Two Rivers String Quartet "Contrasting Passions" Jan.13, 2108

Bedřich Smetana
(Born near Prague in 1824; died in Prague (Czech Republic) in 1884)

String Quartet No. 1 in E-minor, “Z mého, zivota” (“From My Life”), JB 1:105
1. Allegro vivo appassionato
2. Allegro moderato à la Polka
3. Largo sostenuto
4. Vivace

Smetana is revered as the Father of Nationalist Czech music (or Bohemian music, as it was called in his day). He dedicated his life to creating such music, beginning with operas whose themes were conspicuously nationalistic, and branching out into purely instrumental works with Bohemian folk roots.

Smetana’s life was filled with sadness and disappointments: his first wife died of tuberculosis, several of his children died in infancy, and his work was constantly harangued and harshly judged. But probably the cruelest blow of all came in 1874 when he began to lose his hearing because of syphilis and became completely deaf within just a few months.

Though he continued to compose after that – his later works included his seminal “Má Vlast” (“My Homeland”) with its wildly popular movement The Moldau – Smetana began turning inward in 1876 to fashion what was initially a purely private piece of music. This was his groundbreaking String Quartet No. 1, subtitled “From My Life.” It was eventually premiered in 1879 and published soon after.

Part of what was groundbreaking about this Quartet was Smetana’s autobiographical approach. This kind of approach was not only novel for the time but also highly influential on composers who followed. And because the Quartet gleams so brightly with Bohemian character and loveable melodies – the opening theme alone is one of the most dramatic musical sequences in the quartet genre – the work is a genuine masterpiece.

Smetana later wrote a description of this Quartet for a friend, describing its autobiographical background and its musical details as follows. The description is infused with a profound sense of sadness:

My intention was to paint a tone picture of my life. The first movement depicts my youthful leanings toward art, the Romantic atmosphere, the inexpressible yearning for something I could neither express nor define, and also a kind of warning of my future misfortune . . . The long insistent note in the finale owes its origin to this. It is the fateful ringing in my ears of the high-pitched tones which in 1874 announced the beginning of my deafness. I permitted myself this little joke, because it was so disastrous to me. The second movement, a quasi- polka, brings to mind the joyful days of youth when I composed dance tunes and was known everywhere as a passionate lover of dancing. The third movement . . . reminds me of the happiness of my first love, the girl who later became my wife. The fourth movement describes the discovery that I could treat national elements in music and my joy in following this path until it was checked by the catastrophe of the onset of my deafness, the outlook into the sad future, the tiny rays of hope of recovery, but remembering all the promise of my early career, a feeling of painful regret.

Felix Mendelssohn
(Born in Hamburg, Germany in 1809; died in Leipzig, Germany in 1847)

String Quartet No 4 in E-minor, Op. 44, No. 2
1. Allegro assai appassionato
2. Scherzo: Allegro di molto
3. Andante
4. Presto agitato

Between 1837 and 1838 Mendelssohn wrote a set of three string quartets which he grouped as Opus 44 and then slightly revised in 1839. Only 28 years old when he began these works, Mendelssohn was already regarded as a great composer and virtuoso pianist and he was beginning to achieve further fame as a conductor and music historian. He had also just married Cécile Charlotte Sophie Jeanrenaud, a charming French woman who delighted him. This was a period of great stability and happiness for Mendelssohn and these three string quartets eloquently reflect those grand and sweet times. The second of the three quartets (the E-minor quartet featured in tonight’s concert) pays particular homage to Mendelssohn’s love for Cécile as he wrote it during their honeymoon.

The E-minor quartet is also a magical testament to Mendelssohn’s unique ability to blend the Classical sensibilities of Mozart with the stormy undercurrents of the Romantic period. Combining fleet terseness and tenderness, the first movement’s initial theme is one of Mendelssohn’s finest achievements in this regard. It opens with a pulsing syncopation in the two middle strings, creating a disturbance of energy and furtiveness. The first violin then soars upwards in a simultaneously confident yet aching theme, the tempo continually pushing forward, setting the stage for the great music-making that follows.

The second movement is a scherzo, quick-silvered to the extreme and absolutely crackling with electricity. The third movement is Mendelssohn’s love song to Cécile, with a gorgeous and simple tune in Mendelssohn’s beloved “song without words” style. But importantly, the theme’s accompaniment is continually undulating, creating a kind of lazy perpetual motion that never allows for full contentment (and Mendelssohn’s directions to the performers asks that they “never allow the tempo to drag”). The final movement is a remarkable musical reckoning of the former three movements, blending beautiful, romantic themes with forward thrust. Midway through the movement, in an unexpected bow to one of his musical heroes, J.S. Bach, Mendelssohn gives a lovely hymn tune to the first violin while the rest of the quartet’s players hand off restless musical fragments to each other. The finale then turns urgent as the quartet races toward its bracing, final chords, bringing one of Mendelssohn’s great works to a close.