String Quartet in F major Op.135 (1826)

If creative inspiration were predictable, if Beethoven’s last string quartet had followed the trend of the preceding four, it would have had eight movements and would have been not far short of an hour in length. In fact, the Quartet in F - the last major work he completed before his death a few months later - is in the regular four-movement form and lasts little more than twenty minutes. It doesn’t mean that the composer’s powers were waning or that he had nothing to say. Having progressively expanded the scope of the string quartet and its capacity for thought, he now had something else to say and a different way of saying it.

Op.135 is a work of infinite subtlety. Under its engagingly melodious and perfectly finished surface, the first movement is intriguingly elusive in both structure and meaning. The Vivace scherzo, on the other hand, is so direct, so primitive in sound at times, that it seems to be having a laugh at its sophisticated predecessor. Nothing in Beethoven’s music is more beautiful than the nostalgic theme and its variations in the Lento assai, a ”song of rest and peace” as he called it. But what is the meaning of “The Difficult Decision” heading of the last movement, the “Must it be?” question gravely asked by viola and cello at the beginning and the “It must be!” answer briskly pronounced by the first violin as the tempo changes from slow to quick? Is it a joke, like the little canon these two themes derive from, or is it a late-Beethoven soliloquy on matters of life and death? The generally radiant Allegro, with its lighthearted ending, seems to give the answer. But it might just be ironic.

If Beethoven had gone on expanding the string quartet as he had been doing over the last two years, his final work in the form would have been in eight movements and would have been not far short of an hour long. In fact, Op.135 reverts to the conventional four-movement form and is about half the length of its monumental predecessor, Op.131. This does not necessarily mean that the thinking behind it is any less ambitious than that of the other late quartets. Certainly, it is a masterly study in ambiguity.

The Allegretto is intricately and beautifully worked and at the same time, in the apparent absence of a main theme, highly enigmatic. Beginning with an eloquent little phrase on viola, the exposition presents as many as seven different melodic propositions, all of them short, without establishing any unambiguous priority, either here or in the development. It is only in the closing coda that the focus of attention turns, briefly but with unprecedented unanimity, to the viola phrase that had set the discussion in motion in the first place.

The Vivace scherzo, though very different in character, is scarcely less enigmatic. Its impulsiveness, its impatiently syncopated rhythms in the outer sections and its manic first violin in the middle section are even more disconcerting. So nothing could be more appropriate at this point than the sublime Lento assai that follows. It could be argued that, since its theme was originally intended for Op.131 in C sharp minor, its profundity is out of place here, not least because of its D flat major and C sharp minor harmonies. But it was surely to set his “song of rest and peace” in a world apart from the rest of the work that Beethoven chose to set it in a remote key area.

As for the last movement, headed “Der schwer gefasste Entschluss” (The difficult decision), is it a light-hearted development of a recently and    mischievously written canon, “Es muss sein” (It must be), or is it a serious discussion of moral imperatives? Certainly, it begins dramatically with an inversion of the “Es muss sein” motif, viola and cello repeatedly asking “Muss es sein?” (Must it be?). The answer, uttered by the violins as the tempo changes from Grave to Allegro is “Es muss sein” and, in spite of the recall of the Grave introduction in the middle, that remains the (not very imperative) answer throughout.

If Beethoven had gone on expanding the string quartet as he had been doing over the last two years, his final work in the form would have been in eight movements and would have been not far short of an hour long. In fact, Op.135 reverts to the conventional four-movement form and is about half the length of its predecessor, the monumental Op.131. This does not necessarily mean that the thinking behind it is any less ambitious than that of the other late quartets: it might even be argued that it is all the more potent for being so concisely contained. Certainly, it is a masterly study in ambiguity.

The Allegretto is intricately and beautifully worked and at the same time, in the apparent absence of a main theme, highly enigmatic. Beginning with an eloquent little phrase on viola, the exposition presents as many as seven different melodic propositions, all of them short, without establishing any unambiguous priority. The development, which touches on most of these ideas, is as thematically non-committal as it is texturally supple. It is only in the coda that the focus of attention turns, briefly but with unprecedented unanimity, to the viola phrase that had set the discussion in motion in the first place.

The Vivace scherzo, though very different in character, is scarcely less enigmatic. Its impulsiveness, its impatiently syncopated rhythms in the outer sections and its manic first violin in the middle section are even more disconcerting. So nothing could be more appropriate at this point than the sublime Lento assai that follows. It could be argued that, since its theme was originally intended for Op.131 in C sharp minor, its profundity is borrowed rather than germane to this particular work. Its harmonic orientation, the D flat major tonality in which the theme is presented and the C sharp minor of the central variation, seems to support that point of view. But it was surely to set his “song of rest and peace” in a world apart from the rest of the work that Beethoven chose those harmonies in an F major context.

As for the last movement, headed “Der schwer gefasste Entschluss” (The difficult decision), is it a light-hearted development of a recently and mischievously written canon, “Es muss sein” (It must be), or is it or a serious discussion of moral imperatives? Certainly, it begins dramatically with an inversion of the “Es muss sein” motif, viola and cello repeatedly asking “Muss es sein?” (Must it be?). The answer, uttered by the violins as the tempo changes from Grave to Allegro is “Es muss sein” and, in spite of the recall of the Grave introduction in the middle, that remains the answer throughout. But a movement that includes such a carefree second subject, and such a delightful pizzicato treatment of it just before the affirmative ending, is surely not meant to be taken as a study in ethical philosophy.

In at least one respect Beethoven’s last quartet represents a retreat. After expanding the dimensions of the form over the last two years or so by adding one more movement with each succeeding work - from the conventional four of Op.127 to the five of Op.132, the six of Op.130 and the seven of Op.131 - he now wrote a quartet in four movements with a duration only half of that of its monumental predecessor. This does not necessarily mean that the thinking behind it is any less ambitious than that of the other late quartets: it might even be argued that it is all the more potent for being so concisely contained. Certainly, no work that includes a slow movement as sublime as the Lento assai of Op.135 could be said to be lacking in profundity.

The opening Allegretto is enigmatic. An intricately and beautifuly worked interaction of tiny motifs, it is both brilliantly witty and structurally elusive. The problem, in so far as there is one, is that there is no clearly defined main theme. Beginning with an eloquent little phrase on viola, the first subject presents as many as four different melodic propositions, all of them short, without establishing any unambiguous priority. The second subject, although it is identified by a plain assertion of C major rising from second to first violin, is similarly reluctant to settle on any one of several fragmentary themes. The development, which touches on most of these ideas, is as thematically non-committal as it is texturally supple. It is only in the coda that the focus of attention turns, briefly but with unprecedented unanimity, to the viola idea that had set the discussion in motion in the first place.

The Vivace scherzo is scarcely less enigmatic. It could scarcely be more different in manner, but its impulsiveness, its impatiently syncopated rhythms in the outer sections and its manic first violin in the middle section are as disconcerting as the elusive quality of the opening Allegretto. So nothing could be more appropriate at this point than the “song of rest and peace” (as the composer described it) that follows in the Lento assai. You could argue that, since its theme was originally intended for the preceding Quartet in C sharp minor Op.131, its profundity is borrowed rather than germane to this particular work. Its harmonic orientation, the D flat major tonality in which the theme is presented and the C sharp minor of the central variation, seems to support that point of view. But it must have been to set the movement apart from the rest of the work that Beethoven chose those harmonies.

As for the last movement, headed “Der schwer gefasste Entschluss” (The difficult decision), is it a light-hearted development of a recently and mischievously written canon, “Es muss sein” (It must be), or is it or a serious discussion of moral imperatives? Certainly, it begins dramatically with an inversion of the “Es muss sein” motif, viola and cello repeatedly asking “Muss es sein?” (Must it be?). The answer, uttered by the violins as the tempo changes from Grave to Allegro is “Es muss sein” and they insist on it throughout. But, in spite of the the recall of the Grave introduction in the middle, a movement that ends with such a delightful pizzicato treatment of the second subject theme is not meant to be taken seriously.