Program Note

String Quartet in G Major, D. 887
FRANZ SCHUBERT (1797–1828)

Schubert wrote his fifteenth and final string quartet in the unbelievably short span of eleven days (June 20–30, 1826)—Mozart himself would have been hard-pressed to get a work of this breadth done in so brief a time. The Quartet in G Major is in every way a striking piece of music: in length (it stretches out to 45 minutes even when some of the most important repeats are omitted); in scope (its huge sonorities, often underpinned by violent tremolos, frequently suggest orchestral writing); and key relationships. Schubert was a master of the ingenious modulation, and this quartet’s quicksilvery shifts of tonality mirror the flickering moods within the music itself. This is mercurial music—elusive, haunting, and finally very moving.

From a near-silent beginning, the Allegro molto moderato suddenly bursts to life on great chords, sharply-dotted rhythms, and jagged thematic edges. Within its first instants, the music pitches uneasily between G Major and G Minor, and over orchestra-like tremolos the opening idea (derived from the jagged edges of the introduction) is announced pianissimo by first violin and cello. The gracefully-syncopated second subject arrives as a chordal melody, and—curiously—the rest of the exposition consists of a set of variations on this theme. The development at first concentrates on the opening idea, then resumes the variations on the second subject. The movement drives to a close that returns to the powerful (and harmonically unstable) manner of the very beginning. The Andante un poco molto opens conventionally—the cello tune in the opening measures is pure Schubert—but suddenly come great rips of sound, discordant cries from the first violin over harmonically ambiguous tremolos in the lower voices. Agitated, dark, and almost shrill, these passages break in throughout the movement, which finally resolves peacefully.

The Scherzo, in B minor, is reminiscent of the scherzo of the “Great” C-Major Symphony—it bristles with energy as individual voices leap out of the general bustle. In complete contrast, the trio section is a laendler, and the languorous lilt of its main idea—introduced by the cello—brings an interlude of calm; the sudden jump back to the needle-sharp entrances of the scherzo is dramatic. The finale—Allegro assai—has been described as a perpetual-motion movement. Actually, it is a tarantella-like rondo that rides exuberantly along its 6/8 meter. Schubert supplies contrasting episodes along the way (smoothly making the 6/8 meter sound like 3/4 in the process), but it is the dancing opening music that finally takes the quartet to its energetic close.

Schubert apparently never heard this quartet. There is speculation that its opening movement might have been performed at the famous Schubertiad in March 1828, but even the best evidence is conjectural, and there is no convincing suggestion of a performance during his lifetime. The Quartet in G Major appears to have been consigned to the silence of dusty shelves, where it remained until it was premiered by the Hellmesberger Quartet in Vienna on December 8, 1850, 22 years after its composer’s death.

—Program Note by Eric Bromberger