String Quartet in C minor, Op.18, No.4

You don’t have to know much about Beethoven to be aware that C minor – the key of his Fifth Symphony, Third Piano Concerto and Pathéthique Sonata – was a special challenge to him. It is as though the sound of C minor represented a threat that had to be overcome and, where possible, converted into its happy antithesis in C major – a resolution which is achieved through heroism in the Fifth Symphony and by magic in the Third Piano Concerto but not achieved at all in the Pathétique Sonata. In the String Quartet in C minor, one of the set of six published as Op.18 in 1801, the outcome is uncertain until the very end. The opening of the Allegro ma non tanto is entirely characteristic in its C minor seriousness and, although there is an amplitude of contrasting material, the end of the movement is as grim as the beginning. Perfectly balanced as they are, the two middle movements, a witty Scherzo in C major and an impulsive Menuetto in C minor, advance the argument in neither direction. The fugitive main theme of the final rondo in C minor does not promise a happy ending, least of all when it is accelerated to Prestissimo near the end. But then, when it is nearly all over, the mode changes to C major – subtly rather than triumphantly but clearly enough.

Anyone who knew Beethoven’s music well when he was completing his first set of string quartets in 1800 must have looked forward with particular interest to the one in C minor. Patrons like Prince Lichnowsky, who awarded him an annuity at this time, or Prince Lobkowitz, to whom the composer was to dedicate his Op.18 on its publication in 1801, would have been familiar with his other works in that key - the Piano Trio, Op.1, No.3, the String Trio, Op.9, No.3, the Pathétique Sonata, Op.13 - and would have hoped for something similarly inspired and equally distinctive.

They were surely not disappointed. The opening of the Allegro ma non tanto is entirely characteristic in its C minor seriousness - an urgent theme on first violin over an insistent pedal point on the cello, sforzando emphases added to the metrical accents, wide upward leaps in a melodic line rising to a high point in the violin range, a dramatic exchange of multi-stopped chords. It is true that the second subject, introduced by second violin, is comparatively relaxed in its E flat major harmonies. It does, on the other hand, have features in common with the first subject, beginning with a wide upward leap. In a development devoted largely to the first subject, it makes a contrastingly radiant entry on the cello in F major, but only to be diverted into the minor by first violin. Although it is recapitulated in C major, its benign influence does not survive a dramatic coda leading to an impulsively decisive C minor ending.

There is no slow movement to reduce the tension. While the second movement is not one of Beethoven’s more dynamic scherzos, the Menuetto paradoxically is. So, after a witty but also oddly obsessive display of contrapuntal ingenuity in the Scherzo in C major, there is another impulsive movement in C minor with an urgent main theme charged with sforzando emphases (in this case in contradiction of the metrical accents). The more lyrical A flat major Trio section is overlaid by persistent triplet figuration on a first violin impatient to return to the C minor material of the so-called Menuetto - which, according to the composer’s instructions, is to be played at a quicker tempo the second time round.

The likelihood of a happy ending must now be remote. The fugitive main theme of the final rondo in C minor seems to confirm the situation. There is a chorale-like first episode in A flat major but, as we know from the Menuetto, that it is not a realistic key in these circumstances. A second episode in C major, starting on the cello with a little flourish and working its way upwards, might have more chance, however. The last recall of the rondo theme, now accelerated to prestissimo, apparently denies any such possibility. And yet, when it is almost all over, the mode subtly changes to C major. The final flourishes are unharmonised but, derived as they are from the C major second episode, their meaning is clear enough.