String Quartet in A minor Op.13 (1827)

Mendelssohn’s first mature string quartet is haunted by memories of Beethoven on the one hand and a recently written little song called Frage on the other. The Adagio introduction alludes to both the beginning of Beethoven’s Op.132 and a phrase from the song, which later influences the shape of the main theme of the Allegro vivace and the fugue subject in the following Adagio. The fugue and its Frage associations are recalled in the last movement, which ends with further consideration of the Adagio introduction, now expanded to include a more extended reminiscence of the emotive melodic line of the seminal little song.

1 Adagio - Allegro vivace 2 Adagio non lento - Poco più animato - Tempo 1

3 Intermezzo: Allegretto con moto - Allegro di molto 4 Presto - Adagio come primo

In the summer of 1827 Mendelssohn wrote an amorous little song called Frage (Question) which meant so much to him that, like a fond memory, it

haunts the String Quartet in A minor that he started a few days later. Personal though it is, however, it is also a conscious tribute to Beethoven.

The Adagio introductionis Mendelssohn’s answer to the beginning of Beethoven’s Quartet in A minor Op.132 – with the difference that it is in A major and that it includes allusions to Frage, the most significant phrase of which is the three notes that go with the words “Ist es wahr?” (Is it true?) poised over a sustained viola note towards the end. A trill and a crescendo on the viola lead directly into the A minor Allegro vivace and a main theme that shares characteristics with both the “Ist es wahr?” motif and the equivalent material in Beethoven’s Op.132.

While the F major Adagio non lento has the thoughtfulness of a late-Beethoven slow movement, it betrays no direct model until the main theme gives way to a slow fugue which inevitably calls the Allegro ma non troppo of Beethoven’s Op.95 to mind. The Intermezzo is just what it says, an entertaining diversion from the more serious issues represented by the rest of work. The discussion is resumed in earnest in the final Presto which seems, after a violin recitative of positively operatic eloquence, that it will conform to the sonata-form pattern. A recall of the fugue from the Adagio non lento signals that such conventional expectations have to be discarded. Mendelssohn is working towards a recapitulation of the Presto material and at the same time towards a summation of the whole work – which he achieves in a conclusive recall of the Adagio introduction. It is again in A major but is now expanded to include an extended reminiscence of the emotive melodic line of Frage.

In the summer of 1827 Mendelssohn wrote an amorous little song called Frage (Question) which meant so much to him that, like a fond memory, it haunts the String Quartet in A minor that he started a few days later. As he wrote to a friend, “You will hear its notes resound in the first and last movements and sense its feeling in all four.” Like its successor in E flat, the Quartet in A minor is a tribute to Beethoven and something very much more personal at the same time.

The Adagio introduction to the first movement is Mendelssohn’s answer to the Assai sostenuto beginning of Beethoven’s Quartet in A minor Op.132 – with the difference that it is in A major and that it includes allusions to Frage, the most significant phrase of which is the three notes that go with the words “Ist es wahr?” (Is it true?) poised over a sustained viola note towards the end. A trill and a crescendo on the viola lead directly into the A minor Allegro vivace and a main theme that shares characteristics with both the “Ist es wahr?” motif and the equivalent material in Beethoven’s Op.132. Mendelssohn scarcely relaxes the pressure through two similarly urgent second-subject themes and a development section dominated by the salient three notes of the main theme. It is a masterfully sustained construction abundant in contrapuntal resource and crowned by a dramatic coda.

While the F major Adagio non lento has the thoughtfulness of a late-Beethoven slow movement, it betrays no direct model until the main theme gives way to a slow fugue which, beginning on a suddenly exposed viola, inevitably calls the Allegro ma non troppo of Beethoven’s Op.95 to mind. At the same time, however, that fugue reflects the personal side of Mendelssohn’s inspiration in that its subject derives, by a melodic inversion and a shift of rhythmic emphasis, from the “Ist es wahr?” motif.

The Intermezzo is just what it says, an entertaining diversion from the more serious issues represented by the rest of work. It features a faintly lugubrious serenade in A minor and a quintessentially Mendelssohnian scherzo in A major, the two elements presented in alternation and then most subtly combined just before the end.

The discussion is resumed in earnest in the final Presto, which begins with a violin recitative of positively operatic eloquence and which is motivated by a main theme as urgent as that of the last movement of Beethoven’s Op.132. With the entry of a second subject in characteristic staccato figuration and for the first half of the development section it seems that the movement will conform to the sonata-form pattern. On the entry of a suddenly exposed viola, however, and a recall of the fugue from the Adagio non lento such conventional expectations have to be discarded. Mendelssohn is working towards a recapitulation of the Presto material and at the same time towards a summation of the whole work – which, by way of another violin recitative and a last reminder of the fugue subject, he achieves in a conclusive recall of the Adagio introduction. It is again in A major but is now expanded to include, as well as the “Ist es wahr?” motif, a more extended reminiscence of the emotive melodic line of Frage.

When Mendelssohn was staying in Paris in 1832 he wrote to his sister Fanny with an amusing and not insignificant little story. ‘I was standing beside the Abbé Bardin at a large party, listening to a performance of my Quartet in A minor. In the last movement my neighbour pulled my coat and said, “He has that in one of his symphonies.” “Who?” I asked, rather embarrassed. “Beethoven, the composer of this Quartet”… This was bitter sweet!… But isn’t it wonderful that my quartets should be played in the classes of the Conservatoire and that the students there are working their fingers off to play “Ist es wahr?”’

In that the Quartet in A minor owes much to Beethoven, the good Abbé was not entirely off the mark. Mendelssohn, who had quite consciously taken late Beethoven as a model when he wrote the work five years earlier, cannot have been unaware of that. But he was also aware – as Fanny must have been too, to judge by the allusion to “Ist es wahr?” – of a personal side to it. Shortly after Beethoven’s death in March 1827 Mendelssohn had spent a few days with friends at Sakrow, an estate near Potsdam, where he apparently fell in love. A direct result of the affair, if it amounted to that, was the song Die Frage (The Question), which begins “Ist es wahr?” (Is it true?). The melody of the song, and no doubt the emotions associated with it, stayed with him as he wrote his String Quartet in A minor in tribute to Beethoven. “The song I sent with the Quartet is its theme,” he wrote to a friend at the time. “You will hear its actual notes in the first and last movements and in all four movements you will hear its emotions expressed.”

The Adagio introduction to the first movement is Mendelssohn’s answer to the Assai sostenuto beginning of Beethoven’s Quartet in A minor Op.132 – with the difference that it is in A major and that it includes allusions to the song Die Frage, the most significant phrase of which is the three notes that go with the words “Ist es wahr?” poised over a sustained viola note towards the end. A trill and a crescendo on the viola lead directly into the A minor Allegro vivace and, after a communal semi-quaver flourish, a main theme that shares characteristics with both the “Ist es wahr?” motif and the equivalent material in Beethoven’s Op.132. Mendelssohn scarcely relaxes the pressure through two similarly urgent second-subject themes, introduced by first violin and cello respectively, and a development section dominated by the salient three notes of the main theme. It is a masterfully sustained construction abundant in contrapuntal resource and crowned by a dramatic coda.

While the F major Adagio non lento has the thoughtfulness of a late-Beethoven slow movement, it betrays no direct model until the main theme gives way to a slow fugue which, beginning on a suddenly exposed viola, inevitably calls the Allegro ma non troppo of Beethoven’s Op.95 to mind. At the same time, however, that fugue reflects the personal side of Mendelssohn’s inspiration in that its subject derives, by a melodic inversion and a shift of rhythmic emphasis, from the “Ist es wahr?” motif –    as the quicker middle section demonstrates when it comes nearer to the source of the fugue subject during the course of developing it.

The Intermezzo is just what it says, an entertaining diversion from the more serious issues represented by the rest of work. It features a faintly lugubrious serenade in A minor and a quintessentially Mendelssohnian scherzo in A major, the two elements presented in alternation and then most subtly combined just before the end.

The discussion is resumed in earnest in the final Presto, which begins with a violin recitative of positively operatic eloquence and which is motivated by a main theme as urgent as that of the last movement (also in A minor) of Beethoven’s Op.132. With the entry of a second subject in characteristic staccato figuration in E minor and for the first half of the development section it seems that the movement will conform to the sonata-form pattern. On the entry of a suddenly exposed viola, however, and a recall of the fugue from the Adagio non lento such conventional expectations have to be discarded. Mendelssohn is working towards a recapitulation of the Presto material and at the same time towards a summation of the whole work – which, by the way of another violin recitative and a last reminder of the fugue subject, he achieves in a conclusive recall of the Adagio introduction. It is again in A major but is now expanded to include, as well as the “Ist es wahr?” motif, a more extended reminiscence of the emotive melodic line of Die Frage.

Gerald Larner © 2018