Schumann: String Quartet No.1, Op.41 No.1

Introduction

1842 was the year of chamber music for Robert Schumann (as 1840 and 1841 were the years of song and of orchestral music, respectively), and he commenced his remarkable instrumental explorations with the three string quartets eventually published together as Opus 41. For many years it was customary to dismiss these three works as unidiomatic and overly-pianistic, claiming that their composer's relative unfamiliarity with string instruments precluded him from creating works of much merit. While it is true that the pianistic figurations and general lack of independence between the voices do prevent these works from comparing favorably with works of the two great chamber masters on either historical side of Schumann (Beethoven on the one, Brahms on the other), their total lack of dependence on the dry clichés of the mid-19th century and their intensely expressive musical poetry compensate for such flaws as would be insurmountable in the music of a lesser composer. The three Opus 41 string quartets, then, are entirely successful on their own terms, much as, though he was far more familiar with the medium, Schumann found himself compelled to discover fresh solutions to the compositional issues presented by the keyboard.

The Quartet in A minor, Op.41, No.1 was actually the last of the group to be finished (though there is good evidence that Schumann worked on all three more or less simultaneously). Schumann, however, clearly conceived of the three as a single large-scale composition, and the tonal organization of A minor-F major-A major circumscribed by the three quartets is a very balanced and logical one. Hence, the eventual ordering of the piece. In addition, Op.41, No.1 has a sizeable, dramatic introduction to recommend it as the opening work of a cycle. The first of the work's traditional four movements is in many ways the most unorthodox of the three. The primary theme of the movement, introduced after the extended A minor introduction (marked Andante), is cast not in the tonic but rather in the key of F major-thus reflecting in miniature the tonal organization of the entire Opus 41 cycle. A subsidiary theme, not much different in character from the first (and in fact derived quite clearly from the fifth and sixth bars of the main theme) follows without substantial interlude. Like so many of the composer's works, this is really no second theme-proper, but rather a clever reorganization of the lilting six-eight melody that opened the F major exposition. Again, this single idea is played out, almost obsessively, throughout the development.

Schumann chooses to place the scherzo, also in six-eight but of much greater vitality than the subdued opening movement, second. Its central section, called an Intermezzo and cast alle breve, is stable-witness the long pedal points in the cello -- by comparison with the rushing, pulsating main scherzo. The melody of the lovely Adagio in F major that follows is an obvious descendent of that from the Adagio of Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. Gentle arpeggiations in the cello support the first violin's song; the two switch roles a short while later. The placid atmosphere is interrupted, briefly, by a stormier central section.

The energetic, marcato main theme of the finale, which brings us back to the home key of A minor, is positively bursting with rhythmic and developmental possibilities, and Schumann makes good use of this potential. Like the first movement, one cannot say that there is a true second theme in this wild sonata-allegro, but rather a continuous unfolding of elements from one basic idea. A Moderato digression and a coda employing only subsidiary thematic ideas draw the work to a close.

Parts/Movements

1. Introduzione. Andante espressivo
2. Allegro
3. Scherzo. Presto
4. Adagio
5. Presto