Op81

Had Mendelssohn lived a few months or even a few weeks longer he might well have completed a seventh quartet, possibly in the key of A major. As it turned out, he had time to write only the two central movements, an Andante in E major (in the form of a theme and variations) and this Scherzo in A minor. The nearest thing in the string quartets to the famously elfin Scherzo in the incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, it was published three years after the composer’s death together with the Andante and two earlier quartet pieces, a Capriccio from 1843 and a Fugue from as early as 1827 - all of them clumsily lumped together as Op.81.

Had Mendelssohn lived a few months or even a few weeks longer he might well have completed a seventh quartet, possibly in the key of A major. As it turned out, he had time to write only the two central movements, an Andante theme and variations in E major and a Scherzo in A minor. While neither of the two pieces touches on the expressive extremes of the preceding Quartet in F minor, the Andante develops unexpected passion in the last variation, a Presto in E minor, before the return of the theme in its original form. The Scherzo is nearest thing in the string quartets to the famously elfin example of the same form in the incidental music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The Andante and Scherzo were published three years after the composer’s death together with two other quartet pieces, a Capriccio from 1843 and a Fugue from as early as 1827 - all of them clumsily lumped together as Op.81.