Piano Quartet No.2 in F minor Op.2 (1823)

Having been declared by Heinrich Heine “a musical miracle” who “can become a second Mozart,” the 13-year-old Mendelssohn set out to live up to the prediction in his Piano Quartet in C minor Op.1. A year later in his Piano Quartet in F minor Op.2 he was ambitious enough to expand the Mozart model to accommodate the effect made on him by such middle-period Beethoven works as the “Waldstein” and “Appassionata” Sonatas. This new influence is evident not so much in the artfully extended exposition of the first movement as in the development, which persistently questions the harmonic identity of the main theme, and the dramatically accelerated coda. The middle section of the Adagio, with its counterpoint of sustained melodic lines on the strings over a variously textured piano accompaniment, is another example. After the Intermezzo, the first of many attractively written Mendelssohn pieces under the same title, urgency is restored in the monothematic Allegro molto vivace, which effectively sustains its hyper-activity to the end.

Having been declared by Heinrich Heine “a musical miracle” who “can become a second Mozart,” the 13-year-old Mendelssohn set out to live up to the prediction in his Piano Quartet in C minor Op.1. A year later in his Piano Quartet in F minor Op.2 he was ambitious enough to expand the Mozart model to accommodate the effect made on him by such middle-period Beethoven works as the “Waldstein” and “Appassionata” Sonatas. This new influence is evident not so much in the artfully extended exposition of the first movement as in the development, which persistently questions the harmonic identity of the main theme, and the dramatically accelerated coda. The middle section of the Adagio, with its counterpoint of sustained melodic lines on the strings over a variously textured piano accompaniment, is another example. After the Intermezzo, the first of many attractively written Mendelssohn pieces under the same title, urgency is restored in the monthematic Allegro molto vivace, which effectively sustains its hyper-activity to the end.

Having been declared by no less an intellect than Heinrich Heine as “a musical miracle” who “can become a second Mozart,” the 13-year-old Mendelssohn set out to live up to the prediction in his Piano Quartet in C minor Op.1. A year later in his Piano Quartet in F minor Op.2 he was ambitious enough to expand the Mozart model to accommodate the effect made on him by such middle-period Beethoven works as the “Waldstein” and “Appassionata” Sonatas. The young composer’s dramatic intent in the first movement is clear from the Allegro molto pace set by the strings as they present the first subject in the opening bars, from the terse comments of the piano and the F minor harmonies prevailing at this point. There is a relaxation in harmonic pressure as the piano leads into the second subject in the relative major but the new theme is much the same as the first and the momentum is not only preserved but intensified by the triplet figuration adopted by the piano and sustained to the end of the exposition. There is little respite in the development, where the harmonic identity of the main theme is persistently and probingly questioned. In the recapitulation the second subject is recalled in the tonic major but the renewed triplet figuration on the piano has the same effect as before. Once F minor has been retrieved a quicker coda keeps it firmly in place, above all by means of an emphatic fff on the piano a few bars before the end.

Although the first three notes of the opening theme of the Adagio cover the same intervals as those of the main theme of the Allegro molto, they are harmonised in a conciliatory D flat major, the intent being more lyrical than dramatic in this case. Expressive enterprise is not excluded, however, least of    all in the colourfully scored middle section where the strings carry a melodious dialogue through the modulations secured by resourcefully scored keyboard tremolandos and arpeggios. When the piano finally recalls the opening theme the tremolando accompaniment passes to the strings.

The Intermezzo title attached to the third movement might suggest that it is to be an interlude remote from the concerns of the rest of the work. In fact, relaxed though it is, it restores the F minor tonality while there are one two hints from a plaintive viola that there might still be something to worry about. In fact, the situation remains unresolved until the end, Mendelssohn having had the inspired idea of presenting the same theme as the first subject in F minor and the second in the relative major. Although major keys elicit joyful comments here and there, notably from viola and cello, the work ends unambiguously in F minor.