Beethoven- String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, op. 59 No. 1 Part I
Beethoven’s 7th String Quartet was the first of three quartets dedicated to Count Razumovsky, the Russian Ambassador to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. After his first six quartets in which Beethoven clearly pays tribute to Haydn and Mozart, opus 59 revolutionized the genre with their expressive content, musical intrigue, and their virtually unprecedented scale.
I. Allegro
The quartet begins with a 5-note cello motive over purposeful accompaniment, reminiscent of theme one in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, op. 55. The motive crescendos and is sequenced upwards in the cello and violin before peaking at 0:24 before a tutti melody based on a 3-note descent. Theme 2 begins at 0:44 with the first statement in the violins and repeated by the cello and viola. Four-note ascents (the first four notes of the opening five-note motive of theme one) sequence upwards (1:06) before a cadential figure in the cello leads to a minor section featuring 3-note ascents passed through the quartet over sustains in the other instruments. Turn motives begin to take prominence around 1:35. Triplet descents at 1:52 are soon repeated amongst the quartet before octaves in the violins are echoed by the cello and viola.
Theme one returns in the violins at 2:21 before the quartet embarks on a melody based around the closing phrase of the theme. The cello repeats theme one as originally heard at the beginning of the movement (2:37), but instead of a faithful repetition, the violin takes over high in its range to enthusiastic accompaniment below (2:48). This is followed by the viola and second violin repeating the theme. A passage built off of a four-note motive (3 descending notes followed by one ascending) at 3:07 lead to more alternating octaves (3:36).
To begin the development, the violin plays an embellished version of theme one (3:49) over quiet sustained notes in the rest of the quartet. Descending scales over a lovely countermelody build and lead to a dramatic fugue at 4:40. The fugue builds in intensity and ends with a long descending scale beginning around 5:17. Theme one returns with the first violin playing flourishes after the main motive. The five-note motive is passed between the violins and the viola/cello (5:46) before ascending triplets in the violins lead to staccato tuttis.
The recapitulation begins at 6:26 with theme one returns as it was played in the exposition. Theme two is heard at 7:02. Theme two motives are passed between the upper and lower voices before four-note motives lead to rapid triplet accompaniment (7:43). Turn motives at 7:56 in the violin dance over four-note motives (3 rising, 1 falling) in the bass line before triplet descents initially in the violin at 8:02 are taken up by the other instruments and steadily build and resolve to more octave tuttis (8:25).
The coda begins with theme one over a cello sustain. Theme one motives are heard separately in all instruments of the quartet before it is played in tutti at 8:51. 7-note motives based on the second phrase of theme one bring us out of the tutti section (9:01). Triplet figures passed around the quartet (9:20) lead to triplet accompaniment of theme one, the melody of which is also passed around the quartet’s instruments. A high violin sustain (9:45) is contrasted with statements of theme one and triplet embellishment in the cello. An ascending sequence of three tutti chords lead to the final closing statement and the end of the movement.
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If you are interested in listening to a recording, the Juilliard String Quartet’s 1964 recordings on Sony come highly recommended, and are what I used to write this summary. You can buy this recording from Amazon by clicking on the image below. While this is not available in the iTunes Music Store, the Emerson String Quartet’s 1997 release on Deutsche Grammophone is also highly recommended.
This article is part of the Music 365 series. To find out more about this project, please visit the project homepage.
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