String Quartet in D major, Op. 20, no. 4
(I: Allegro di molto)
Listening Guide
Badke Quartet: Lana Trotovsek, Emma Parker - violins, Jon Thorne - viola, Jonny Byers - cello
Composer: Haydn
Composition: String Quartet in D major, Op. 20, no. 4 (I: Allegro di molto)
Date: 1772
Genre: string quartet
Form: I: Allegro di molto is in sonata form
Performing Forces: String quartet, i.e., two violins, one viola, one cello
What we want you to remember about this composition:
- It uses sonata form: exposition, development, and recapitulation
- It is in D major
- Haydn's style here is very motivic
Other things to listen for
- The interplay of the two violins, viola, and cello, in ways that might remind you of a "conversation between four intelligent people."
- The subsections of the sonata form
Timing
Performing Forces, Melody, and Texture
Form:
First theme in D major consists of three motives, including a first repeated note motive; first heard in the first violin and then passed to the other instruments, too.
EXPOSITION: First theme
Uses fast triplets (three notes per beat) in sequences to modulate to the key of A major
transition
New combinations of motives in themes in A major: starts with three-note motive, then a rapidly rising scale in the first violin, then more triplets, a more lyrical leaping motive, and ending with more triplets.
Second theme and closing theme
Sounds like the first theme in the home key, but then shifts to another key. Repeated note and fast triplet motives follow in sequences, modulating to different keys (major and minor).
A pause and the first motive, but not in the home key of D major; triplets, the more lyrical leaping motive and then a pause and the first motive, but still not in the home key.
Uses fast triplets like the exposition's transition section, followed by more lyrical motives, but it does not modulate away from D major.
Transition-like section
Return of the three-note motive followed by a rapidly rising scale in the first violin, then more triplets, a more lyrical leaping motive, and ending with more triplets but still in D major (was in A major in the exposition).
Second theme and closing theme