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.

For the convenience of concertgoers, 

the Garden Cafe remains open for light refreshments

until 6:00 pm on Sundays.

Music Department

National Gallery ofArt

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

www.nga.gov

The Sixty-ninth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,830th Concert

The Leipzig String Quartet

Stefan Arzberger, violin

Tilman Biining, violin

Ivo Bauer, viola

Matthias Moosdorf, cello

March 6, 2011

Sunday Evening, 6:30 pm 

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Music by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Quartet in F Major, op. 18, no. 1

Allegro con brio

Adagio affettuoso et appassionato

Scherzo: Allegro molto

Allegro

Quartet in E-Jlat Major, op. 74 (“Harp”)

Poco adagio; allegro

Adagio, ma non troppo

Presto

Allegretto con variazioni

INTERMISSION

Quartet in F Major, op. 135

Allegretto

Vivace

Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo

Grave, ma non troppo tratto; allegro

(Der schwer gefasste Entschluss: Muss es sein?

Es muss sein! Es muss sein!)

The Musicians

Since its founding two decades ago, the Leipzig String Quartet has garnered the

attention ofinternational critics and audiences with its distinctive dark timbre and

meticulously sculpted interpretations of widely varied repertoire. Formed originally by the string principals ofthe renowned Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra,

the Quartet continues to uphold the principles ofsound and integrity ascribed to

this great orchestra. Called “one ofthe towering and most versatile quartets of

our time” by the Neue Zurcher Zeitung and lauded by The New York Times for 

presenting “rich, mellow, unadulterated beauty” and a true “Leipzig sound,”

the Quartet performs widely throughout Europe at major halls and festivals. 

Since 1991 the Quartet has had its own “Pro Quatuor” series at the Gewandhaus, where it has offered a multi-year cycle ofthe major quartets ofthe

First and Second Viennese Schools in addition to premieres ofworks by

Alfred Schnittke and Wolfgang Rihm. In addition to its 2009 concert at the

National Gallery ofArt in the festival honoring Mendelssohn’s 200th birth

anniversary—“Mendelssohn on the Mall”—the Quartet has appeared at

Carnegie Hall, the Frick Collection, the Library ofCongress, Lincoln Center, 

the Metropolitan Museum of Art, WolfTrap, and chamber music series in

Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles, Ottawa, and Toronto.

In 2010 the ensemble performed at New York’s Le Poisson Rouge with jazz 

great Steve Wilson.

Having released more than sixty recordings ofrepertoire from Mozart

to Cage, the Leipzig String Quartet has received praise from the editors of

Strings magazine, who proclaimed its recordings ofthe complete string

quartets of Franz Schubert to be “ofthe highest order—the interpretations

bracing and intense, and the recordings themselves ideal in clarity, richness

ofsound, and naturalness of acoustics.” The quartet has also won echo and

Diapason d’Or awards and prizes from the German Record Reviewers

Association. The ensemble has performed and recorded with pianists Alfred

Brendel, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Joseph Kalichstein, Menahem Pressler, and

Christian Zacharias, as well as acclaimed klezmer clarinetist Giora Feidman.

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Program Notes

This evening’s performance is the third 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 great 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 Ariel String Quartet presented

the second concert on February 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.

Published in 1801, Beethoven’s first set ofstring quartets, op. 18, was 

commissioned by Prince Lobkowitz and composed between 1798 and 1800.

Though it was the second to be composed, Beethoven chose the F major as

the first quartet in the published set, probably because ofits brilliant opening and closing movements as well as the unequalled dramatic sweep and

emotional tension ofthe quartet as a whole.

About the deeply passionate and tragic Adagio, Beethoven wrote at the

end of one sketch, “les derniers soupirs” (“the last breaths”). It is reported that

when Beethoven played the movement for violinist Karl Amenda, his friend

who worked for Prince Lobkowitz, Amenda responded, “It pictured for me

the parting oftwo lovers.” “Good!” Beethoven replied, “I thought ofthe scene

in the burial vault in Romeo and Juliet.” After the emotional heights reached

in the Adagio, the listener is allowed to relax with the modest and very charming Scherzo. Adding a touch ofwit and humor in the middle Trio section,

Beethoven sends the first violin on rapid flows ofnotes between rhythmically

limping unison passages. The first subject ofthe final movement—a flashy

run ending with three concluding chords—bears a striking resemblance to

the Finale of his C Minor String Trio, op. 9, no. 3. With virtuosic parts for all

four instruments, the movement is cast partly in rondo form, with a repeated

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theme and contrasting episodes, and partly in sonata form, with two contrasting themes that are developed and returned.

Early in 1809, when Beethoven was composing the Quartet in E-flat Major,

op. 74, three noblemen collaborated in granting him an annual stipend.

Anticipating financial security, Beethoven proposed to Therese Malfatti, his

teenage pupil, and was devastated by her family’s rejection ofhis suit. In May,

the French army bombarded Vienna, wreaking havoc on Beethoven’s already

shabby apartment. In a journal entry dated not long after the French occupation ofthe city began, a friend who visited Beethoven expressed shock at the

composer's living conditions: “Picture to yourselfthe dirtiest, most disorderly

place imaginable....” There are accounts ofthe composer cowering in a

cellar with his hands over his ears, attempting to protect what little remained

ofhis ability to hear. No one can say exactly how the personal and political

turmoil in his life affected the composition of op. 74, but, as his letters reveal,

Beethoven found it difficult to write under wartime conditions. Perhaps this

is why this particular opus does not push forward into new and unexplored

regions, but rather demonstrates a consolidation of previous growth, with

some backward glances over well-traveled classical territory.

The subtitle, “Harp,” was added later by an editor. Often criticized as

an unfortunate choice, it draws attention to some pizzicato accompanying

figures in the first movement that are ofminor musical importance. The

slow introduction to the first movement centers around a four-note motif

heard immediately from the first violin and repeated a number oftimes.

The viola introduces the second theme—a long note followed by a flurry

of ascending and descending notes—and is soon joined by the three other

instruments. The striking coda is highlighted by brilliant passages by the

first violin and elaboration by the other instruments ofthe melodic fragments heard earlier.

The Adagio, a movement of profound spirituality, presages Beethoven’s

sublime late quartets in its rich emotional content. The movement revolves

around the tender main theme, initially stated by the first violin, which is

heard three times, separated by contrasting episodes. The second appearance ofthe theme is in minor key, conveying despondency, while the third

is loftier and more spiritual in tone.

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The concentrated energy and drive ofthe third movement—a scherzo 

marked Presto—make this the high point ofthe quartet. Apparently still

haunted by the dramatic “fate knocks on the door” opening ofthe Fifth

Symphony (composed one year earlier), Beethoven gives the movement a

power and a force that is rare in chamber music.

The disarming finale ofthe E-flat Major Quartet, a theme and six variations, has a simple, easygoing melody, and seems almost anticlimactic after

the furious pace ofthe third movement. The coda reintroduces drama, as it

accelerates in tempo, leading to a high-speed, brilliant conclusion based on

the melodic line ofthe third variation.

Designated op. 135, the sixteenth and last complete string quartet that

Beethoven wrote represents a sharp departure from the other late quartets. 

The work is quite short, vying with op. 18, no. 2, as the briefest ofthem all.

One possible explanation ofits brevity is supplied by the composer’s friend 

Karl Holz, who reported that Beethoven, believing that his publisher had not

paid him enough for the work, had said: “If[he] sends circumcised ducats 

he shall have a circumcised quartet. That’s why it is so short.”

In addition to the modest length ofthe quartet, it has less emotional

intensity and more peaceful resignation than the other late quartets. In it

can be heard a serene acceptance ofthe inevitability of death, as Beethoven

implies in a letter he sent with the quartet to his publisher, Moritz Schlesinger:

“Here, my dear friend, is my last quartet. It will be the last; and indeed it has 

given me much trouble. For I could not bring myselfto compose the last

movement.” Composed during August and September 1826 at his brother’s

country estate in Gneixendorf, Austria, the work was published in September

1827. The Schuppanzigh Quartet gave the premiere in Vienna on March 23,

1828, almost one year to the day after the composer’s death.

For some listeners, op. 135 represents a return to middle-class taste,

perhaps affected by the Biedermier movement, a conservative trend in the 

decorative arts ofthe early 1800s. Brevity, accessibility, and the use of more

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traditional compositional techniques were some ofthe particular qualities 

that Beethoven associated with music written for the bourgeoisie. The fact

that Beethoven dedicated the quartet to Johann Wolfmayer, a cloth merchant,

and not to an aristocrat, lends some credence to this belief. But, taking into

account Beethoven’s tendencies over the course ofhis life, it is most likely

that neither theory is correct. It is not surprising to find him turning to

something buoyant and light-hearted after creating music of great depth

and personal involvement, such as his penultimate string quartet (op. 131).

The final movement, Der schwer gefasste Entschluss (The difficult resolution), asks the question “Muss es sein?” (Must it be?). The answer is the 

ringing affirmation, “Es muss sein! Es muss sein!” (It must be! It must be!).

Although in a letter to Moritz Schlesinger Beethoven assigns a profound

meaning to this exchange, its origins were simple and humorous. A friend of

Beethoven, a government official by the name ofIgnaz Dembscher, requested 

a copy of an earlier quartet, op. 130, and was refused by the composer, who

was miffed that Dembscher had not attended the premiere performance.

Wanting to set matters right, Dembscher asked Karl Holz to intervene. Holz

suggested that Dembscher send the cost ofthe subscription, fifty florins, to

the Schuppanzigh quartet, which had paid that amount for the right to the 

first performance. To Dembscher’s question, “Muss es sein?” Holz replied,

“Es muss sein!” When Holz recounted the story to Beethoven, he burst into 

laughter and immediately sat down to compose a canon on the dialogue.

Later Beethoven expanded the musical material ofthe canon into the quartet’s

last movement. In slow, solemn tones the two lower strings pose the question, as ifsinging the words “Muss es sein?” And in forceful, joyful musical

phrases, the two violins deliver the exultant response, at once a musical pun

and a statement of Beethoven’s sense of coming to terms with death.

Notesfrom Guide to Chamber Music hy Melvin Berger, © 1985

Used by permission

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