Intermezzo in D minor (1879)

Adagio from String Quintet in F major (1878–9)

Joseph Hellmesberger, on whose suggestion Bruckner wrote his String Quintet in F major, was not only director of the Vienna Conservatoire but also first violin of Vienna’s leading string quartet. So when Bruckner submitted the score to him and had it rejected, mainly because of its allegedly “too dificult” Scherzo, he had little choice but to submit to his authority. Of the alteration he made, the most substantial was the replacement of the offending Scherzo with a new Intermezzo. Although the Quintet was performed, in whole or in part. by other ensembles, the Hellmesberger Quartet did not take it up until 1885, six years after it was completed. In compensation, that first Hellmesberger performance did include the orignal Scherzo, which the composer had reinstated for the publication of the score in 1884.

Having lost its function, the Intermezzo was put on one side and remained unpublished until long after the composer’s death. It is not, however, a negligible work. It is a valuable item in the repertoire not only because it is Bruckner’s only mature chamber score apart fom the Quintet itself but also because it such an attractive piece in its own right. It is less ambitious than the Scherzo but, in its leisurely Ländler manner, more melodious and even more attractively scored. Unlike the original Scherzo, the Intermzzo has no distinct middle section but there is a brief but engaging development of the main themes before they are recalled in their new colours, including an intriguingly percussive viola sound in the closing bars

One of the Hellmesberger Quartet’s specialities was late Beethoven. Although it is said that Bruckner did not know Beethoven’s late quartets until after he had written the Quintet, it seems scarcely like that in ten years residence in Vienna he could have missed them. Certainly, the Adagio aspires to much the same exalted level as Beethoven’s most sublime slow movements, with the added value of a second viola part to enrich the texture. It is based on two, distinctive main themes. The first, drooping espressively downards, is introduced by first violin in the opening bars. After an extended transitional passage, the second, yearning upwards, is presented by first viola to the accompaniment of repeated quavers on the violins and the other viola. In spite of the fact that they move in opposite directions, the two themes are related and they are brought ever closer together by a development section culminating a fff climax of positively orchestral proportions. The two themes are recapitulated in reverse order, leaving the first to bring the movement to a gentle end.