eisenstadt. aged Haydn’s work since at least 1776 and Erich Höbarth, violin whose members became important patrons Andrea Bischof, violin Haydn was universally acknowledged as the of Beethoven after his arrival in the capital in Anita Mitterer, viola greatest living composer upon his return to 1792. The Quartets were apparently ordered and Vienna in 1795 from his second London venture; begun by the end of 1796, because Haydn was Christophe Coin, cello he was 63. Though his international renown had able to play them at the piano for the Swedish been founded in large part upon the success of diplomat Frederik Samuel Silverstolpe the fol- his symphonies and keyboard sonatas, he repeat- lowing June. They were probably given their for- PROGRAM edly refused offers to compose further in those mal premiere on September 28, 1797, when they genres, and instead concentrated the creative were played for the visit of Archduke Joseph, energies of his later years upon the string quar- Viceroy of Hungary, to Eisenstadt, family seat of Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 76, No. 4, tet and the vocal forms of Mass and oratorio. Haydn’s employer, Prince Nicholas Esterházy II. “Sunrise” (1796–1797) Except for the majestic Trumpet Concerto, his The Quartets were issued in Vienna by Artaria in only instrumental compositions after 1795 were 1799 (“Nothing which our house has ever pub- Allegro con spirito the six quartets of Op. 76, the two of Op. 77 lished equals this edition,” trumpeted the adver- Adagio and the unfinished torso of Op. 103, and they tisement in the Wiener Zeitung on July 17th), Menuetto: Allegro were the culmination of nearly four decades of and appeared shortly thereafter in London. Finale: Allegro, ma non troppo experience composing in the chamber medium. “[I have] never received more pleasure from in- “The eight quartets which he completed show strumental music,” wrote Charles Burney, the no signs of flagging powers,” wrote Rosemary preeminent English musical scholar of his day. Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) Quartet in A major, Op. 13, “Ist Es Wahr?” Hughes in her study of Haydn’s chamber mu- “They are full of invention, fire, good taste and (1827) sic. “In that last great wave of energy which car- new effects, and seem the production, not of a Adagio — Allegro vivace ried them to completion, he gathers up all the sublime genius who has written so much and so Adagio non lento — Poco più animato — Tempo I efforts and conquests, all the explorations, all well already, but of one of highly cultivated tal- Intermezzo: Allegretto con moto — the personal idiosyncrasies too, of nearly half ents, who had expended none of his fire before.” Allegro di molto — Tempo I a century of unbroken creative life. Nowhere Critical opinion has not wavered since. Presto — Adagio non lento — Adagio is his thematic and structural concentration so The Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 76, No. 4, strong and closely woven, his ranging through derives its sobriquet—“Sunrise”—from the INTERMISSION the furthest reaches of key so searching and pro- arching opening theme, one of Haydn’s most found. If elsewhere some of his best instrumen- limpid and sensual melodic inventions. The tal finales are based upon folk songs and dances, music is more animated during the transition- Franz Schubert (1797–1828) Quartet in in A minor, Op. 29, No. 1 (D. 804), here he even surpasses them in exhilaration and al passage that leads to the second theme, but “Rosamunde” (1824) closeness of texture. The phrase structure is end- again becomes subdued, almost dreamy, when lessly varied and flexible, now square and sym- that theme proves to be a sweet variant of the Allegro ma non troppo metrical, now unfolding in long, continuous opening subject. These two principal moods Andante paragraphs, according to the character and in- are again opposed to close the exposition, and Menuetto: Allegretto ner life of the themes themselves. And behind their juxtaposition continues to form the basis Allegro moderato this and permeating it all is a quality hard to of the development section. A full recapitulation define, but one in which we can sense the weight achieves formal closure and expressive balance. of a lifetime’s experience, human and musical. The Adagio is an expression of thoughtful intro- No young mind and heart could have conceived spection such as could only have been composed Cal Performances’ 2011–2012 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo. this music, could have so tempered exuberance by one whose long and rich experience of life is 4 CAL PERFORMANCES CAL PERFORMANCES 5 PROGRAM NOTES PROGRAM NOTES matched by a transcendent mastery of technique. Sunday family concerts at the Mendelssohns’ before matriculating at Berlin University, initiates the principal theme, based on the motto The movement follows no traditional form, but Berlin mansion, for which Felix selected the pro- Mendelssohn had indulged in a short holi- rhythm. The cello posits a lyrical melody as the is rather a fantasia, perhaps even a musical ser- grams, led the rehearsals, appeared as piano and day at Sakrow, the Magnus family estate near complementary subject. The scurrying phrases mon, that refers repeatedly back to the hymnal violin soloist and chamber musician, and even Potsdam, and there he fell in love, at least a little. return to mark the onset of the development statement with which it began. The jolly peasant conducted, though as a young teenager he was The circumstances, even the maiden’s name, are section, which is remarkable for the intensity dance of the Menuetto stands in striking con- still too short to be seen by the players in the uncertain (one Betty Pistor, a family friend and of its counterpoint and its nearly febrile mood. trast to the contemplative mood of the Adagio, back rows unless he stood on a stool. By 1825, a member of a choir for which Mendelssohn was The recapitulation serves both to return and to but the curious, winding melody of the central he had written over 80 works for these concerts, then piano accompanist, has been advanced as a enhance the earlier themes before the movement trio, presented by the violins in barren octaves including operas and operettas, string quartets possibility), but he was sufficiently moved by the closes with an explosive coda that stops with- above a drone in the viola and cello, brings a and other chamber pieces, concertos, motets, experience to set to music a poem of his friend out resolving the music’s strong tensions. The deeper emotional tone to the movement. The and a series of 13 symphonies for strings. Johann Gustav Droyson that began, “Is it true deeply felt Adagio offers another paraphrase of exuberant finale, thought to have been based Mendelssohn possessed a boundless curi- [Ist es wahr?] that you are always waiting for me the motto theme at beginning and end as the on a folk song that Haydn brought back with osity and enthusiasm about all music, old and in the arbored walk?” The piece, published two frame for the somber, densely packed fugal epi- him from England, is in three-part form (B-flat new. By age 18, he was intimately familiar with years later under the title Frage (“Question”) as sode that occupies the middle of the movement. major–B-flat minor–B-flat major) with a dash- the Classical forms and idioms of Mozart and the first number of his Op. 9 set of songs, was The third movement, titled Intermezzo, uses a ing coda whose youthful effervescence belies the Haydn, and he erected upon them the creative woven as thematic material into the new A mi- charmingly folkish tune, daintily scored, in its fact that this was at least the 78th quartet that precocities of his youth (including the magi- nor Quartet. The score was published in 1829 as outer sections to surround an ethereal passage Haydn had composed. cal Octet of 1825, among the greatest pieces of Mendelssohn’s Op. 13. of musical featherstitching at the center. Both music ever composed by one so young), but he “In this work, the mature composer stands ideas are deftly combined in the coda. A dra- was also one of the leading Bach scholars of the revealed,” wrote Homer Ulrich of Mendelssohn’s matic cadenza-recitative for the violin over trem- Felix Mendelssohn (1809–1847) time. Zelter had guided him fruitfully through A minor Quartet in his comprehensive survey of olo harmonies, reminiscent of the fourth move- Quartet in A minor, Op. 13, “Ist Es Wahr?” The Well-Tempered Clavier, and his musically the chamber repertory. “All the melodic charm, ment of Beethoven’s A minor Quartet, Op. 132, knowledgeable maternal grandmother, who all the perfection of detail, all the deftness of launches the finale. A clutch of highly charged Composed in 1827. had known Bach’s son Carl Philipp Emanuel touch we associate with the later works are pres- motives is presented and worked out with great when she grew up in Berlin, obtained for him ent in this Quartet from his eighteenth year.” intensity as the music unfolds. The work closes Felix Mendelssohn, in 1827, must have been a copy of the rare, unpublished score of the This Quartet is also the most Beethovenian of not with a wail of tragedy or with a sunburst of the most musically sophisticated 18-year-old in St.

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