Download Quartettsatz in C Minor Franz Schubert (1756-1791)

Quartettsatz in C Minor
Franz Schubert (1756-1791)
Schubert composed the Quartettsatz, or “quartet movement,” in December 1820, a few weeks before
his 24th birthday. He had apparently planned a standard four-movement quartet, but finished only this
movement and a short fragment of a second. No reason has come to light for his leaving such a
promising work unfinished, but the movement readily stands on its own as a satisfying whole.
Curiously, the Allegro assai opening movement of this quartet is similar to the first movement of the
“Unfinished” Symphony: they feature a similar opening in the first violins; both are superbly lyrical; and
both are built on surprising key relationships between main themes. The Quartettsatz’s key relationships
are one of the special aspects of this work, flowing from one to the next smoothly but in unconventional
juxtapositions. The young master incorporated another unusual structural change: his opening theme
does not return until the closing coda, where it suddenly propels the movement to a fierce conclusion.
The Quartettsatz is generally considered Schubert’s first mature quartet. The previous eleven were
written as Hausmusik for a quartet made up of members of his own family. Composing for amateurs,
Schubert had written fairly easy parts. But in the Quartettsatz and his last three quartets Schubert
followed his inspiration without concern for his performers’ proficiency. The Quartettsatz makes great
technical demands and was clearly intended for professionals.
Concerto Funèbre
Karl Amadeus Hartmann (1905-1963)
Hartmann is a figure unique in 20th-Century German music, the only composer of note who risked
staying in Germany and defying Hitler for the duration of the Third Reich. “My brothers and I managed
to keep our distance from the army, the militia, labour battalions and other such pleasures,” he wrote,
“We are known as one of the few truly antifascist families in Munich.”
The most-performed of Hartmann’s works, his Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra was written in
1939 to protest Hitler’s occupation of Prague. Quoting Czech chorales, Hartmann was striving to embed
political commentary in music in the way that Shostakovich was perfecting in Russia under similar
Stalinist strictures. The Concerto Funebre was smuggled out to Switzerland for its premiere. His anti-war
opera, Simplus Simplicissimus, was smuggled out to Brussels, but the Wehrmacht arrived in Belgium
before it was produced.
Unlike many of Hartmann’s works, the Concerto funebre was completed in a relatively short time.
Originally called Musik der Trauer (Music of Mourning) it was revised and renamed in 1959.
String Quintet in C Minor K 406
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791)
Mozart’s String Quintet in C minor K 406 is his own arrangement of the Wind Serenade K 388, which he
wrote for paired oboes, clarinets, horns and bassoons in 1782, shortly after finishing his opera The
Abduction from the Seraglio. The new version for strings was advertised together with the K 515 and
516 Quintets in 1788 in the Wiener Zeitung as “schön und korrekt geschrieben,” available by pre-
publication subscription from Johann Michael Puchberg, the fellow Freemason who often loaned Mozart
money. Sales of the quintets were intended to repay Puchberg, but not many subscriptions were
received. Artaria did publish the three pieces, but K 406 was not issued until 1792, after Mozart’s death.
Like Mozart’s other quintets for two violins, two violas and cello, K 406 opens with a strong statement of
its main tonality, followed by a contrasting, softer response. The exposition is repeated, in the usual
Classical form for opening movements; the development section brings out the rich sonority of violas
and cello; then the exposition returns in subtly re-coloured harmonies.
The second movement Andante opens with a gentle first violin aria, soon joined by the second violin in
duet. The main theme returns hesitantly, like an operatic character waiting to enter a room, and the
second theme reappears clothed in a new key. The Menuetto in canone shows off Mozart’s technical
prowess, with several different types of imitation. The C-major Trio is an inverted canon: the first violin
imitates the second violin with a mirror image of the second violin part’s melodic outline, and the cello
does the same for first viola. The second viola does not play at all, the odd one out with no partner to
run after. The final Allegro is a set of variations that allow each instrument to lead the musical
conversation before a solemn series of dramatic harmonic suspensions leads to the return of the theme
in sunny C major.