This quartet’s nickname (sometimes also called “Rider”) stems from the fourth movement’s first theme rhytmic pattern, I guess… but then also the first theme in the first movement could apply there.
The quartet is officially in G minor but if you consider the time ratio, most of the time the piece is in major mode – e.g. minor mode is mostly a façade, there are no moments that are truly moody or sad.
The Largo is actually in E major (a key “far” from G minor). I transcribed it at the digital piano and then ported it on the computer. I like it a lot but I’m especially proud of how its last bars turned out (I really dig that last low E, it gives me goosebumps everytime 🙂 it must be played pp but with “tre corde” pedal ) The accelerando in the middle section is a liberty I took while playing.
Transposed in A flat major, because it sounds even better 🙂
The YouTube videos are the transposed version; on IMSLP you can find both the transposed version (in Ab) and the original tonality (in G).
My reference interpretation (as you could guess from the short cadenza of the first movement): by Quatuour Mosaiques.
I fail to understand why the most beautiful quartets either don’t get a nickname or get a lame one… I mean this quartet is so overflowing with joy, it’s a love confession to someone, how could they come up with just “how do you do?” as a nickname? Talk about an understatement…
If I could pick a title for it, I’d call it “Love Letter”.
I discovered this one-movement quartet by chance through a YouTube video; I remember it was the name “Quartettsatz” that first caught my attention.
‘Quartettsatz’ simply means “quartet movement”. It is a one-movement string quartet, or the first movement of an unfinished quartet, that is counted as No.12 in Schubert’s works catalog.
It is a stormy and lyrical work at the same time, full of dynamic contrasts. The choice of C minor makes me think that Schubert was once again chasing Beethoven’s shadow, but then he wasn’t satisfied with the result and didn’t complete the quartet. The only completed first movement however is so wholesome that it can stand alone without any problem. Modern composers, me included, wouldn’t hesitate to mark “complete” a work like this. If Beethoven was for Schubert a giant to admire and pursue, what should be said of us, for whom Schubert is another, unattainable giant?
I soon wanted to transcribe this piece but I was stuck after taking a look at the score: how was I supposed to transcribe the two middle lines (violin II and viola) of the theme that first appears in A flat, at once for the piano? After brooding on some time a solution ‘clicked’ in my head: who said I had to use all those notes? I could simply take half from one and carry on with the second half of the other one (or viceversa), making it one accompaniment line, fairly natural for the piano to boot. I tried it and it worked even better than I had imaged.
The other challenges of course were the clusters of rapidly repeated notes, so prominent in Schubert’s quartets, but I already had a solution for those; I just had to fine tune the dynamic contrasts effectively.
My first transcribed String Quartet and my first Haydn transcription; this was also the first quartet I had listened and “learned” entirely.
The movement that spurred me to transcription was the whirlish Finale. And then I thought, might as well challenge the whole quartet! I was pretty excited, at the time, to complete this and set on to do a second one (see tbpt37); in hindsight, I think the movement with the best result is the third, as some immaturity (mainly in fine-tuning velocity etc.) is less prominent than in the others.
I learned later on that the final movement had already been transcribed by Alkan. Had I known this before, maybe I wouldn’t have tackled the transcription myself… so I’m glad I found out when it was too late!
This is my top favorite of the set, hands down – and of course that’s why it’s the first I transcribed. It is also the happiest one, the sunniest one, without any major clouds… which may be the reason why some critics deem it “inferior” or “a step back” from the others, although I don’t understand them. (Yeah I know the “Sun” in the title is just an ex post derived from a picture on the original cover or something)
I mean, check out the finale: it is a wonderful fugue, so beautiful and so serene. And if it wasn’t enough, in the last page Haydn treats us with a cherry on top: a “rovescio” variation of the themes. It takes more than skill to write such stuff and make it sound so good: it takes a true Master. My all time favorite fugue!
Trivia
The Menuetto was the first piece I completely transcribed on the piano instead than on the computer – actually I still only had a keyboard at the time; a true digital piano would have entered the scene a few weeks later.
There isn’t much “sunny” mood here, except the tender Adagio and a few brief spots in the first movement. If you are looking for truly “sunny” quartets try the Op.33 No.5 or the Op.54 No.1.
Among the Fugue movements in the Opus 20 (three out of six quartets in this set end with a fugue) this is perhaps the easiest one (!).
The first quartet in this Opus was the last one I transcribed, thus completing my first full set of string quartets. Note there was a long hiatus (read: laziness) period between completion of the first and the other movements.
The first movement of this Quartet never fails to remind me, starting from bar 18, of Mozart’s String Quintet in the same tonality (the No.3 KV 515).
The YouTube videos are the first version of all movements: I revised/improved the second (Adagio) and third (Menuetto) movements one year later; on IMSLP you can find the revised versions. The second movement was mostly transcribed at the piano (except VAR.II) and then ported on the computer. Someday I’ll upload the revised versions on YouTube as well.
If you’re easily moved, be sure to have your handkerchief ready for the second movement.
This one is hardly known as the other “titled” ones in the same opus, but I liked it so I did it.
The second movement was partially transcribed at the piano, while the third movement was the first to be completed because the easiest and shortest, to quickly provide a placeholder for the project – most shameful reason.
My favorite movement is no doubt the last one, though. It starts in G minor with a putting off, jarring theme, but after that great rewards await the trusting listener.
For those interested, my recommended/reference recording for all the Opus 76 quartets is the performance by Quatuor Mosaiques.
Schubert’s last quartet is an extraordinary composition, to say the obvious.
One day I decided to finally start listening to Schubert’s quartets, so I started with a CD by the Kodaly Quartet (Naxos) containing this quartet and an early work. “G major”, I read. Cool. I thought I was in for a broad, wonderful ride in mostly “major” mode when I pressed “play”. The ride was indeed broad and wonderful but in a totally different mood than I expected. I had never heard before a piece where major and minor modes were alternated so frequently. I quickly grew attached to it not only because of its musical depth, but also because of the human side I perceived. You see, I am a composer too and in some occasions I also used ruthless shifts major/minor/major/minor etc. but when I did that, it was to express total despair.
OK so TL;DR, fast forward a few years, I picked back the piece and challenged myself to transcribe the Scherzo. I had an I idea I could apply my usual technique of “alternated notes instead of repeated notes” but I wasn’t sure how much effective that would’ve been in this case. It turned out very effective. I was very pleased with the result and proud of myself when I completed this one.
I intentionally left a single passage (actually a single bar) with repeated notes as in the original, instead of alternated ones as during the whole transcription, at the very end; the effect is to emphasize the closure even more. Similarly in the middle of the first part there is a spot where chords take the place of alternated/repeated notes for a similar “shouted out” effect.
Finally let me blabber a bit about the original.
The movement is mastery all over, but I’m particularly impressed with the transition to the lullaby-like trio. The scherzo is in B minor and the trio begins on a repeated B… but it’s not the B of B minor anymore, it’s the B of G major, that is the major third. The harsh wintry wind lets up leaving warmth and peace to fill the scene. But the best is yet to come! After playing twice the G major theme, there is again a third-interval modulation, this time upwards: B major. Here we reach a hearth of pure Schubertian utopy. A tormented landscape painted in the first part is turned inside out (B minor to B major) and transformed in a singing idyll. The first part actually had a few bars in B major too but the effect here is totally different. Are we in front of a warm fireplace with our loved one? Are we on a flowery meadow in a warm day of Spring? Whatever the setting you imagine, your heart is now singing along the players. It’s at the same time a lullaby to soothe and a quiet “sursum corda” to stir up happiness.
It’s a lullaby for weary hearts, for everyone of us who are forced to face this harsh world every day. A lullaby for adults. It’s a composer’s magic, it’s Schubert magic. For a few seconds if anything, we can close our eyes and see paradise. For a few seconds, we can dream of being happy. And then, as with every dream true to its name, comes its end. The carillon slows down and stops on B – meanwhile we were brought back to G major without even noticing it. The fireplace turns to ash, clouds come hovering the meadows, we feel cold, we are back to reality. G is actually the herald of B minor in its more sinister note, the sixth. (I have always considered the sixth, not the seventh, to be the most tragic note of minor scales) And there we go again. For the happy end, we have to wait the fourth movement, and overcome an even more monumental rollercoaster.
Trivia
Projects tbpt57 and tbpt75 (5 – 7 <-> 7 – 5) are both Scherzo movements from String Quartets.
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