The String Quartets of Beethoven

360 Pages·2006·0.68 MB·English

by  William Kinderman

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quartets into view as a group, whose impor- i
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tance has been emphasized repeatedly in per- the the
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In The String Quartets of Beethoven, leading in- m of
ternational scholars pay close attention to all a
Beethoven
of Beethoven’s string quartets, from the fi rst n of ∂
astonishingly diverse six of Opus 18 to his
“In these studies of Beethoven’s life and music, Beethoven
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the perpetual originality of Beethoven’s quar- Kinderman brings together essays that will please edited by
tets and the reception history of these works. t
historians, critics, and music theorists. William Kinderman
Drawing on a variety of historical sources and h
This impressive volume is important not only
analytical approaches, the contributors offer e
fresh insights into the aesthetics of the quar- to the study of the string quartets but also to
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tets and probe expressive and structural fea-
how we understand Beethoven’s music t edited by “We do not understand music--
tures that have hitherto received little atten- r
in general.” i it understands us.”
tion. This volume also includes an appendix William Kinderman
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with updated information on the chronology
christopher reynolds g his aphorism by Theodor W. Adorno
and sources of the quartets and a detailed
professor of music expresses that quandary and fascina-
bibliography. Q
tion many listeners have felt in ap-
University of California, Davis
u proaching Beethoven’s late quartets. No
group of compositions occupies a more cen-
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tral position in chamber music, yet the mean-
“A welcome book on the string quartets from r
william kinderman is a professor of t ing of these works continues to stimulate de-
a highly distinguished group of scholars.” e
bate. William Kinderman’s The String Quartets
music at the University of Illinois, Urbana- t
Champaign. His publications include mark evan bonds s ooofff BBBeeeeeettthhhooovvveeennn ssttaannddss aass tthhee mmoosstt ddeettaaiilleedd aanndd
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comprehensive exploration of the subject.
Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations, Beethoven, and professor of music o
the three-volume Artaria 195: Beethoven’s f
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Once thought incomprehensible, Beethoven’s
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late quartets have today acquired a reputation
Sonata in E Major, Opus 109.
e as the summit of the composer’s genius. When
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writing for soloists and orchestras Beethoven
Supported in part by the UIUC Research Board, t
h had to consider the general taste of his audi-
the Society for Music Theory, and
o ence and the ambitions of the performers. In
the American Musicological Society
v the late quartets, however, he was composing
University of Illinois Press
e very much for himself, writing and rewriting
n
urbana and chicago movements for the sheer quality of the music.
R As the late quartets gradually became more
www.press.uillinois.edu
jacket photograph familiar, and more musicians explored them,
String-quartet instruments, formerly they drew still more attention to their illustri-
owned by Ludwig van Beethoven, located
ous predecessors, bringing all of Beethoven’s
at the Musikinstrumenten-Museum,
Staatliches Institut fuer Musikforschung,
ISBN 0-252-03036-2
Berlin, Germany.
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photo credit illinois
Bildarchiv Preussischer Kulturbesitz/Art Resource, N.Y.
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the string quartets
of beethoven

the
String Quartets
of
Beethoven
R
edited by
William Kinderman
University of Illinois Press
Urbana and Chicago
Publication of this volume was assisted by grants from
the Society for Music Theory, the American Musicological Society,
and the Research Board of the University of Illinois
at Urbana-Champaign.
Frontispiece: Beethoven’s autograph score for the beginning
of the Cavatina movement of the Quartet in B(cid:1) Major,
op. 130. Artaria 208, p. 1, Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin—
Preussischer Kulturbesitz, Berlin, Musikabteilung.
Printed with permission.
©2006 by the Board of Trustees
of the University of Illinois
All rights reserved
Manufactured in the United States of America
∞ This book is printed on acid-free paper.
c 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
The string quartets of Beethoven / edited by William Kinderman.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and index.
isbn 0-252-03036-2 (cloth : alk. paper)
1. Beethoven, Ludwig van, 1770–1827. Quartets, strings.
2. String quartet—Analysis, appreciation. I. Kinderman, William.
mt145.b425s75 2006
785'.7194'092—dc22 2005002730
R
contents
Introduction 1
william kinderman
1. Transformational Processes in Beethoven’s
Op. 18 Quartets 13
william kinderman
2. Metrical Dissonance and Metrical Revision in
Beethoven’s String Quartets 31
harald krebs
3. Peak Experience: High Register and Structure
in the “Razumovsky” Quartets, Op. 59 60
malcolm miller
4. Beethoven’s “Harp” Quartet: The Sketches in Context 89
lewis lockwood
5. “Haydns Geist aus Beethovens Händen”?
(cid:1)
Fantasy and Farewell in the Quartet in E , Op. 74 109
nicholas marston
6. Aspects of the Genesis of Beethoven’s
String Quartet in F Minor, Op. 95 132
seow-chin ong
7. “So träumte mir, ich reiste ... nach Indien”:
Temporality and Mythology in Op. 127/I 168
birgit lodes
8. Plenitude as Fulfillment: The Third Movement
(cid:1)
of Beethoven’s String Quartet in B , Op. 130 214
robert hatten
9. The Genesis of the Countersubjects for the Grosse Fuge 234
william e. caplin
10. Opus 131 and the Uncanny 262
joseph kerman
11. Beethoven’s Last Quartets: Threshold to a
Fourth Creative Period? 279
william kinderman
appendix
Chronology and Sources of the String Quartets 323
Selected Bibliography 331
Index 345
R
the string quartets
of beethoven
R
introduction
William Kinderman
N
o group of compositions occupies a more central position in chamber music
than Beethoven’s string quartets, yet the meaning of these works continues
to stimulate debate. The achievements of Haydn in his op. 33 collection and Mozart
in his famous “Haydn” set had already brought the string quartet to peaks of stylistic
development by the 1780s. The refined cultural position of the genre was reflected
in the old adage, echoed by Goethe in 1829, that in a quartet “one hears four rea-
sonable people conversing with one another.”1 Building on the conversational aura
and integrated textures of these models, Beethoven used the quartet as the medium
for some of his boldest and most advanced ideas. These works convey wit and humor,
pathos and drama, and the last quartets in particular seem to push beyond established
traditions to discover whole new seas of thought and feeling.
The distribution of the quartets across Beethoven’s career neatly displays the three
recognized “periods” of his creativity. A “classical” phase in the op. 18 set from 1800
is followed by a “heroic” phase, as embodied in the three “Razumovsky” Quartets, op.
59, and—many years later—by the introspective and exploratory final cluster of quar-
tets: opp. 127, 132, 130, 131, and 135.2 In 1809–10, furthermore, toward the end of
the “heroic” period, yet long before the emergence of his late style, Beethoven wrote
a contrasting pair of quartets, the so-called “Harp” Quartet in E(cid:1) Major, op. 74, and
the Quartetto serioso in F Minor, op. 95. This tally of sixteen quartets is augmented by
his arrangement in 1802 of the Piano Sonata in E Major, op. 14 no. 1, as a string
quartet in F major, and by the formidable double image of his great B(cid:1) Quartet, op.
130, with its two radically different finales: the titanic “Great Fugue,” op. 133, and
the more congenial Rondo he wrote as a substitute finale in 1826. Thus the total
number of Beethoven’s quartets may be regarded as seventeen or even eighteen.
The present collection of essays explores these works from a variety of perspec-
tives. In some instances, fresh critical approaches or new methods of musical analy-
sis help us to come to terms with the expression and originality of the music. The
study of unfamiliar sources, such as Beethoven’s musical sketches, can shed light on
2 William Kinderman
features of the works that would otherwise remain obscure. Nonetheless, any schol-
arly study of the Beethoven quartets belongs in a historical context, as a contribution
to the ongoing discourse that began about these pieces two centuries ago. For that
reason, it may be useful to briefly review here some aspects of this ever-changing
context of critical reception.
Since they first appeared, Beethoven’s quartets have sparked enthusiasm and
provoked some resistance. An announcement in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung
from August 26, 1801, referred to the op. 18 set as “very difficult to play and by no
means popular.” Although some details are shadowed in obscurity, these quartets
clearly were first heard in private performances, in the same social milieu that sup-
ported the quartets of Haydn and Mozart. Some of Beethoven’s closest friends were
string players, including Karl Amenda and Wenzel Krumpholz (violinists) and
Nikolaus Zmeskall von Domanovecz (a cellist who also composed string quartets).
Prince Franz Joseph Lobkowitz, who commissioned the six quartets of op. 18, main-
tained an orchestra as well as an excellent quartet, and he himself played the violin.
This was an amateur environment par excellence, and it offered a small but discern-
ing audience for new compositions.
Of special importance for Beethoven was the “Knabenquartett” (“boy quartet”),
a paid quartet ensemble established soon after his arrival in Vienna through the spon-
sorship of his generous patron Prince Karl Lichnowsky.3 This initiative enabled the
twenty-three-year-old Beethoven to work closely with a group of excellent young string
players, including the sixteen-year-old violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh, as well as second-
violinist Louis Sina and violist Franz Weiß, then lads of fifteen. (The cellists were older,
more experienced players: Nikolaus Kraft, Beethoven’s friend Zmeskall, and later
Joseph Linke.) These musicians met on Thursday mornings at Count Razumovsky’s,
and on Friday mornings at Lichnowsky’s, to play quartets of Haydn and Mozart, along
with music by other composers, especially Beethoven. The group had remarkable
longevity, continuing as the “Schuppanzigh Quartet” in later years, with sponsorship
from Razumovsky following Beethoven’s break with Lichnowsky in October 1806. This
was the ensemble that first played many of the Beethoven quartets before the gen-
eral public beginning in 1804, and it maintained a prominent role in Viennese mu-
sical life until Schuppanzigh’s sudden death in 1830.4 During the late 1790s,
Beethoven’s work with this emerging ensemble offered him a laboratory for his big-
gest compositional project of the first Vienna decade.
The number of quartets in op. 18—six—emulates the practice of Haydn and
Mozart in their famous sets, and typically for Beethoven, his engagement with his
distinguished predecessors is direct and confrontational. Certain organizational par-
allels stand out. In the opening Allegro of the F-Major Quartet, op. 18 no. 1,
Beethoven’s single-minded concentration on the initial six-note turn figure recalls
Haydn’s monothematic concentration, although Beethoven carried this device even
further than would Haydn; the “reasonable conversation” is taken to the brink of
obsessiveness. (Op. 18 no. 1 was not the first composed, but Beethoven must have