In the spring of 1825, Ludwig van Beethoven wrote to his doctor (using the “royal we”) about some distressing symptoms he was experiencing. “We are rather poorly—we still feel weak,” he explained. “I spit a good deal of blood…I have frequent nosebleeds, and my stomach has become dreadfully weak, and so has, generally speaking, my whole constitution.” The undiagnosed illness would pass by with time and rest, and, thankfully, Beethoven would continue to live (and compose glorious music) for another two years. But the passing of this months-long crisis, though clearly taking a toll on his overall health, also proved highly inspirational, leading to one of Beethoven’s finest chamber works.
Upon recovery, Beethoven set to work on what would be his 15th string quartet—a five-movement work in A minor. Its autobiographic impetus becomes evident right from the Assai sostenuto-Allegro first movement, which contains themes relating to both his illness and his hopeful recovery; indeed, the “suffering” theme is gradually transformed into a joyful hymn by movement’s close. The ensuing Scherzo, Allegro ma non tanto is characteristically cheerful, but there’s a sense of restraint to the otherwise carefree mood—is Beethoven perhaps a tad leery of celebrating too rapturously too soon?
The emotional centerpiece of the Opus 132 String Quartet is its Molto adagio third movement; indeed, Beethoven himself jotted his own description of the music in the movement’s original score: “Sacred Song of Thanksgiving to the Deity from a Convalescent, in the Lydian Mode.” Hence, the A minor quartet’s subtitle, “Heiliger Dankgesang.” As for the reference to “Lydian Mode,” Beethoven biographer Barry Cooper explains that this refers to the work’s “form and some of the melodic and harmonic features [which] were derived from treatises he possessed on chorale improvisation.” Basically, Beethoven wanted to compose something like a sacred hymn, and thus sought out the genre’s characteristics; to the largely agnostic composer, this was about as religious a sentiment as he ever personally experienced. The Molto adagio’s slow, hymn-like main theme dominates the proceedings, progressing through feelings of hope, recovery, returning strength and final gratitude.
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After a brief, march-like fourth movement, the Rondo-Allegro Finale is all joy and sunshine. Musicologist Robert Cummings described its untroubled spirit and straightforward construction thus: “Beethoven [was] apparently content to suggest that a return to routine can bring sufficient rewards for his purposes, as it may symbolize that a return to health can make one appreciate the simple things in life.” Anyone who’s ever gone through a serious crisis—health-related or not—can surely, with Beethoven, relate to that.
One hundred and fifteen years later, Russian composer Dmitry Shostakovich (1906-1975), it can safely be asserted, was surely thankful of his own success, for he had just received a new commission from one of the most prestigious and respected ensembles of the time—the Beethoven Quartet—for a new chamber piece. The result would be, in the opinion of most contemporary music commentators, his finest creation up until that point—the Piano Quintet in G Minor, Op. 57. Even the normally restrained Moscow Literaturnaya Gazeta called it “a portrait of our age…the rich-toned, perfect voice of the present.” The fact that the conservative Soviet press praised the work (not to mention the perhaps disquieting fact that it won the “Stalin Prize” for music) should not put one off today—its reputation remains intact all these many years later. Each of its five movements possesses that hard-to-find, perfect balance of challenging virtuosity (especially for the solo pianist) and easily accessible melodiousness.
Both of these wonderful works comprise the program of the next concert of the Philomusica Quartet—the fine ensemble consisting of violinist and Associate Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Concertmaster Jeanyi Kim; violinist and conductor Alexander Mandl; violist Nathan Hackett and cellist Adrien Zitoun. They welcome guest pianist Elena Abend, a native of Caracas, Venezuela, and frequent performer with many of southeastern Wisconsin’s classical music ensembles.
The performance takes place at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Nov. 16 at the Wisconsin Conservatory of Music, 1584 N. Prospect Ave. For more information, visit wcmusic.org.
