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 of Art

Sixth Street and Constitution Avenue nw

Washington, DC

www.nga.gov

The Seventieth Season of

The William Nelson Cromwell and F. Lammot Belin

Concerts

National Gallery ofArt

2,853rd Concert

Talich String Quartet

Jan Talich, violin

Petr Macecek, violin

Vladimir Bukac, viola 

Petr Prause, cello

November 6, 2011

Sunday, 6:30 pm

West Building, West Garden Court

Admissionfree
Program

Music by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827)

Quartet in C Minor, op. 18, no. 4 (1798-1800)

Allegro ma non tanto

Scherzo: Andante scherzoso quasi allegretto

Menuetto: Allegretto

Allegro

INTERMISSION

Quartet in B-jlat Major, op. 130, “Liebquartett” (1825)

Adagio ma non troppo; Allegro

Presto

Andante con moto, ma non troppo 

Alla danza tedesca: Allegro assai 

Cavatina: Adagio molto espressivo 

Finale: Allegro

This concert is thefifth ofsix concerts presenting the complete string quartets

oftBeethoven. The sixth andfinal concert ofthe series takes place at the Gallery

on Sunday, December 4, 2011, at 6:30 pm. The Pacifica String Quartet will

play quartets op. 18, no. 6 (“La Maliconia”), op. 95 (“Serioso”), op. ijo

(“Liebquartett”), and op. ijj (“Grosse Fuge”).

The Musicians

Recognized internationally as one of Europe’s finest chamber ensembles,

the Talich String Quartet was founded in 1964 by Jan Talich during his 

studies at the Prague Conservatory and named for his uncle Vaclav Talich,

the renowned chief conductor ofthe Czech Philharmonic. During the 1990s

new players succeeded the original members, rejuvenating the Quartet

while continuing the tradition ofits predecessors through continued concertizing and recording activities. Jan Talich, the current first violinist, is the 

son ofthe Quartet’s founder.

The Talich Quartet receives regular invitations to prestigious chamber

music festivals including the Europalia Festival, the International String 

Quartet Festival in Ottawa, the Pablo Casals Festival in Prades, the Prague 

Spring Music Festival, Printemps des Arts in Monte Carlo, and the Tibor

Varga Festival of Music. The ensemble performs frequently at New York’s

Carnegie Hall, Paris’ Theatre des Champs-Elysees and Salle Gaveau, and 

London’s Wigmore Hall.

The Talich’s recordings ofthe complete string quartets of Felix

Mendelssohn, released on the Calliope label between 2001 and 2004, have

been widely praised. Other recordings include Dvorak’s “American” quartet

and viola quintet (2003), Smetana’s two string quartets (2003), and a live

recording of Schubert’s Death and the Maiden (2004). The Quartet’s Janacek

recording was honored by Gramophone with a nomination for the best chamber recording of 2006—the only recording by a string quartet to be selected.

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Program Notes

Although Beethoven made copious use of notebooks as he prepared his compositions, no notebook sketches have ever been found for his fourth quartet,

probably the last one composed in opus 18. This has led to speculation that

the composer did not go through his usual throes ofindecision in working

out the details ofthe composition, or that he had based the quartet on a

previously completed composition. The only minor-key quartet in op. 18, the

C Minor Quartet is probably the most popular work in the group, and like all

of Beethoven’s works in this key, it is a musical statement with an especially

heightened dramatic tension throughout.

The first theme, dark-hued and throbbing with an inner passion, traces

an irregular path from the violin’s lowest note to the top ofits range. Beethoven 

caps offthe climb with a series of powerful chords and a final outcry, before

a sudden hush falls and the bridge passage leads to the second subject. First

stated by the second violin, this melody is derived from the second part of

the first theme, but in a different key. A climactic coda fills out the end of

the movement. Instead offollowing the powerful first movement with a conventionally slow and emotional second movement, Beethoven treats us to a

moderately paced, witty scherzo. The texture is mostly polyphonic, with the

tunes blithely tossed from instrument to instrument in a profusion of canons

and short fugues.

The somber and serious Menuetto recaptures to some extent the mood of

the first movement. Beethoven’s recurrent use ofthird-beat accents distances

it from typically dance-like minuets. The middle section, or trio, is essentially a dialogue between second violin and viola, to which the cello supplies

a bass line and the first violin contributes a running triplet commentary.

Ferdinand Ries, a pupil of Beethoven, recounted an anecdote connected

with the last movement ofthe C Minor Quartet that provides insight into his

teacher’s independent and unorthodox spirit of composition. In response to

Ries’ discovery of an instance of parallel perfect fifths in the last movement,

a practice forbidden by all teachers of composition, Beethoven replied, “Ah!

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Well, who is it who says perfect fifths are wrong?” After Ries named several 

leading music theorists ofthe day who forbade them, Beethoven said simply, 

“Very well, I allow the use ofthem!”

There are few other surprises in the final movement, a clearly defined

rondo in the style of Ffaydn. The sparkling main theme melody, played by

the first violin, has elements ofthe Turkish style so favored by eighteenthcentury composers, including Ffaydn and Mozart. The second violin has

almost exclusive rights to the richly lyrical episode that follows. A varied

return ofthe main theme leads another construct in which the instruments

enter one after the other—a gruff, pyramid-like sequence. After the third

reprise ofthe opening melody, there is a lengthy coda, ending with a rapidfire finish.

In some ways the most appealing of Beethoven’s late quartets, the Quartet

in B-jlat Major, op. 130, is the third and last ofthe quartets he composed for 

Prince Galitzin. It follows the classical order of movements—fast, scherzo,

slow, and finale—except that Beethoven adds an extra scherzo and slow movement just before the finale. The treatment also makes obeisance to classical

concepts, even though the melodies, harmonies, rhythms, and internal formal

structures are handled quite freely.

The subtitle (“Liebquartett”) comes from the conversation books

Beethoven used for daily communication in face ofhis total deafness, in

which he affectionately referred to op. 130 as “Dear Quartet” (Liebquartett).

For some unknown reason Beethoven did not attend the premiere, given in

Vienna by the Schuppanzigh Quartet on March 21,1826, but waited in a

nearby tavern.

The final movement, an exceedingly long and elaborate fugue, confused

most listeners and invited criticism from players and audiences alike.

Beethoven’s publisher, Matthias Artaria, and many others felt it should be 

replaced with a finale more in keeping with the rest ofthe quartet. Well

aware of Beethoven’s strong and principled nature, Artaria designed a

roundabout way to get him to write a new last movement. Claiming that

the public was demanding the fugue as a separate piece, Artaria first offered

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to pay Beethoven for a transcription for piano four hands, and then convinced him to compose a substitute last movement—for an additional fee.

Although the extra money probably played some part in Beethoven’s acquiescence, he most likely would have refused unless he agreed that the fugue

was indeed too massive and powerful for the rest ofthe quartet. The published version of op. 130, therefore, includes Beethoven’s new finale, while

the original, the Grosse Fuge (“Great Fugue”), appears separately as op. 133.

The serene opening Adagio is not a prelude to what follows, but is an

integral part ofthe thematic material—it reappears several times and binds

the movements together. The high-spirited Allegro simultaneously flings out

two striking phrases—a running sixteenth-note pattern in the first violin

and repeated notes followed by a jump up to a held note in the second. In

his novel, Point Counter Point, Aldous Huxley describes the slow and fast

parts ofthis movement as “majesty alternating with a joke.” The very short,

engaging second movement presents the outgoing, jocular side ofBeethoven’s

nature and offers a startling change from the complex first movement. The

third movement projects a contrary air ofmingled gaiety and melancholy.

After two bars ofintroduction the viola states the somber principal theme in

its darkest, lowest register, against which the other instruments contribute

fresh, charming countermelodies and accompaniment figures. The first

contrasting melody is unabashedly sprightly and joyful; it is followed by a

shortened, revoiced statement ofthe opening theme.

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Functioning as a second scherzo, Alla danza tedesca (like a dance in the

German style) is innocent and whimsical in mood. The first part captures

the swaying rhythmic robustness ofthe handler, a three-beat German

peasant dance. The middle section is also in a rustic dance style, with three

repeated staccato notes serving as its most prominent melodic feature. The

poetic and predominantly soft Cavatina (Italian for “short aria”) exemplifies

Beethoven’s “interior music,” spiritual and emotionally intense utterances of

the utmost eloquence. His friend, violinist Karl Holz, wrote that Beethoven

“composed the Cavatina ofthe Quartet in B-flat amid sorrow and tears; never

did his music breathe so heartfelt an inspiration, and even the memory of

this movement brought tears to his eyes.”

The Finale: Allegro, which Beethoven substituted for the original monumental fugue, was written at his brother’s house in Gneixendorf, in November

1826, between bouts ofserious abdominal illness that would lead to his death

four months later. Delightful and cheery on the surface, the new finale reflects 

several connections with earlier movements: the opening rhythm derives

from the Presto, the subsequent active subject comes from the theme ofthe

first movement, and the closing rhythm recalls the quartet introduction. The

Schuppanzigh Quartet introduced the new finale in December 1826 and gave

the premiere ofthe entire reconstituted quartet on April 22,1827, nearly one

month after the composer’s death.

Notesfrom Guide to Chamber Music, by Melvin Berger ©1985

(used with permission).

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