
Chamber Music Circle Paris
presents
Beethoven String Quartet Project 5
14 June 2025 • 7.30pm • Paris 3rd
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Reception & Hosting by:
Alexandra Van Huffelen & Herman Lohman
contents
welcome
Welcome to the opening concert of our 10th season! It’s astonishing to me that, nearly ten years ago, a desire to return to my first love—chamber music—sparked the beginning of what we now know as the CMC. This journey started from frustration with orchestral playing and a longing to curate concerts featuring repertoire I was passionate about. More than that, I’ve always been driven by a love of sharing music with others. And so, the Chamber Music Circle was born.
Through a great deal of hard work, I’m proud of how far we’ve come as an organisation. But, of course, none of this would be possible without you—our audience. You have enthusiastically welcomed us into your homes, celebrated the beauty of this art form, and generously supported this endeavour over the years. For that, I sincerely thank you!
This season’s theme is “Inspiration”. Over the course of four programmes, we’ll explore how composers have inspired one another to create their masterpieces. Tonight’s concert offers a literal example: Mozart’s String Quartet in A major, K. 464, and Beethoven’s String Quartet in A major, Op. 18, No. 5.
Mozart, inspired by Haydn’s Op. 33 Quartets—which we’ve performed in previous seasons—set out to write his own set of six quartets, dedicating them not to a wealthy patron, but to his dear friend and mentor, Joseph Haydn. These quartets represent the pinnacle of Mozart’s string quartet writing. Upon hearing them, Haydn remarked to Mozart’s father, “I tell you before God, and as an honest man, that your son is the greatest composer known to me, either in person or by reputation. He has taste, and moreover, the most profound knowledge of composition.”
The A major Quartet, K. 464, is a hidden gem within this set. In an unusual departure from his typical approach, Mozart uses very little thematic material in this work, a characteristic more often associated with Haydn’s style. What Mozart achieves with this seemingly scant material is nothing short of miraculous. The quartet reveals the mind of a master composer, crafting an elegant and deceptively simple work that is, in reality, rich and intricate. It sounds effortless, but its sophistication is remarkable.
Beethoven’s Op. 18, No. 5, also in A major, mirrors Mozart’s quartet not only in key but also in its movement structure: Allegro—Minuet—Theme and Variations—Allegro. Beethoven admired Mozart’s quartet so much that, upon seeing the score, he exclaimed, “That is a work! Mozart was saying to the world here, ‘Look what I could do, if only you were ready!’” More than any other quartet in Beethoven’s oeuvre, this piece is modelled directly on a specific work. Whilst Beethoven’s admiration is clear, his own personal voice shines through in this quartet. You’ll hear sudden shifts in character, daring harmonic choices, and even touches of Beethoven’s signature humour.
We hope that these two inspired works spark your imagination this evening. Please sit back, relax, and enjoy the music!
KYLE founder & director
programme
Marie Salvat & Juliette Leroux violins
Kyle Collins viola
Marie-Thérèse Grisenti cello
Joseph Haydn 1732-1809
String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 76, No. 4, “Sunrise”
Allegro con spirito
Adagio
Menuetto. Allegro—Trio
Finale. Allegro, ma non troppo
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Composed: 1797
Dedication: Count Joseph Georg von Erdödy
Duration: about 24 minutesWhen Count Joseph Erdödy commissioned the Opus 76 Quartets in 1796, Haydn had recently returned to Vienna from the second of his highly successful London visits. He had always composed with confidence, but a certain new boldness in his style may have come from the realisation that the entire Western world considered him the greatest living composer. The six “Erdödy” Quartets show formal experiments (continued, as mentioned above, in his Opus 77 quartets) both within or instead of sonata-form movements, a new profundity in their extremely slow-paced Adagios, fast “modern” minuets—scherzos in all but name—and more weight and novel tonal approaches in their finales.
In June 1797 Haydn played some or all of the quartets on the piano for Swedish diplomat Frederik Silverstolpe, who considered them “more than masterly and full of new thoughts.” The Quartets were completed in time for a September 1797 performance at Eisenstadt as part of the grand festivities surrounding the visit of the Viceroy of Hungary, Palatine Archduke Joseph. Count Erdödy’s rights to the Quartets precluded their being published until 1799. That year English music historian Charles Burney wrote to Haydn that he “never received more pleasure from instrumental music: [the Quartets] are full of invention, fire, good taste, and new effects.”
The B-flat major Quartet exudes the composer’s supreme confidence and originality: in one of the greatest openings in chamber music, the lovely first violin melody rises out of a chord sustained by the three lower instruments in a wonderful sunrise effect that earned the Quartet its nickname. Several commentators have remarked on the feeling of growth that this idea initiates in the movement. The continuation of the main theme brings great contrast with an energetic idea that fosters all the fiery passages in the movement, including the remarkable fortissimo bursts that close the exposition and recapitulation. The second theme uses the “sunrise” idea of the opening but in a kind of mirror image—the cello plays a winding descent as the others sustain the chord. Throughout the movement one hears the kind of mastery that so impressed Beethoven as he began writing string quartets with his Opus 18 series.
Haydn’s Adagio sombrely explores the possibilities of its first five notes. For a major-mode movement, this is one of the most dark-hued in the repertoire and seems to create a direct link with the poetic slow movements of Beethoven’s later quartets. Delicate filigree erupts not merrily but poignantly and the great downward leaps at the ends of sections seem to release but not totally relieve built-up tension. The second half, which begins like the opening, exaggerates these qualities with more filigree and wider plunges.
For his fast Menuetto Haydn takes a little repeated two-note slur and fashions two entire sections from it. The second much longer section includes a varied return to the first, signalled by the little repeated slur in the cello—a nice bit of humour. Partway through this return, the focus again shifts briefly to the cello, soon followed by the viola. The Menuetto ends with another subtle touch of humour as twice the upward arpeggio fails to resolve in its own register. The contrasting trio evokes a truly rustic atmosphere with its folklike drones in the manner of a musette or bagpipes.
The finale is a little masterpiece based on what some suspect is an English folk tune heard on his travels, but which he treats to sophisticated bits of contrapuntal and rhythmic manipulations. The matching first and third sections surround a no less jolly minor-mode section that contains several impish surprises. Following the return of the opening section Haydn takes us on an extended whirlwind ride, suddenly picking up speed only to shift to yet a higher speed for a virtuosic thrill.
JANE VIAL JAFFE
Interval
10 minutes
Ludwig van Beethoven 1770-1827
String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 18, No. 6, “La malinconia”
Allegro con brio
Adagio ma non troppo
Scherzo. Allegro—Trio
La Malinconia. Adagio—Allegretto quasi Allegro—Adagio—Allegretto—Un poco adagio—Prestissimo
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Composed: 1800
Dedication: Prince Joseph Franz von Lobokowitz
Duration: about 25 minutesThe last of Beethoven’s opus 18 quartets, number 6 seems especially to affirm his debt to Haydn. Like its companions, this quartet on the whole favours wit and surprise over melodiousness. Despite hewing faithfully to Classical forms (at least in the first three movements), the piece recalls the fondness of Haydn for sudden stops, changes of mood, rhythmic elegance, and economy of material.
The first movement is extremely compact, a characteristic that is emphasised by the incredibly fast metronome mark added by Beethoven in later life. The piece explodes out of the gate with a brilliant, arpeggiated melody accompanied by a whirling accompaniment. The second theme may lack the kinetic energy of this opening idea, but makes up for it in terseness, as the whole quartet remains in rhythmic unison throughout its statement. The movement leaves the listener with a feeling that not one note more than necessary was used: no digressions, frills, or codas. The second movement is also strict in its form, but has the quality of a tender aria, and plays on the most beautiful sonorities of the quartet timbre. Perhaps the most memorable moment of the movement is near the end, when the music slips briefly into a glowing, hushed C-major restatement of music that previously was only heard in minor keys. The third movement, a Scherzo, is humorously off-balance in its syncopated rhythms, which are omnipresent in the main section; a quicksilver Trio serves as contrasting material. The final movement is immediately arresting. It opens with an extended slow section, operatically entitled “La Malinconia”, or “Melancholy”. Something more intense than ordinary melancholy is contained in this wandering music, which interrupts its own glassy flow with painfully stabbing chords. Resolution comes in the form of the movement’s main section; this is a rondo with a spinning, cheerful demeanour, never content to remain in one place for long. It has the quality of being compressed, or abbreviated, by the gravity of the “Malinconia”, which makes a second appearance late in the movement: there isn’t enough room for these two incompatible personalities, and they are each vying for the upper hand. Ultimately the lighter music has the final word, as a brilliant Prestissimo brings the work to a close.
MISHA AMORY
musicians
Marie Salvat violin
Juliette Leroux violin
Kyle Collins viola
Marie-Thérèse Grisenti cello
about the music
Watch our YouTube Series on Beethoven’s Op. 18, No. 5, and discover more about this youthful quartet.
Watch our YouTube Series on Mozart’s K. 464 where we explore the genius behind this marvelous masterpiece.
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Special Thanks
The CMC offers a huge thanks to our hosts and some of our biggest supporters Alexandra and Herman. Thank you for opening your beautiful flat to us and our audience and for providing such a wonderful reception.