String Quartet in F major Op.41 No.2 (1842)

Feeling that the piano was “getting too restrictive” for him, Schumann had been looking forward to writing string quartets ever since 1838. But it wasn’t until four years later that he was able to devote himself to chamber music with the single-minded, even obsessive application that was so characteristic of the way he worked at this time. In just a few weeks in the summer of 1842 he completed his set of three Quartets Op.41 and very properly dedicated them to Mendelssohn, whose own set of three quartets Op.44 he had hoped to emulate. If Mendelssohn was less impressed by the Quartet in F major than by the one in A minor, which was clearly intended as a tribute to the older composer, it could be because it is a more intimate inspiration, addressed not to him but to Clara, who was to be presented with the three scores on her 23rd birthday in September 1842.

The intimate song-like quality of the first and only main theme of the opening Allegro vivace is one of the most attractive aspects of the work. Its apparently easy phrasing conceals the artful subtlety of its rhythms just as the spontaneous way in which it is extended through most of the exposition conceals the contrapuntal ingenuity of the textures that carry it. The development is more vigorous but only to offset its sometimes rustic charms.

The object of admiration in the Andante is neither Mendelssohn nor Clara Schumann but the slow movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in E flat, Op.127, which is also in variation form, also in A flat major and also in 12/8 time. Schumann’s theme is more complex than Beethoven’s, however, and is so extended on its introduction and its reprise that it also acts as the outer sections of a ternary construction. The Scherzo is a more original concept, not so much because of the awkwardly syncopated, somewhat pianistic arpeggio figuration in the C minor outer sections as because of the cheerful Trio section with its buffo bass line on cello and the return of that comedy episode to turn the modality to C major at the end.

The confirmation that the Quartet in F major is addressed to Clara is supplied by the Allegro molto vivace. The movement begins in the moto perpetuo manner of the of the recently completed finale of the First Symphony but just before the end of the exposition the key changes from F to C major for an echo of the phrase from Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte that Schumann had used in the past and would use again as a secret dedication to Clara. That phrase dominates the development until the cello offers a virtuoso challenge to the first violin to resume its moto perpetuo.

Schumann had been looking forward to writing string quartets ever since 1838. Indeed, feeling that the piano was “getting too restrictive” for him, he had actually made a start on two quartets at that time - “both as good as Haydn’s,” he said. It wasn’t until 1842, however, that he was able to devote himself to chamber music with the single-minded, even obsessive application that was so characteristic of the way he worked at this time. He studied counterpoint in general and fugue in particular, pored over the quartets of Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven and set out to emulate what Mendelssohn had recently achieved in his three Quartets, Op.44. In the few weeks between 4 June and 22 July he completed the three Quartets, Op.41, and later in the same year consolidated his new found mastery by integrating keyboard and strings in the Piano Quintet, Op.44, and the Piano Quartet, Op.47.

Schumann dedicated the three String Quartets to Mendelssohn, whose approval he badly wanted - and did indeed secure when Ferdinand David and his colleagues played them to him in Leipzig a few months after their composition. Not surprisingly, since it is clearly intended as a tribute to the older composer, the Quartet in A minor, Op.41, No.1, made a particularly favourable impression on him. If Mendelssohn was less impressed by the Quartet in F major it could be because it is a more intimate work, addressed not to him but to Clara, who was to be presented with the three scores on her 23rd birthday in September 1842.

The shapely song-like quality of the first and only main theme of the opening Allegro vivace is one of the most attractive aspects of the work. Its apparently easy phrasing conceals the artful subtlety of its rhythms just as the spontaneous way in which it is extended through most of the exposition conceals the contrapuntal ingenuity of the textures that carry it. The development section is more strenuous but only to offset such charming features as the rustic treatment of the theme at the end of the exposition and at the equivalent point at the end of the recapitulation.

The object of admiration in the Andante is neither Mendelssohn nor Clara Schumann but the slow movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in E flat, Op.127, which is also in variation form, also in A flat major and also in 12/8 time. Schumann’s theme is actually more complex than Beethoven’s and is so extended on its introduction that, together with its reappearance near the end of the movement, it also acts as the outer sections of a ternary construction. The four variations form the middle section - the first with its note values drawn out in an even rhythm through a flux of triplets in the other parts, the second with the theme concealed in fluently decorative semiquavers, the third slower and sombre enough to anticipate Tchaikovsky, the fourth in a lively 4/4 time. The semiquavers of the second variation are briefly recalled in a quicker coda.

The Scherzo is another original concept, not so much because of the awkwardly syncopated, somewhat pianistic arpeggio figuration in the C minor outer sections as because of the cheerful Trio section with its buffo bass line on cello and because of the return of that comedy episode to combine with the arpeggios and turn the modality to C major at the end.

The confirmation that the Quartet in F major is addressed to Clara is supplied by the Allegro molto vivace. The movement begins in the moto perpetuo manner of the of the recently completed finale of the First Symphony but just before the end of the exposition the key changes from F to C major for an echo of the phrase from Beethoven’s An die ferne Geliebte, “Nimm sie hin denn, diese Lieder” (Take them then, these songs), that Schumann had used in the past and would use again as a secret dedication to Clara. That phrase and an associated rhythmic figure dominate the development until the cello offers a virtuoso challenge to the first violin to resume its moto perpetuo. In much the same impatient way it precipitates the quicker coda.

Gerald Larner©