Beethoven’s First Quartet

On 11 November 2023, the CMC Paris opens its season with a continuation of our ongoing exploration of Beethoven’s monumental 16 string quartets which we’re calling the Beethoven String Quartet Project. We will explore the first two quartets that he wrote: Opus 18, nos. 3 & 1. In today’s post, I will talk a bit about Beethoven’s first few years in Vienna and what led to him to venture into the world of string quartet composition. We’ll also discuss some interesting excerpts of his first-composed string quartet.

Move to Vienna

In 1787, at the age of 17, Ludwig van Beethoven left his native Bonn, Germany to travel to the musical epicentre of the world: Vienna. In going there, he had intended to study with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Unfortunately, Beethoven’s Viennese séjour was cut short to only two weeks when he was abruptly called back home because of his mother’s death. Before he could return to Vienna a few years later, Mozart had met his untimely demise.

In 1792, Beethoven’s first patron, Count Waldstein, sponsored the composer’s return to Vienna, predicting: “Dear Beethoven! You are going to Vienna in fulfilment of your long-frustrated wishes. The genius of Mozart is mourning and weeping over the death of her pupil…With the help of assiduous labour you shall receive Mozart’s spirit from Haydn’s hands.”

Upon his arrival, Beethoven started taking lessons from the towering figure of Viennese musical life: Joseph Haydn. However, the young composer quickly found that Haydn was a disappointing teacher. In Haydn’s defence, at the time he was preoccupied with a busy second tour of London and fulfilling his own commitments to write compositions for patrons. In short, Beethoven and Haydn didn’t really get along that well.

Lessons with Albrechtsberger and Counterpoint

In the end, Beethoven did find a valuable relationship in his most influential teacher, Johann Georg Albrechtsberger, a composer and music theorist. Unlike Haydn, Albrechtsberger was a born teacher and simply more available. He was exigent, pedantic (Beethoven would even later call him a “musical pedant”), and systematic. The most useful and lasting instruction that the young composer learnt from the elder teacher was that of counterpoint, the craft of combining two or more independent melodies to be played simultaneously creating harmony. Contrapuntal techniques, such as the fugue, would prove to be a powerful tool of expression in Beethoven’s string quartet output. Two monumental examples being the opening fugue from the C♯ minor Quartet, Op. 131 and the finale of his B♭ major Quartet, the Grosse Fuge. Of course, he also used these techniques in other genres, such as the earth-shattering double fugue of his 9th Symphony (really interesting video of that…you should click on the link).

Planned Assault on the String Quartet

Beethoven had experimented in chamber music before. He cut his metaphorical chamber music teeth mainly on a few fine string trios, some equally interesting piano sonatas, and a few examples with wind instruments. But in 1798, the young composer felt confident enough to finally launch an assault on the crown of chamber music: the string quartet, the genre that Haydn had essentially created and elevated to an art form and which Mozart had sublimely perfected. Now Beethoven would venture to try his young hand at this most venerated of chamber music genres, and he did it with gusto and with his own signature style. Between 1798 and 1800, Beethoven composed his first set of six string quartets known as the opus 18 quartets. These “early” quartets are perhaps one of the finest sets of debut quartet writing in history. Of course, as we continue through his oeuvre in this genre, we will see that he would push the boundary of what any other composer before him (and arguably after him) could have ever imagined the string quartet could be. But let’s start from the beginning with his first quartet: Opus 18, Number 3.

Op. 18, No. 3: I. Allegro

The first quartet that he composed was Op. 18, No. 3 (although he chose to publish them in a different order). Knowing the complete catalogue of Beethoven’s music now, the opening of this work might seem strange.

It starts with an unaccompanied first violin intoning an A followed by a rising G.

As the other instruments join in, the violin delicately falls back on itself with descending scalar figures.

This timid, elegant phrase might seem like such an odd opening gesture for someone notorious for writing music that seems to slap us in the face and demand our attention. However, I believe it can be interpreted as a sort of polite curtsey to the music of his predecessors: Haydn and Mozart.

Of course it wouldn’t be Beethoven without his signature little elbow nudges to the listener by adding repeated sforzandi (suddenly with force) for chords on the off beats as in this example later in the movement.

As a whole, the first movement is rather calm and moves along at a congenial pace without too many interruptions. But when the development arrives, Beethoven shows some of his characteristic flair. Of course, by its nature the development section provokes drama and instability, and this one is no different. The four instruments seem to quarrel with each other.

At this point we’ve arrived at the improbable key of C♯ major, which is far away from our home key of D major. And this is where Beethoven decides to end this section, not returning to the expected D major, but by dignifying the distant C♯ major with its own cadence!

Now, a C♯ major chord cannot go back to D major which is where we need to be. But Beethoven has a trick up his sleeve. He just leaves the cello and viola droning on with the C♯, now stripped of its legitimising other chord mates E♯ and G♯. And then quietly the second violin enters with the opening notes of the whole movement: A followed by a rising G. Now the C♯, stripped of its power becomes a member of an A major 7th chord, which happens to be the dominant chord of D major, our home key. Even if you don’t understand the harmonies, you can hear the effect. Listen again as the C♯ major chord announces its new-found power only to immediately lose it and return to its normal role in our home key. It’s almost as if the upheaval never happened.

Very clever Beethoven! These harmonic surprises will become a hallmark of Beethoven’s as we continue to explore his string quartet literature. They keep us on our toes and never fail to surprise and delight us.

II. Andante con moto

The second movement begins, unexpectedly in B-flat major (again, far away from our home key of D major), with a lovely warm melody in the second violin. Notice how densely packed the instruments sound. Also notice the ending figure highlighted in red, as this will come back later.

This allows Beethoven to play with range when he repeats this melody in the first violin an octave higher. Immediately the ensemble sounds lighter. This also provides the composer an opportunity to demonstrate some contrapuntal skills. The figure highlighted in red from the last example now provides a charming counterpoint to the original melody.

This opening melody comes back many times in this movement, always freshly reworked.

By the end of the movement, the opening melody (highlighted in blue) seems to breakdown in a process that writer Joseph Kerman calls Beethoven’s “liquidation technique”, “by which a tune or theme is successively chipped away to motivic nothings” (Kerman, Joseph. The Beethoven Quartets. W. W. Norton & Company, 1966). Kerman goes on to say that “the treatment is still simple, [but] the effect quite moving” (ibid.)

IV. Presto

The final movement begins with a rousing theme that sounds remarkably similar to the Mexican Hat Dance (sorry, the tackiest link I could find). The theme is made up of descending turn motifs (highlighted in light red) followed by ascending scales (highlighted in darker red). The first violin starts alone (mimicking the first movement), then the second violin joins in, and then finally the viola and cello join in, eventually taking over a shortened version of the motif.

This theme allows Beethoven to later experiment with some simple counterpoint in the development section. He uses the turn motif and scale motif (sometimes ascending, sometimes descending) from the opening theme and pairs it in different combinations with a new countermelody (highlighted in blue). This is pretty tame counterpoint, but it adds excitement and energy to this section.

Beethoven ends the work with a brilliant passage of counterpoint based on the fugato that he presented in the development (shown in the previous example). He again combines the opening melody’s turn motif and scale motif with the countermelody from the fugato that has now been appended with a bouncy scale figure of its own (highlighted in purple).

This thrilling passage suddenly loses all steam and the piece ends with the sputtering 3 note turn motif.

What a formidable first quartet! If you’ve enjoyed learning more about this Beethoven quartet, why not join us 11 November 2023 for a full performance of this quartet and his second-written quartet: Op. 18, No. 1? Reserve your tickets here. Next week we’ll have a look at the other quartet we’ll perform that evening: Beethoven’s String Quartet, Op. 18, No. 1 in F major.