For the convenience of concertgoers the 

Garden Cafe remains open until 6:oo pm.

The use of cameras or recording equipment during the 

performance is not allowed. Please be sure that cell phones,

pagers, and other electronic devices are turned off.

Please note that late entry or reentry ofthe 

West Building after 6:30 pm is not permitted.

Music Department

National Gallery of Art

mvw.nga.gov

The Sixty-ninth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,822nd Concert

Ariel String Quartet

Gershon Gerchikov, violin

Alexandra Kazovsky, violin

Sergey Tarashchansky, viola

Amit Even-Tov, cello

February 6, 2011

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Music by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

String Quartet in D Major, op. 18, no. 3 (1798-1799)

Allegro

Andante con moto

Allegro

Presto

String Quartet in F Major, op. 59, no. 1 (1806)

Allegro

Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando

Adagio molto e mesto

Theme Russe: Allegro

INTERMISSION

String Quartet in A Minor, op. 132 (1825)

Assai sostenuto; allegro

Allegro ma non tanto

Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit,

in der lydischen Tonart

Molto adagio

Neue Kraft fiihlend: Andante

Alla marcia: Assai vivace

Allegro appassionato
The Musicians

Founded in Israel, the Ariel String Quartet relocated to Boston in 2004 to

study at the New England Conservatory’s prestigious Professional String

Quartet Training Program, and was honored by the program with quartetin-residence status. Last year, on the occasion ofits graduation from the

program, the ensemble performed Franz Schubert’s Cello Quintet with its

mentor, cellist Paul Katz. Though only in their twenties, the members ofthe

quartet have played together for ten years, during which time they have 

earned first prize at the international competition “Franz Schubert and the

Music Of Modernity” in Graz, Austria (2003); grand prize at the Fischoff

National Chamber Music Competition (2006); and two prizes—the Szekely

Prize for their performance of Bartok and the overall third prize—at the

2007 Banff International String Quartet Competition. The American Record

Guide described the Ariel Quartet as “a consummate ensemble, gifted with

utter musicality and remarkable interpretive power.” Quoting a recent

tribute delivered by Itzhak Perlman, “To say that they are unusual is an

understatement. They are extraordinary.”

The Ariel Quartet has performed extensively in Israel, Europe, and North

America, including Jordan Hall in Boston, the Kaisersaal in Frankfurt, and

the Louvre Museum in Paris, as well as at the Corcoran Gallery ofArt and the

Kennedy Center in Washington, dc. Later this season, the ensemble will

serve as the string quartet accompaniment to the competitors at the Thirteenth Arthur Rubinstein International Piano Master Competition in Tel Aviv.

In addition to performing the traditional quartet repertoire, the Ariel

String Quartet collaborates with other musicians and composers, including

pianists Alexander Gavrylyuk, Yaron Kohlberg, and Roman Rabinovich,

composers Matti Kovler, Matan Porat, and Menachem Wiesenberg, clarinetist

Moran Katz, and violist Roger Tapping, as well as the Jerusalem String Quartet

and the Zukerman Chamber Players. Currently the quartet-in-residence at the

Yellow Barn Music Festival, the Ariel String Quartet appears at the National 

Gallery by arrangement with Melvin Kaplan, Inc., of Burlington, Vermont.

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Program Notes

This evening’s performance is the second in a series ofsix concerts at the

National Gallery ofArt in which six different string quartets will play all

ofthe works that Beethoven wrote for the medium. Scheduled to occur on

the first Sundays ofthe first three and the last three months ofthe year,

the series is intended to give Washington-area concertgoers an opportunity

to hear this important body ofwork and compare the interpretations provided by quartets from the Czech Republic, Germany, and the United States, 

representing several different stylistic traditions. The American String

quartet inaugurated the series on January 2, and the Leipzig String Quartet

will complete the first half ofthe series on March 6. Next fall, the series

will resume with the National Gallery ofArt String Quartet on October 2

and the Talich String Quartet on November 6. The Pacifica String Quartet

concludes the series on December 4, 2011.

Although a Beethoven notebook dated 1798 is filled with fifty-eight pages

ofsketches for the D Major Quartet, op. 18, no. 3, scholars conjecture that a

missing notebook contained even more preliminary studies for this composition, which is believed to be his first mature string quartet. A quiet and

pensive work, it is clearly indebted to the classical masters for its concept

and formal organization. The first violin floats the opening subject, with its

striking interval of a minor seventh, over the soft sustained chords ofthe

other instruments. The second subject, also stated by the first violin, is

slightly more agitated than the first—the staccato bass line adding to the

feeling of unease and disquiet.

The warm, simple theme ofthe Andante cantabile is presented, uncharacteristically, by the second violin. Poetically conceived and richly textured,

the movement is in neither rondo nor sonata form, but falls somewhere in

between. Its serious nature, great length, and careful realization seem to

suggest that Beethoven attached a central importance to this movement.

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In keeping with the generally contemplative mood ofthe quartet, the

third movement has neither the rhythmic verve of a minuet nor the sparkling vivacity of a scherzo, the two genres from which classical composers

typically drew their third movements. Instead, Beethoven supplies what

might be called a gentle and graceful intermezzo. Especially attractive is the

minor-key trio, a marked contrast to the opening in major and distinguished

by flowing passages in the violins over descending scale fragments in the

other instruments.

The energetic Presto combines in equal measure the unceasing flow of a

perpetual motion, the rhythmic drive of a tarantella, and the melodic turns

of a Mexican hat dance. The movement’s surging motion is liberally seasoned with sharp and abrupt changes in dynamics until the bombast plays 

itself out, and the movement ends with a whispered farewell.

The Quartet in F Major, op. 59, no. 1, is the first ofthree dedicated to

Beethoven’s patron Andrey Kiriliovich Rasumovsky (1752-1836), who was the

Russian ambassador to the Congress ofVienna in 1815. All three quartets are

major monuments in the history of chamber music, marked by high expressivity, sweeping formal structure, rich harmonies, and surging rhythms. The

monumental Allegro that opens the F Major Quartet presents a serene and

noble first theme, starting low in the cello and soaring up to the first violin’s

highest register. Several other distinctive melodic phrases round out the first

group ofthemes before the first violin introduces the upward-stretching

second subject. The development, which starts like a repeat ofthe exposition,

is vast in size and imaginatively varied, with a brilliant fugal center section.

The cello sneaks in to start the recapitulation under a descending scale in the

first violin. The process ofmotivic variation and enrichment continues

through the recapitulation and concluding coda.

Musicians in Beethoven’s day considered the opening rhythmic drumming on one note in the second movement (Allegretto vivace e sempre scherzando) strange and oddly amusing. Although the movement is lighter

in mood than the Allegro, it still is somewhat restless. As in the previous

6

movement, Beethoven uses many themes, some dancing exuberantly,

others more lyrical and songlike. Structured as a scherzo with two trios, this

movement grows organically and inevitably from the melodic material.

A phrase penned by Beethoven on the sketches for the third movement

(.Adagio molto e mesto) —“A weeping willow or acacia tree upon my brother’s

grave”—may be a clue to the intent ofthis great and profoundly moving

piece ofmusic. Some say that the brooding intensity has to do with the

composer’s distress over his brother Caspar Carl’s (1774-1815) recent marriage to Johanna Reiss, six months pregnant, and his beliefthat Caspar’s life

had effectively ended. Others hold that the sorrow was evoked by the memory

of another brother, born one year before Ludwig, who died in infancy. Written

in sonata form, the movement has two cantilena themes, both characterized

by wide intervals between the notes. The first is stated at the outset by the

first violin; the second is sung by the cello while the violin weaves a filigree 

accompaniment above the theme. The rest ofthe movement grows from

these two melodies until a series ofbrilliant runs in the first violin brings

the movement to an end.

The Theme russe (“Russian theme”) of the final movement follows

without pause. No one is sure whether Count Rasumovsky asked Beethoven

to include a Russian melody in the quartet, or whether the composer did it

to honor his patron. Nevertheless, it has been determined that Beethoven

derived the melody from a collection of Russian folk songs published by

Ivan Pratsch. While the song was originally in minor key and slow in tempo,

it appears here in major key and at double the speed. The dancelike rhythm

ofthe first theme is followed by a contrasting legato subsidiary subject,

played by the second violin. At the very end, Beethoven slows down the last

statement ofthe Theme russe by a factor offour before a brilliant flourish

concludes the quartet.

While working on his op. 132 quartet during the winter of 1824-1825,

Beethoven fell gravely ill with liver disease, bowel inflammation, and other

painful and debilitating abdominal maladies. The condition left him seriously weakened, but he was still able to finish the work by July. Although it

7
has the highest opus number ofthe three quartets that he composed at

the behest of Russian nobleman and amateur cellist Prince Galitzin, it was

actually second in order of composition. Study of his sketchbooks shows

that he originally planned the quartet in the traditional four movements, but

on recovering from his sickness decided to replace the two middle sections 

with three movements, including the central Heiliger Dankgesang.

The quartet starts with a short slow introductory motifthat bears a

similarity to the ones heard at the opening ofthe quartet, op. 131, and the 

Grosse Fuge, op. 133. Some think Beethoven used this motif—a slow, rising

half-step followed by a large leap—as a way of unifying these three works;

others believe that the motifs resemble each other because they were all

composed around the same time, and the inadvertent repetition of certain 

favorite melodic turns is almost inevitable. Emerging from the introductory 

measures, a brilliant violin flourish leads to the main theme, played high

in its register by the cello. Following some expansion, a new idea is heard,

starting with three repeated notes. It quickly passes through the quartet, 

leading to still another distinctive idea—a flowing melody in the second 

violin over a nervous, agitated triplet accompaniment.

Wistful and nostalgic in tone, the second movement has two motifs 

that run throughout the entire opening section. The first is a pair ofrising

three-note figures; the second is a long note that drops down with a little

flurry offaster notes. After many repetitions ofthe two melodic cells,

Beethoven moves on to the middle section, a musette, in which the first

violin sustains a bagpipe-like drone under its high-pitched melody. The

movement ends with a literal repeat ofthe opening section.

As a title for the third movement, Beethoven inscribed the words

Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der lydischen Tonart

(Holy Song ofThanksgiving to the Divinity by a Convalescent, in the Lydian

Mode). An expression ofhis gratitude for the return of good health, the 

music conveys a spiritual tone through use ofthe Lydian mode. The music

consists offive lines of a slow, solemn chordal hymn, with each line preceded

by a faster moving contrapuntal prelude. In the vital and vigorous contrasting second section, Neue KraftfiXhlend (Feeling new strength), alternating

loud and soft measures surge with a powerful, propulsive force. After varied

returns of both sections, the movement ends with a restatement ofthe 

opening hymn, marked on the score to be played Mit innigster Empfindung

(with the most intimate emotions).

The raucous Alla marcia provides a sudden change in mood from heavenly to earthly, a change that Beethoven often introduces in his music after

moments of deeply emotional expression. After a brief aggressive march, 

the music completely changes character and takes on the style of a recitative,

a rhythmically free section, in which the first violin plays an improvisatory

melodic line over a minimal accompaniment in the other parts.

The finale (Allegro appassionato) follows the recitative without pause. 

Structurally, it combines rondo and sonata form. The basic lyrical character

is modified by an underlying turbulent rocking motion that introduces

ambiguity, even as the work draws to a close.

Notesfrom Guide to Chamber Music by Melvin Berger, ©1985

Used by permission

9
Next week at the National Gallery ofArt

Janice Martin, violinist

Michael Ricchiuti, pianist

John Wohlstetter, guest lecturer

Music by George Gershwin

February 9, 2011

Wednesday, 12:10 pm

West Building Lecture Hall

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