Opus 132 String Quartet in A minor
I) Assai sostenuto – Allegro – II) Allegro ma non tanto – III) Canzone di ringraziamento – Molto adagio – IV) Alla marcia, assai vivace – attacca: – Allegro appassionato
Op. 132 String Quartet in A minor, dedicated to Prince Nicolas Galitzin, late 1824 – late July 1825, published in Berlin by Schlesinger, in full score and separate parts, September 1827. GA no. 51 (series 6/15) – B. 132 – KH. 132 – L. IV, p. 302 – N. 132 – T. 250.
The original manuscript is held at the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, with sketches in Nottebohm and De Roda. This Quartet should be considered chronologically the second of the three dedicated to Prince Galitzin, having been begun alongside Op. 127 and completed before Op. 130. In the opening sections of Quartets Op. 127, 130, and 132, there is a contrast between the grave introduction and the ensuing figurations of the main movement (which constitute the actual first movement), during which the introduction recurs in various ways; however, the antithetical relationship changes in expressive character and intensity in each quartet.
In Op. 127, the Maestoso introduction represents an imperative “statement,” which recurs twice, rising from the original key of E-flat to G and C, over the course of the subsequent Allegro, but without otherwise interfering with it. The Allegro, with its two constituent elements—the first and second themes, progressively interwoven—responds each time with unchanged lightness.
In Op. 130, the Adagio ma non troppo (hesitant, uncertain) not only opposes the decisive Allegro through sharp juxtapositions, but also develops repeatedly through interweaving, interpenetrations, and subtle transformations.
In Op. 132, any true form of opposition between the Andante sostenuto and the Allegro disappears after the introduction, giving way to the expression of a single, unified mood, vibrating from one moment to the next with varying intensity. The theme of the Andante sostenuto rises from the cello to the first violin, unfolding softly, with a movement of grave and restless harmonies that, in crescendo, leads into the Allegro; together with the various elements forming the first thematic group of the Allegro (the initial movement figure of the violin, the sorrowful phrase of the cello continued and concluded by the violin, the massive “falling” rhythmic figure in the four compact voices), it sustains the exposition, development, recapitulation, and the impetuous Coda.
The second theme, in the violins (whose character Beethoven wished to emphasise with the markings “dolce” and later “teneramente”), serves a relieving function, although very briefly, as it almost immediately reabsorbs into the prevailing forms of anguished expression. The first two sections of the second movement (Allegro ma non tanto) rest upon a theme not particularly significant in itself, but which, through tonal and modal alternations, unisons, Canons, and rhythmic variations, acquires an anxious expression, like a vain search for repose.
With the entry of the Trio, a Musette-like motive spreads and settles; the countryside is present, a faithful friend in whose embrace the heart always finds comfort and serenity. Thereafter, the movement takes on the character of a light Ländler. A massive or “coarse” figure, accented by the concluding alla breve, intercalated in the 3/4 measure by the same procedure and with a meaning analogous to a corresponding passage in the Trio of the Eroica, and to another similar passage in the Op. 127 Quartet (which also recalls the four-note fundamental theme), momentarily halts the effusion, which soon resumes, finally resting in soft pianissimo cadences.
The words attached to the third movement, “Heiliger Dankgesang an die Gottheit eines Genesenen, in der Lydischen Tonart” (Holy Song of Thanksgiving to the Deity by a Recovered Patient, in the Lydian Mode), do not permit framing, limiting, or materialising the music’s vast, human, and spiritual significance in a trivial everyday event (the illness Beethoven suffered in April 1824). The Song begins Molto adagio, in the old Lydian mode (F major with B natural), consisting of a slow melody, whose periods are each preceded and commented upon by an instrumental figure in inseparable imitation. A mystical sentiment gradually spreads from the rich harmonic texture of the four instruments; a prayer and meditation in which the soul seems truly to detach from the earth.
This elevation is twice interrupted by an episode (Andante, in D major) of different character, marked “Neue Kraft fühlend”; as if the body sought to call back the soul already soaring high, in a revival of human impressions and affections, initially only hinted at, then gradually more continuous and ardent. Yet the mystical ascent resumes each time with greater fervour, culminating in a wholly spiritual atmosphere.
The fourth movement begins with a march, whose insistence on rhythm and abrupt halts seems deliberately to express the realistic return to life.
It is followed by a recitative—so called, though not indicated by the composer, and with a character naturally even more instrumental than in the Ninth—where the first violin, first over the continuation of the Più allegro march, then over the feverish beat of a chordal movement, and finally alone in Presto (alla breve), expresses alternations of impulsion and abandonment, finally folding back upon itself (Poco adagio) in a descending semitone figure.
After the pause of a fermata, like the passage from one fleeting, essential moment to another, the same semitone figure, in the second violin, above the other accompanying and integrating figures of the lower two instruments, stabilizes into a kind of lullaby, accompanying the first violin as it intones its song of melancholy: an Allegro appassionato, whose spirit corresponds in a more lyrically expressed form to that of the first two movements. The movement is lively, yet the melody is sad and restless, until finally the return to the major mode and linear simplicity brings the concluding liberating clarification.
Schering associates the following scenes from Faust with this quartet:
First movement. First monologue (Faust’s Study): various verses, from Cosi fosse questo, la luce viva di luna, l’ultimo tuo sguardo al mio tormento up to the appearance of the spirit of the Earth.
Second movement. Second monologue: Awakening (impulse of new activity): Un carro di fuoco scende su ali leggere verso di me. In the Trio: Scendi dunque, o pura coppa di cristallo!
Third movement. Molto adagio: Chorus of angels: Christ is risen. Andante: Faust: What deep whisper, what clear sound tears the cup from my lips?
Fourth movement. March: Reminiscence of the happy days of youth: Faust: A sweet yearning carried me through the woods and meadows. Più allegro: Oh play, sweet songs that descend from heaven. Allegro appassionato: Stanzas of the refrain from another Goethe poem: New love, new life (Heart, my heart), together with words from Faust’s dialogue with Wagner: Observe how, in the fire of sunset, the cottages surrounded by greenery shine.
Official title: Opus 132 Quartett (a-moll) für zwei Violinen, Viola und Violoncello Widmung: Nikolaus Borisowitsch Fürst Galitzin NGA VI/5 AGA 51 = Serie 6/15 Beiname: Heiliger Dankgesang (nach dem 3. Satz)
Beethoven dated the autograph score “1825.” He sketched the quartet—largely in parallel with the elaboration of the score—from the second half of January to around mid-July of the same year. From late July until about August 13, he made a first fair copy of the score. The original editions (score and parts) were published by Schlesinger in Paris and Berlin in 1827.
In November 1822, Prince Galitzin had requested from Beethoven “un, deux ou trois Nouveaux Quatuors” (BGA 1508) (see Op. 127). Op. 132 is the second work composed for the Prince, although written two years later. Around January 21, 1825, the musicians of the Schuppanzigh Quartet had already learned that Beethoven was working on a quartet in A minor (BKh 7 p. 90). Beethoven interrupted the composition of the final movement of Op. 127 and began making preliminary sketches for the first movement and ideas for the others. The first movement of Op. 132 was probably completed in April in autograph score, the second not before May, the third in June, and the remaining movements by late July 1825 (Brandeburg/Op. 132 p. 281).
Anton Schindler’s claim that the fourth movement of the Op. 130 quartet, “Alla Danza tedesca,” was originally in A major and intended as the fourth movement of Op. 132 is confirmed by annotations on sketches dating from the time of the quartet’s composition. The progress of the autograph score also suggests that this movement was initially noted in a shorter, preliminary version but was soon replaced by the “Alla Marcia” known today as the fourth movement (Brandeburg/Op. 132 p. 284f, JTW p. 475).
At the end of July 1825, Beethoven handed the score to the cellist Joseph Linke via Karl Holz, second violinist of the Schuppanzigh Quartet, who made copies of the parts for the first four movements (BKh 8 p. 29, 33). Holz, who copied the remaining parts, commented around August 13: “Linke hat von der ungewohnten Anstrengung beim Copieren Kopfweh bekommen; darum habe ich das letzte Stück copiert, das war die Ursache der Verzögerung. – Ich habe mir Mühe gegeben; ich bin’s zwar nicht gewohnt, aber ich glaube nicht, daß Sie viele Fehler finden werden” (BKh 8 p. 39).
From this transcription of the parts, which later served as the model for the original Paris edition in separate parts, a copy was made by Wenzel Rampl after Beethoven’s corrections for Prince Galitzin (BKh 8 pp. 48–50, 55, 65). Beethoven sent the package in September 1825 (BGA 2062). On January 14, 1826, Galitzin apparently had not yet received it and wrote to Beethoven: “Je viens de lire dans la Gazette musicale de Leipzig, que le nouveau quatuor A moll a été exécuté à Vienne, et je suis si impaziente de connaître ce nouveau chef-d’œuvre que je vous supplie de me l’envoyer sans plus tarder par la poste comme le précédent [Op. 127]. […] Le journal de Leipzig s’exprime en termes si flatteux sur votre nouveau quatuor que je suis on ne peut plus impaziente de le connaître, veuillez me le faire parvenir au plutôt” (BGA 2106; on the letter of thanks and the Princes’ apologies for non-payment of November 22, 1826, see Op. 130, dedication).
Already in the spring of 1820, Beethoven had exchanged opinions with the Berlin publisher Adolph Martin Schlesinger regarding the possibility of publishing new string quartets (e.g., BGA 1388). His son Maurice, who had started a business in Paris, also received from Beethoven in February 1824 “neue Quartetten,” but “doch müssen zuförderst dieselben hervorgebracht seyn” (BGA 1782), since none of these compositions had yet been started. While B. Schott & Söhne obtained the publishing rights for the first completed quartet (Op. 127), an offer for the next two (Op. 132 and 130) was made to Schlesinger in Berlin on July 19, 1825, probably around the time Op. 132 was nearing completion: „Auf Ihr Verlangen melde ich Ihnen, daß ich Ihnen zwey große neue Violinquartetten überlassen könnte; das Honorar wären 80 Dukaten (für jedes). Denn seit einiger Zeit sucht man von allen Seiten meine Werke, und so ist mir für jedes dieser Quartetten schon die Summe von 80# angebothen worden. Wollen Sie selbe aber für diesen Preis, so gebe ich Ihnen gern den Vorzug. Dieser Antrag dürfte Ihnen besonders deßwegen nicht unwillkommen seyn, weil Sie die Quartetten auch nach Paris u. London schicken können. Seit mein Freund Ries nicht mehr in London ist, schicke ich selbst nichts mehr hin, da die Correspondenz u. Besorgung mir zu viel Zeit raubt“ (BGA 2015).
On the same day as the offer to Schlesinger in Berlin, Beethoven also wrote to Carl Friedrich Peters in Leipzig. Beethoven had not yet reimbursed an advance for various minor works that Peters had later refused. He therefore offered Op. 132 in exchange for this compensation (BGA 2014). Peters refused, and negotiations conducted by Karl Holz with Viennese publishers (BKh 8 p. 45, 63, 65) yielded no result. On September 4, 1825, Beethoven concluded a publishing contract with Maurice Schlesinger, who was then in Vienna (Unger/Verleger p. 91), and a few days later delivered the copy of the parts prepared by Karl Holz and Joseph Linke and corrected by Beethoven himself as a model (see certificate of ownership of September 10, before BGA 2059). A copy of the score promised by Beethoven could not be completed and corrected before Schlesinger’s departure at the end of September (BKh 8 p. 143f, 149). Even in April 1826, the Parisian publisher requested it (BGA 2148).
The Schlesingersche Buch- und Musikhandlung in Berlin published a notice dated July 15, 1827, in the Leipziger Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung (probably August 15), stating that the quartets (Op. 132 and 134—later corrected to 135), as well as arrangements for piano four-hands, were available (AmZ 29, 1827, info sheet 8, August 1827, col. 31f).
It was also announced in the listing of new music for the Michaelmas fair in 1827 (AmZ 29, 1827, Intelligence Journal 10, October 1827, col. 40), as well as in the Verzeichnis von Musikalien, welche bei verschiedenen Verlegern erschienen, und in der Schlesingerschen Buch- und Musikalienhandlung zu Berlin […] zu haben sind, included in the index of the Literarisch-artistisch-musikalischen Anzeiger of October 13, 1827 (supplement to Freimüthigen, maintained by Schlesinger since 1819). It also contained the early announcement that Schlesinger’s complete collection of quartets and quintets in full score would appear during the winter of that year.
The first performance took place on September 9, 1825, at the Viennese inn “Zum Wilden Mann,” No. 942 Kärntnerstrasse, by the Schuppanzigh Quartet. The performance was attended by a small circle of about 14 invited guests and was repeated on September 11 at the same venue (see the notes of George Smart, present at the concert, reproduced in TDR V pp. 242–244 and Cox/Smart pp. 108f, and the conversation booklets used on those days, BKh 8 pp. 121–140). The first performance was preceded by a dress rehearsal two days earlier, attended by Carl Czerny. Karl Holz reported to Beethoven on September 8: „Gestern war die Probe von dem neuen Quartett; Carl war auch dabey: wir waren entzückt“ (BKh 8 p. 108).
According to Smart, Beethoven conducted the musicians during the performance on September 9.
Two further public performances of the work took place on November 6 and 20, 1825, again by the Schuppanzigh Quartet. The first was a Privat-Unterhaltung at the Musikverein, organized by the cellist Joseph Linke; the second, in the same venue, was a subscription concert by the violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh. The Leipziger Allgemeine Musikalische Zeitung wrote of the first concert: „Was unser musikalischer Jean Paul hier gegeben hat, ist abermals gross, herrlich, ungewöhnlich, überraschend und originell, muss aber nicht nur öfters gehört, sondern ganz eigentlich studirt werden. […] Der vorherrschende düstere Charakter des Ganzen, eine, bey der mannigfaltigsten Ausarbeitung nicht zu beseitigende Einförmigkeit in dem sehr langen Adagio, welches mit seinem fremdartigen H in der F Scala dem Componisten im Fortschreiten fühlbare Fesseln anlegte […] mochte die Ursache seyn, wesshalb dieses jüngste Geisteskind des unerschöpflich fruchtbaren Meisters nicht jene allgemeine Sensation machte, welche mehre Auserwählte, die früheren Aufführungen in geschlossenen Familienzirkeln beygewohnt hatten, vorher verkündeten. Wie das zuletzt vor diesem erschienene Quartett (in Es) [Op. 127] Anfangs lau aufgenommen, dann erst begriffen, erkannt, und nun den geschätztesten Meisterwerken beygezählt wurde, so wird es wohl auch diesem neuesten gehen“ (AmZ 27, 1825, December 21, 1825, col. 840f).
Karl van Beethoven reported: „Es war unendlich voll, und das Trio [im gleichen Konzert wurden auch eines der Trios op. 70 und 97 gegeben] sowohl als besonders das Quartett wurde sehr beklatscht; auch ging es sehr gut zusammen, und Linke spielte besser als je“ (BKh 8 p. 182).
The Wiener Allgemeine Theaterzeitung summarized the event well: „Beethoven eilt in jedem Augenblicke seines künstlerischen Wirkens seiner Zeit weit voran; das Erkenntnisvermögen seiner Hörer und Beurtheiler keucht noch immer mühsam hinter drein; dies bezeugt die Erfahrung. Referent dieses muß aufrichtig bekennen, daß er auch noch immer zu den Keuchenden gehört“ (No. 18, 1825, November 24, 1825, p. 579).