LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 1770-1827
String Quartet Op. 133 (composed 1825)
What is it about Beethoven and this piece in particular that places him on a pedestal of string quartet composition? He defied public opinion, refused to listen to players when they claimed his music was unplayable, and from most accounts, was an extremely difficult person to deal with.
Glenn Gould called this piece the most astonishing piece in musical literature. We say ‘piece’, but of course really, it was intended to be the final movement of Beethoven’s Op. 130 string quartet. Critics and audiences found it incomprehensible and, eventually, Beethoven wrote a new fourth movement and the Grosse Fugue took on a whole new life of its own.
This fugue is one of the most perfectly constructed works in the canon: it is the Taj Mahal, the Eiffel Tower, the Sydney Opera House of string quartets. In this monolith of human creation, there are six sections:
Overtura - Fuga - Meno Mosso - Scherzo - Fuga - Coda
When Beethoven was sketching the first movement of the A minor quartet Op. 132, he paused to wonder how the cantus-firmus theme would look as the subject of a fugue. Albrechtsberger, Beethoven’s old teacher, had written a treatise on fugues listing a large number of fugal rules or tricks, including some of his own invention, with a cautionary note that seldom can all of them be fitted into a single composition. Beethoven took this as a challenge and according to some theorists, he resolved to write a fugue with all known compositional devices.
The Overtura sets the scene by delivering all the material that will be developed into the fugue. Beethoven then pairs two of the themes together to ease the listener in. From time to time, you will hear the quartet join metaphorical hands in a transition section before breaking out to play themes in every way imaginable. Then, using his most delicious key of G flat major, Beethoven allows the listener to bathe in glorious other-worldly sensory overload, before taking a scherzando (yes, the Grosse Fugue is indeed playful!) view of the original theme. The second intense fugue is designed to whip the audience into a frenzy (remember, this is the last movement of an already epic piece and in its original format, the audience would have been listening for over 50 minutes) and just in case we had forgotten the themes, Beethoven lets us hear them again in their own right before the end.
Stravinsky summed up this work best when he said, “This absolutely contemporary piece of music that will be contemporary forever…”
CLAIRE L. FARRELL b. 1998
“fugue state” (composed 2022)
Commissioned by Flinders Quartet with support from Dimity Reed and Garry Joslin
A note from the composer:
“In April of 2021, as I began to plan my vignette response to Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue, I sustained a mild concussion during a game of soccer. Days after, as I lay in bed recovering, the Second Subject of the Grosse Fugue played over and over in my head. It was stuck, suspended in time, accompanied by the hot, fuzzy throbbing of grey matter as my neural pathways grappled to reconnect. When you’re not allowed to do anything but lie there, listening to the sound of your own brain healing, thoughts seep out and intertwine with memories, sensations, and emotions. I did not suffer amnesia, but I felt the space beyond thought, and a suspension between my physical and mental world. It was a profound experience. I am completely recovered now, except for the occasional hazy reminder after a long, busy day.
fugue state was partly inspired by this experience. The title is a play on words, as a fugue is also a psychological dissociative disorder. I did not experience a fugue state, but I thought the connection was appropriate, as the piece suspends part of the Grosse Fugue’s Second Subject in time, as though it has forgotten what comes next. fugue state is in the style of postminimalism, with the inclusion of highly emotional soloistic motifs that represent the distress I experienced post-concussion, as well as my reflection on the distress that Beethoven must have felt as he lost his hearing. The piece ends with the gentle warmth of recovery, yet with a sense that all is not yet resolved.”
CLAIRE HIGGINS b. 1977
“Remnant #133” (composed 2021)
Commissioned by Flinders Quartet with support from Richard Gubbins
A note from the composer:
“Just like remnants of fabric, this piece takes some elements from the Grosse Fugue, reshapes them and places them in a contemporary context. In responding to Beethoven’s work, I found there to be both darkness and light and I chose to create a piece that focuses on the darkness and the difficult social history around this work.
There’s a certain sadness in the work not being received well initially and the fact that Beethoven was asked to replace the movement with an entirely new one. I was also struck by the fact that the replacement movement was one of the last pieces of music he ever wrote.”
CLARE STRONG b. 1992
“Tribute to LvB” (composed 2021)
Commissioned by Flinders Quartet with support from FQ Syndicate #3: Peter Kingsbury, John and Sue Warburton, Nicholas Garnham, Mark Vendy, Barry Jones AC and Rachel Faggetter
A note from the composer:
“When FQ commissioned me for this project, I initially thought how am I going to write a response to this monumental work? It was such a groundbreaking work of its time and is still regarded as one of the greatest string quartets ever written. Before I composed my own response, I studied Beethoven’s score and was amazed at the intricate detail and the incredible layering of parts that Beethoven writes to create his great fugue. The motives/ideas may seem simple at times but the way in which Beethoven uses them is so ingenious as to weave an incredible fabric of musical layers. I have tried to pay tribute to the motives that stood out to me as a composer, while using my own musical language to express ideas that are inspired by Beethoven’s.”
NAOMI BROWN b. 1974
“Fractured Peace” (composed 2021)
Commissioned by Flinders Quartet with support from FQ Syndicate #1: Brad and Maggie Robinson, Patricia Speck, Daniel Kirkham, Vivienne Reed
A note from the composer:
“Written for the Flinders Quartet as a response to Beethoven's Grosse Fugue, this quartet integrates two themes of Beethoven's. The first is the opening theme from his Grosse Fugue fragmented into its pairs of semitones (which I've called the fractured theme) and the second is the melody from the prayer for communal peace from the last movement of his Missa Solemnis (which I've called the peace theme). The latin phrase sung to that melody is dona nobis pacem (which in English means grant us peace).
The fractured theme starts the piece and is stated using glassy harmonics and, as it progresses down through the middle instruments, it provides the basis of this piece, driving the unusual harmony. This is my nod to Beethoven's quest to explore the boundaries of music in the Grosse Fugue and possibly symbolising a search to find a greater understanding of music and its meaning.
There are other references to the Grosse Fugue in this quartet such as using the same key signatures in reverse order, similarly with the starting and ending pitches.
The peace theme first appears as a soaring melody in the first violin, at first interacting with the fractured theme and then on its own in the viola. This theme, for me, represents Beethoven's struggle for peace and meaning in his own life, though it is also a fairly universal struggle for all of us to varying degrees.
This leads to a climax where the two themes merge and then fragment and then end abruptly. Once again the glassy harmonics appear with an ostinato theme from the Missa Solemnis, repeated three times. The latin phrase for this theme is Agnes Dei (Lamb of God). The cello repeats the dona nobis and all instruments finish with pacem (peace).
The dona nobis earlier in this piece had appeared without a subject i.e. not directed towards anyone in particular, merely a general prayer for peace. After the climax, the prayer is repeated, this time directed towards Agnes Dei (Lamb of God), This is an acknowledgement that though Beethoven was unorthodox in his faith, he was still nonetheless devout and was able to find, at times, peace.”
NATALIE NICOLAS b. 1992
“A Blue Beethoven” (composed 2021)
Commissioned by Flinders Quartet with support from FQ Syndicate #2: Elizabeth and Sam Golding, Helen Murdoch & Macedon Music, Geoffrey Hayes, Marion and Michael Webster
A note from the composer:
“A vignette inspired by Beethoven's Op. 133 Grosse Fugue, and the clear waters of Sydney Harbour in lockdown.”
LUDWIG VAN BEETHOVEN 1770-1827
String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18, No. 1 (composed 1799)
I. Allegro con brio
II. Adagio affettuoso ed appasionato
III. Scherzo: Allegro molto
IV. Allegro
Before Beethoven wrote his string quartets, they were largely meant for amateurs to play in their homes for the amusement of guests (and themselves). Beethoven was largely responsible for the rise of the professional string quartet, simply by writing more technically demanding music for the four players. Living in the shadow of Mozart’s prodigious talent and also that of Haydn, Beethoven’s father, Johann, lied about his age to make him appear more gifted than he actually was. Imagine Beethoven’s surprise as an adult when he finally discovered he was two years older than he actually was.
The set of six Op. 18 quartets are perfectly taut specimens of the classical era. This particular quartet in F major foreshadows the genius exhibited in the Grosse Fugue by using a very short motif as the whole genesis for the first movement. Beethoven uses this motif no less than 130 times as an exhibition of intense creativity through restricted means. Beethoven attributes his inspiration in the second movement to Shakespeare’s tomb scene from Romeo and Juliet; Shakespeare had recently been translated to German and this obviously had a profound effect.
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