Haydn Op.9 No.3: Movement I Allegro

Haydn was the father of the string quartet, and it is the third rule of the Wivelscombe Quartet that everything, including concerts, starts with Haydn. (The first two rules are, of course, that you do not talk about the Wivelscombe Quartet!) You can play quartets your whole life and still find surprise and delight in discovering a new one by Haydn.

Haydn was prolific and hard working and enjoyed lifelong employment in the service of enlightened aristocrats. He developed a distinctive and attractive style which became very popular and influential. He was also a likeable man who influenced and promoted the work of Mozart when he was relatively unknown, and later taught composition to Beethoven.

We are playing the opening movement of Op.9 No. 3. Earlier quartets (from the Op.1-3 sets, many of which are probably not by Haydn anyway!) were written in a much simpler style galante before Haydn had established his reputation. The Op.9 set, dating from 1769, were written as he became increasingly famous and respected. They are in a more mature, sophisticated vein - each one like a sketch for a proper classical symphony.

The main theme in this movement is in a warm, calm, rustic G Major and alternates between a courtly dance and a more clod-hopping pesante motif complete with bagpipe drone.

Dvořák Op.34 No.9: Movement II Alla Polka

Written from July to December 1877 - very soon after the deaths of two of Dvořák's children - this quartet is dedicated to Johannes Brahms. Brahms knew and admired his music, and referred Dvořák to his own publisher to boost his career.

Given that Dvořák had suffered such a deep personal loss it is not surprising that the whole quartet is melancholy; the third movement particularly is unspeakably sad. We will play only the second movement which is a Polka followed by a companion waltz-like dance. Both sections make repeated attempts to lift the mood, but these efforts are interrupted by episodes of uncertain tempo and shifting, sombre, minor keys.

iLe (arr. Coath): 'Temes'

In 2020 the BBC broadcast a series of excellent documentaries on the music of Latin America. (At time of writing these are still available on the iPlayer.) The segment recorded in Puerto Rico included a stunning live performance of this sad and affecting protest song by its composer and writer 'iLe' - the performing soubriquet of Ileana Mercedes Cabra Joglar. I had the whole thing going round in my head for days and kept thinking I should do something concrete with it. What emerged was an arrangement for string quartet, substituting guitar for the second violin. I hope I have done it justice.

The song deals with violence against women, Puerto Rico being one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a woman. Each verse takes the form of a series of questions including "If you suck out all the air I breathe and leave my voice silent - if you think my survival depends on you - why do you fear me?" 

Beethoven Op.130: Movements IV German dance & V Cavatina

I would not be surprised if the name Ignaz Schuppanzigh meant nothing to anybody reading this. If Haydn is the father of the string quartet as an art form, then Schuppanzigh is the father of the string quartet as a concert form. In the late 18th and early 19th century people paid money, and sat in rows, to listen to his quartet play. This was at a time when such music was widely considered to be just chamber music - suitable only for private spaces and appreciation.

Schuppanzigh had known Beethoven for many years and gave the first performance of many of the composer's works including Op. 59, 127, 130 and 132. The four members of the quartet would therefore have been the first to hear some of the most astounding music in the European tradition. So much has been written about the late Beethoven quartets that I am struggling to say anything that doesn't appear a cliché. They are just extraordinary and beautiful.  Some are also very tricky to play - Schuppanzigh made remarks about the technical difficulty which were reported to Beethoven. The composer replied "Does he really believe that I think about his silly fiddle when the muse strikes me to compose?"

Шостако́вич Op.83: Movement III Allegretto

By the mid-20th century many composers had thrown out the rule book for composition. Shostakovitch, in contrast, retained much of the tonal romantic tradition and incorporated an eclectic mix of other musical influences. This approach has entranced and infuriated people in almost equal numbers. 

The movement we have chosen today is from the Op.83 quartet (also known as quartet No.4) written in 1949 in a typically playful, but untypically restrained, style. At this time Shostakovitch was still subject to severe restrictions on composition and speech imposed by Stalin's regime which partly explains why it was premiered five years later, after Stalin's death. The third movement Allegretto (three of the four movements have the same marking) has the feel of a very buttoned-up scherzo and flirts with atonality all the way through. 

Schubert Op.29 No.13: Movement IV Allegro Moderato

Antonio Salieri would have remained almost unknown if his character and talent hadn't been comprehensively, and unjustifiably, rubbished in the play, and movie, Amadeus. (As a side note Peter Schaffer drew much of the material from a short story by Pushkin called Mozart and Salieri which was turned in to an opera by Rimsky-Korsakov.) It is worth bearing in mind that alongside Salieri's many achievements, and some fine scores, he was the one man Schubert trusted to teach him composition. Schubert was a prodigy and an autodidact who often struggled to gain acceptance and employment, relying on his friends for support for much of his short life.

We have chosen the last movement of the quartet known as Rosamunde written in 1824 - around the same time as the equally well known Death and the Maiden quartet. Like many of Schubert's finalés it is light hearted and deceptively transparent. The nickname Rosamunde refers to a play for which Schubert wrote incidental music, and the quartet is dedicated to Ignaz Schuppanzigh - who gets a mention elsewhere in these notes. Three years earlier a previous attempt to write a string quartet resulted in a dead end - the unfinished Quartettsatz, D 703 - but when he went back to the form he produced two solid gold classics. It is a shame we don't have the time to play all of both of them.

Martin Coath