Beethoven- String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Part IV
We conclude our discussion of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 7 with movement IV.
- Allegro
- Allegro vivace e sempre scherzando
- Adagio molto e mesto
- Theme Russe- Allegro
IV. Theme Russe- Allegro
Over a trilling violin, the cello plays a jolly, cheerful theme one soon taken up by the violin. A series of descents and repeating leaps in the violin over theme one motives in the cello leads to theme two in the viola at 0:44- a series of rising motives accompanied by off-beat staccato notes from the rest of the quartet. Theme two is repeated by the violin and cello (0:53). A slight pause and ritard around 1:02 leads to theme one motives and tutti chords.
The cadence is very rhythmic as the violins alternate with the viola and cello; one group playing the rhythm to a rising line while the other plays a steady pitch (1:15). The candence ends in a long ascending/descending scale (1:30) followed by a descent and a decrescendo into a violin trill.
Theme one motives sequence upwards before theme three is played by the violin and echoed by the viola (1:49). A brief glimpse of theme two at 1:58 turns into descending scales and tutti sixteenth notes (2:07). The cadence follows, this time much darker and in a minor key beginning at 2:13 ending at 2:48.
Four series of asymmetric two-note motives are followed by a more lyric figure, still in minor. These motives grow back into a variation of theme one (3:06) over a busy cello accompaniment. A series of descending motives lead to ascending groups of sixteenth notes (3:31) accompanied by staccato theme one motives. Theme two returns in the viola (3:43) and violin before tutti chords at 4:07. The cadence theme follows, this time ending in a harsh-sounding passage with pointed, almost lurching figures in the second violin, viola, and cello.
At 4:38 a fugue-like section built on theme one motives begins and soon transitions into ascending dotted rhythms that climax in a tutti tremolo at 5:11 followed by descending and ascending arpeggios in the entire quartet. The violin trills on each note of its arpeggio (5:14) before a slower, thoughtful version of theme one rises in the violins high into their range at 5:30. Theme one motives are sequenced downwards through the instruments of the quartet before an arpeggiated ascent leads to the closing chords of the movement.
As a timpanist, this is actually one of the first string quartets I listened to carefully. The excellence of composition is clearly there, but I do get the feeling I’m missing most of the big picture. Hopefully more practice will fix that.
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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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