Beethoven- String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Part III
We continue our discussion of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 7 with movement III.
- Allegro
- Allegro vivace e sempre scherzando
- Adagio molto e mesto
- Theme Russe- Allegro
III. Adagio molto e mesto
A slow, melancholy theme is first heard in the violin over sustains in the quartet. The music builds until a loud tutti at 0:49, after which the cello takes up the melody with a countermelody sung in the high violin. Another series of tuttis at 1:41 end theme one.
The cello descends, quickly imitated by the rest of the quartet. Theme two emerges in the violins based on a four-note motive (A jump followed by a 3-note descent) at 2:22. The viola plays counterpoint to simple rising and falling motives in the cello, which are taken up by the violin and sequenced upwards.
At 3:22, rising motives in the cello answer the violin and viola before a syncopated descent falls and ascends again. 2 tutti chords lead to quick, almost dance-like motives in the violin which are repeated by the cello, all over a rising figure in the rest of the quartet (3:51). A series of two-note descents at 4:30 lead to another countermelody in the violin over rising 3-note cello motives. The 3-note motives soon transfer to the second violin and back to the cello. At 5:35 the cello plays the 3-note ascent powerfully over a sustained note before a jagged violin descent and pizzicato notes underneath a new theme (three) create a very unique texture and gives the music a sense of motion. Fast 3-note motives at 6:43 are played in the violins, cello, and viola as the tempo slows and the mood brightens. A slow trill in the lower voices at 7:13 plays beneath the violin who plays a spread out version of the trill, still accompanied by occasional pizzicatos. The melody switches to the cello with a violin countermelody.
Triplet descents (8:09) in the violins over a jabbing bass line transform into theme three in the violins. Again the melody and triplet accompaniment contrast sharply with the pizzicatos from the cello and the steady, staccato bass line played by the viola.
At 9:00 the entire quartet plays a more smoothly flowing section which resolves into a series of triumphant descents (9:18), a mood that proves only to be temporary as theme three returns in the viola accompanied by violin countermelody. The melody switches to the violin at 9:44 and is sequenced upwards over descending motives in the cello. Two-note descents fall and rise, resulting in two loud tuttis at 10:40. The dance-like figures high in the violin and cello over a rising line return at 10:49.
Theme one returns at 11:18 over a pulsating cello and viola. A violin descent (11:54) accompanied by triplet figures in the viola lead to flourished descents in the violin before a massive rise and fall from the violin begins (12:31) a fast section with rising violin scales against falling motives in the rest of the quartet. The violin descends and slows, ending the movement in a trill that leads directly into the fourth 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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