ABOUT THE PROGRAM 2018/19 CLASSICAL ARTIST-IN-RESIDENCE Franz Schubert (1797-1828) The String Quartet in G Major is chamber A much lighter and shorter Scherzo breaks String Quartet No. 15 in G major, music on a massive scale. The first the spell with a tensile agility that suggests movement alone lasts between fifteen and Mendelssohn who, during the same year D. 887 twenty minutes depending on the tempo of 1826 would have been a teenager hard and whether repeats are taken. Within the at work on his remarkable Overture to Richard Yongjae first few measures, Schubert establishes A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The nimble Franz Schubert wrote chamber music all his short but prodigious life, composing his familiar dichotomy between light and scherzo gives way to a supple trio, a sweet, the first of twenty string quartets when dark as a G major chord transforms simply, swaying ländler (A German folk dance) that O’Neill with he was only fifteen years old. Given his suddenly and significantly into G minor. may well be the only untroubled section in life of only thirty-one years, it may seem This mercurial and fundamental battle the entire quartet. A sublime duet between incredible to speak of a “late” period, between light and dark rages on until the cello and violin dances like a poignant dream but Schubert’s music went through a very end of the quartet some fifty minutes lost so quickly in the ensuing tumult. Ehnes Quartet later. Schubert’s arresting introduction soon dramatic transformation around the time he turned twenty-four. In 1820, Schubert softens into floating light with a telltale Schubert concludes his final string quartet composed his famous Quartettsatz in signature: a quiet, fluttering tremolo of quick with the perpetual motion of a sonata SAT / SEP 8 / 7:30 PM C minor, a complete first movement for triplets punctuated by a germinal motif rondo in a typical 6/8 meter at a brisk clip, an otherwise unfinished string quartet. fragment in a dotted rhythm. With a steep for the most part a high-spirited dance. Henceforth known as his String Quartet No. rise in dynamics and the fully marshaled Characteristically, the first several measures 12, the magnificent Quartettsatz (“quartet force of the ensemble, the introduction feature an unstable tonality flickering by Ehnes Quartet movement”) inaugurates a period of new morphs into the primary thematic material the beat between major and minor and maturity featuring several cardinal aspects that will course throughout the movement just as quickly, restless modulations to new of Schubert’s style that would dominate in continuous alteration with a second keys. Many commentators have likened the James Ehnes the remaining quartets in ever expanding lyrical theme to come. In a unique approach finale to an opera buffa where Schubert’s VIOLIN power and scope. Chief among these traits to sonata form, Schubert seems to temperamental drama assumes a comedic Amy Schwartz-Moretti is a dichotomous pairing of restless angst co-evolve both thematic areas in successive cast in a kind of frantic parody of itself. The and lyrical sublimity. It is as if Schubert waves as each interrupts the other while combination of reprise along with prominent VIOLIN and his music became positively transfixed internally growing more elaborate. Far more developmental aspects crafts a hybrid of Richard Yongjae O’Neill by the stark polarity between dark and “development” happens in the traditional rondo and sonata forms first established VIOLA light, an unresolved juxtaposition of agony areas of exposition and recapitulation than by Haydn. The comparatively effervescent and ecstasy. This is the essence of the the literal development section itself, which character of Schubert’s conclusion is merely Edward Arron Quartettsatz and the remaining three is relatively brief by comparison. Instead, a pause in the seemingly endless flow of CELLO quartets that may be properly regarded as there is contrast, expansion and variation his mightier passions. From this last string his “late” works. The ultimate work in this in an endless matrix of sudden contrasts quartet, Schubert moved on to his final series of string chamber works and the final in modality, texture, dynamics, rhythm and work, the singular cello quintet. work of Schubert’s life was the towering mood. It is not until the last few bars that String Quintet in C Major, the most supreme the battle finally yields to a briefly stable © Kai Christiansen and earsense, the Homage incarnation of this very same trajectory. victory for G major. chamber music exploratorium Just before it comes the String Quartet Franz Schubert (1797-1828) No. 15 in G Major, the epic quartet on the The second movement Andante is the slow program tonight. movement of similarly vast proportions String Quartet No. 15 in G major, D. 887 and emotional intensity. A delicate elegiac I. Allegro molto moderato Schubert wrote his last string quartet during theme features the cello with a somber, II. Andante un poco moto a period of ten days in 1826 around the same moderate cast that rises only briefly in III. Scherzo (Allegro vivace) time that Beethoven finished his own late its second reprise to a tenuous smile of IV. Allegro assai essays in the genre. Schubert, a long-time temporary relief. Suddenly, a huge surge of admirer of Beethoven, would be a bereft dark passion interrupts the suave lament torch bearer at Beethoven’s funeral in 1827, as if the first movement were rushing back INTERMISSION just one and a half years before Schubert’s complete with dotted rhythms, nervous own death in 1828. Despite this proximity in tremolos and abrupt, stabbing gestures. Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) time and place, as well as a shared heritage Again, Schubert is positively transfixed of Viennese classicism in which both men with two contrasting ideas that seem to String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131 were eventually regarded as supreme recur more often and more directly than I. Adagio ma non troppo e molto espressivo masters, the late quartets of Schubert and classical forms seem to encourage. But II. Allegro molto vivace Beethoven are remarkably dissimilar if not, as in the first movement and throughout III. Allegro moderato in some ways, opposites. Like Beethoven, much of his oeuvre, Schubert never says Schubert was in the midst of blazing his own the same thing twice: Each recurrence IV. Andante ma non troppo e molto cantabile trail in a fresh and significant evolution of brings a change of instrumentation, texture, V. Presto quartet style. Unlike Beethoven, Schubert rhythm, key or modality, sometimes only as VI. Adagio quasi un poco andante was cut short, hence the tragically accurate a subtle nuance. The casual listener finds VII. Allegro inscription on Schubert’s tomb, “The art of repetition on the surface while the deeper music here entombed a rich possession, but listener discovers endless diversity exploiting even far fairer hopes.” gorgeous, resilient musical ideas in a constant state of transformation. PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE 4 PERFORMANCES MAGAZINE 5 ABOUT THE PROGRAM ABOUT THE ARTISTS Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827) This quartet seems somehow to be a Some of the material also sounds distantly (FROM L TO R) Richard Yongjae O’Neill, Edward Arron, String Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp leap forward into the expressive world derived from this quartet’s own opening of the early 20th century. Although fugue. Here, as elsewhere in the work, Amy Schwartz-Moretti, James Ehnes Minor, Op. 131 only four instruments play it, it creates there are tempo changes within phrases much of the same kind of grandeur and that are labeled “rubato” (meaning with String Quartet No. 14 belongs with the group profundity that some larger works of expressive and rhythmic freedom), but of Beethoven’s final chamber masterpieces. Strauss and Mahler were striving for in instead of leaving them to the performers’ While he was composing it, he considered their huge orchestral scores. In 1860, emotion of the moment, Beethoven has writing other types of works, specifically a German conductor even made a full actually written them into the music. large works with chorus, like an oratorio, orchestral version of this quartet with Great themes simply flash by. The music a requiem, or an opera, but when he had the good intention of expanding the races on until just before the end, when it completed a commission for three quartets, audience for this great music, but it slows, then speeds up again, closing with he went on instead to write two more works proved to be a clumsy travesty and thus a few slashing chords. for string quartet, this one and Op. 135, his the arrangement has disappeared. last work. © Susan Halpern, 2016 The quartet has seven distinct parts, Beethoven made his earliest sketch knit together into a continuous whole. for Op. 131 during the last few days of Some scholars have claimed to reveal a 1825; he quickly completed it during nearly traditional four-movement structure July, 1826. The writing of the quartet as its base, but it seems more reasonable required an intense effort at a time when to accept Beethoven’s demarcations and he was already totally deaf and deeply consider the seven separately. troubled by his failing health as well as EHNES QUARTET Hailed as “an AMY SCHWARTZ-MORETTI (VIOLIN) is nine solo albums that have sold over by the misadventures of his nephew, The first movement is a sad but majestic, important new force in the chamber recognized as a deeply expressive artist 200,000 copies. He is a member of for whom he was responsible, and who slow fugue, Adagio, ma non troppo e music arena” with a “dream-team with an affinity for chamber music, and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln was then threatening to commit suicide.