Beethoven- String Quartet No. 4 in C Minor, op. 18 Part IV
The fourth movement rondo of Beethoven’s fourth String Quartet.
IV. Allegro- Prestissimo
Rondo form
The rondo theme is heard immediately in the first violin, a melody consisting of an alternating descent and ascent ended with 5 notes repeated on the same pitch. The second phrase is based off of 3-note ascents and is ended with the main motive from the first phrase.
At 0:32 the first contrasting episode begins. Where the rondo is pointed and almost jabbing, the first episode flows. A rising line in the viola and violin is mirrored by a descent. An alternating ascent in the viola is echoed by the violin before the first phrase is repeated.
The rondo returns at 1:17. Very similar to the original statement, the repeat of the theme has some extra embellishment in both the concluding bars of the first phrase as well as in the second phrase proper.
The next contrasting episode starts with slurred ascents at 1:45 that rise through the quartet before a cheery violin descent ends the phrase. The ascents continue and compress, still finished by the violin.
Another statement of the rondo begins at 2:10 in the viola and has the phrase finished by the violin. The second phrase has subtle changes in the trailing 3-note motive that follows immediately after the first 3-note ascent and ritards slightly before a repeat of the first phrase. A transitory passage (2:40) is heard full of echoed two-note figures between the viola and violin along with the slurred ascents heard from the second contrasting episode.
A third contrasting episode begins at 2:47, which is really just a variation of the first contrasting episode at 0:32. In the second phrase the second violin begins a rapid accompaniment to the high violin melody. Rondo motives begin to descend and ascend (3:05), answered in various instruments and modulating several times before leading directly into the rondo proper at 3:30.
The rondo statement is stated one last time, but without repeats. The coda begins at 3:42 with rondo motives accelerating rapidly in the violin. A rising violin is answered on the offbeats by the quartet. Rondo motives in the lower voices are answered by repeated notes in the violins (4:00), which in turn ascend. Slurred ascents are sequenced downward before three tuttis end the quartet.
=*=
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. If you enjoyed this summary or otherwise found it helpful, consider Stumbling it using the button below.
Technorati Tags: Music 365, theme, violin, motive, melody, harmony, tremolo, chord, rhythm, sonata, exposition, introduction, recapitulation, coda, cadence, listening guide, arpeggio, scale, cello, viola, Beethoven, C Minor, Symphony No. 5, quartet, minuet, trio, rondo, opus 18, scherzo, ternary, trio, gypsy
