In a letter of 8 April 1802, Beethoven complained about the printing of the Opus 18 String Quartets: “full of mistakes and errata — on a large scale and on a small scale. They swarm like little fishes in water, that is to say, ad infinitum.”
All of Beethoven’s Opus 18 String Quartets went to the printer before year-end 1800. Nos. 1, 2, and 3 were published together in June 1801, but 4, 5, and 6 didn’t appear until October. The division seems apt, with the second trio more architecturally innovative than the first.
In the final three of the Opus 18 String Quartets, Beethoven begins experimenting with the positioning and balance of the four movements. The 1st movements become less weighty, and the emphasis is shifted to the last movement, but what happens in between is also often disrupted.
Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 4 is the only one of the Opus 18 in a minor key, and in Beethoven’s special key of C minor at that, yet mostly without the pathos we normally associate with Beethoven’s use of the key.
The first movement Allegro opens with a long melodic line, later punctuated by intense savage attacks. There is no slow movement, but rather a C major second movement labeled “Scherzo” and given a tempo marking of “Andante scherzoso quasi allegretto.” Playful for sure, but also including fugal and canonic passages that perversely give it more scholarly pretensions. The short third movement minuet-and-trio is followed by a Rondo finale whose contrasts evoke gypsy dances, the salon, and the pastoral with a crowd-pleasing coda.
#Beethoven250 Day 128
String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor (Opus 18, No. 4), 1799–1800
I’m not sure if the Ying Quartet is still active, but they sure bring a fiery intensity to this performance.