String Quartet in D major Op.44 No.1 (1838)

Mendelssohn started work on his Op.44 string quartets during the course of a blissful honeymoon in the Rhineland in the spring of 1837. Strangely, however, the earliest of these quartets, the one in E minor published as Op.44 No.2, is far from being the most ecstatic. That distinction surely belongs to the last in order of composition, published as Op.44 No.1, which was completed more than a year later in July 1838. Certainly, there is nothing in any of the three works to compare with the outburst of joy represented by the irrepressible opening theme of the Quartet in D major. Introduced by an impetuous violin over a throbbing rhythm in the inner parts, it animates and dominates much of the rest of the movement.

Mendelssohn’s decision to revert to the minuet at this stage, when he was such a master of the modern scherzo, has often been questioned. It seems likely, however, that after the restless activity of the first movement he felt the need for something more restrained than one of his characteristically hyper-active scherzos. His choice of the old-fashioned dance form does indeed secure a graceful kind of serenity while retaining something of the momentum generated by the preceding Molto allegro vivace. Interestingly enough, according to the metronome marks, the following Andante espressivo ma con moto should proceed at much the same tempo as the Menuetto. So instead of introducing a full-scale slow movement he offers a kind of song without words featuring not only the rueful opening theme in B minor but also two gently paced scherzo episodes and an imaginatively conceived if modest cadenza.

The last movement immediately picks up the momentum which has been preserved under the surface since the end of the Molto allegro vivace. A brilliantly sustained Presto con brio, it finds its energy in its restless main theme, its poetry in a rather more lyrical second subject and its structural strength in the opening four-note motif which echoes throughout the movement but most effectively of all in an emphatically articulated fugato shortly before the end.

By the time Mendelssohn came to write the three quartets published as Op.44 in 1839 Betty Pistor was history. He had had the good fortune to meet and marry Cécile Jeanreaud, another amateur singer, to whom he was initially attracted by her “luxurious golden-brown hair,” her complexion of “transparent delicacy” and her “most bewitching deep blue eyes.” Strangely, however, the earliest of these quartets, the one in E minor issued as Op.44 No.2, which was written on their honeymoon in the Black Forest in the spring of 1837, is far from being the most ecstatic. That distinction surely belongs to the last in order of composition, issued as Op.44 No.1, which was completed more than a year later in July 1838.

Certainly, there is nothing in any of the three works to compare with the outburst of joy represented by the irrepressible opening theme of the Quartet in D major. Introduced by an impetuous violin over a throbbing rhythm in the inner parts, it animates and dominates much of the rest of the movement. It is true that there is a more subdued second subject, a quiet little march tune in the minor, but it is excluded from the development and its formal recall is promptly thrust aside by the main theme in its impatience to get on with a vigorously extended and resourcefully scored coda.

Mendelssohn’s decision to revert to the minuet at this stage, when he was such a master of the modern scherzo, has often been questioned. It seems likely, however, that after the restless activity of the first movement he felt the need for something more restrained than one of his characteristically hyper-active scherzos. His choice of the old-fashioned dance form does indeed secure a graceful kind of serenity while retaining something of the momentum generated by the preceding Molto allegro vivace. Interestingly enough, according to the metronome marks, the following Andante espressivo ma con moto should proceed at much the same tempo as the Menuetto: again, it seems, Mendelssohn is concerned to keep things moving. So instead of introducing a full-scale slow movement he offers a kind of song without words featuring not only the rueful opening theme in B minor but also two gently paced scherzo episodes and an imaginatively conceived if modest cadenza.

The last movement immediately picks up the momentum which has been preserved under the surface since the end of the Molto allegro vivace. A brilliantly sustained Presto con brio, it finds its energy in its restless main theme, its poetry in a rather more lyrical second subject and its structural strength in the opening four-note motif which echoes throughout the movement but most effectively of all in an emphatically articulated fugato shortly before the end.