String Quartet No.3, Op.30

The first movement of Schoenberg’s Third String Quartet has much in common with that of Schubert’s Quartet in A minor. It begins with the second violin introducing an arpeggio-like accompaniment figure in even quavers - though staccato rather than legato in this case - which continues as the first violin presents an expressive melody in downward curving phrases above it. The fact that the accompaniment figure and the melodic line relate not to any perceptible tonality - they are derived from the twelve-note series basic to the whole work - does not invalidate the comparison. As Schoenberg himself remarked, the point is not “how it is done” but “what it is,” and this is the first subject of a sonata-form construction.

The resemblance does not end there. It is true that the two composers approach the second subject in different ways: Schubert clearly marks the entry of his new material by resuming the accompaniment figure which he has dropped in the passage leading up to it, whereas Schoenberg, who keeps the even-quaver rhythm going throughout the exposition, signals the entry of his by a big ritardando and a change to a slower tempo. Even so, the two themes have much in common. In Schoenberg’s case the second violin and viola sustain the accompaniment figure while the first violin introduces a melody yearning upwards, like Schubert’s, in wide intervals. Schoenberg also devotes most of his development to the first subject, though perhaps less to the theme itself than to the distinctively staccato version of the accompaniment figure that goes with it. When it comes to the recapitulation, however, Schoenberg slows down the tempo in order to recall the second subject first - which is a significant departure from Schubert’s structural strategy. After accelerating the tempo again for the re-entry of the first subject, he winds it gradually down in an extended and contemplative coda with a suddenly decisive ending.

The Adagio, one of the most beautifully scored of all movements in Schoenberg’s chamber music, is a lyrical study in double-variation form. The two elements are represented by, on the one hand, the declamatory utterances on the two violins and the associated comments of viola and cello in the opening bars and, on the other hand, the rhythmically intriguing episode that follows as the first violin gently draws its melodic line over a delicately articulated texture on the other three instruments. They are varied three times in alternation, the second theme - in the scherzando first variation, the passionate exchange of sentiments between first violin and viola and cello in the second variation, and the expressive viola solo in the third - inspiring the more attractive developments. Another thoughtful coda, with its particularly poetic ending, completes the integration of the two elements.

The Intermezzo has been described as a scherzo and trio, which is acceptable enough as far as the outer sections are concerned: the rhythmically teasing main theme introduced by viola in the opening bars is a characteristically playful invention. The middle section, however, though slower in tempo, is at its climax far too dramatic an event to perform the function of the conventionally relaxed trio section.

Although he is faithful in the first three movements to his belief that the “modern ear does not want as many unaltered repetitions” as in classical music - which is why the main themes are not recapitulated in the form in which they first appear - Schoenberg is less rigorous in this respect in the final Rondo. The main theme, a grotesque dance tune introduced in the opening bars by first violin, has a distinctive profile which is easily recognisable by its rhythmic pattern and dissonant intervals on its first reappearance. It is quietly but not impenetrably disguised on its second reappearance and towards the end it is back in its original form, or in a simple inversion, to make an emphatic conclusion to the construction before it is attenuated out of existence in the closing bars.

Schoenberg’s Third String Quartet was commissioned by the American patron Mrs Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge and first performed by the Kolisch Quartet in Vienna in September 1927.