Schumann composed his three String Quartets, Op. 41, very quickly in 1849. The first, in A minor, he began on June 4; the second, in F major, on June 11, before completing the first. Schumann composed the third quartet, in A major, between July 8 and 11, by which time the first two were finished. The parts were published in 1843 by Breitkopf & Härtel; the same publisher printed the score in 1849, carrying a dedication to Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847).

Schumann had attempted some string quartets in 1838 and 1839, but he abandoned them, perhaps because a chamber music idiom without the piano was foreign to him. Even ten years later, in the Op. 41 String Quartets, the composer's pianistic mode of thinking clear: many melodic passages are pianistic in nature, and we find extended, homophonic segments that resemble block chords for the piano as transferred to strings. It is not surprising that Donald Taylor described the quartets as "music for string quartet but not string quartet music." After these works, Schumann would not write any chamber music that did not include the piano.

Schumann's interest in quartet composition was ignited by intense study of the quartets of Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven; however, Schumann's works in the idiom resemble those of Mendelssohn more than those of his models.

The first movement of No. 1 features progressive tonality; the imitative slow introduction is in A minor, but leads to an Allegro that begins and ends in F major. Only by the end of the entire quartet can we be sure that A minor/major is the key of the piece. Schumann's scherzo is in A minor with a trio (entitled Intermezzo) in C major that interrupts the nervous energy of the scherzo. The third movement, Adagio, consists of three two-part sections. The second of these includes a brief development and the third provides the closure implied by, but missing from, the first. The piece closes with an innovative monothematic Finale featuring a fugal development and the introduction of new material near the end. Quartet No. 2, in F major, is most striking for its slow movement, a set of variations with more than one theme. Both the Scherzo and Finale open with themes clearly suited to the piano.

The third Quartet, in A major, is most noteworthy for its third movement, Adagio molto. Into three successive sections based on the same material, Schumann works some of the principles of sonata form without using the structure. The first section begins with a lengthy, meandering but self-contained melodic statement, followed by a few shorter, contrasting phrases that both modulate far from the tonic, D major, and develop the opening material. For the second section, Schumann transposes the material of the first segment and shortens both parts. Further reduction occurs in the third segment until we are left with brief, periodic melodies that close on D major. It is as if Schumann begins the movement with material in a "developed" state and ends with its "original" form.

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String Quartet No.1 in A-, Op.41, No.1

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-nineteenth 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.



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String Quartet No.2 in F, Op.41, No.2

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-nineteenth 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 F major Op.41, No.2 was Schumann's first effort in the form. Its opening movement commences without introduction of any kind, the listener being drawn in by its congenial three-four meter violin melody. Like Op.41, No.1, Schumann finds no room for a second theme (indeed, he seems unwilling to part from this lovely F major for any length of time at all), and the development contains little more overt tension than does the exposition.

Theme and variations (andante quasi variazioni) is the game of the following movement, whose A flat major, twelve-eight melody flows graciously forward on steady waves of quarter-eighth, quarter-eight rhythm. Schumann writes four variations, a reprise of the theme in nearly its original form, and a lovely coda. The scherzo, cast (somewhat unusually) in the key of C minor, is a lightning-fast exploration of arpeggiation in six-eight meter. A sparkling trio sets a humorous cello theme against eighth-note offbeats and quicksilver, spiccato scales.

The finale owes a great deal to the trio of the previous movement, for it, too, is built of a texture emphasizing witty offbeats and spiccato textures. We have, quite naturally, returned to F major for this rondo movement, throughout which Schumann seems content to let the well-mannered, light-hearted atmosphere of the preceding three movements play out until the very end.



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String Quartet No.3 in A, Op.41, No.3

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. For many years it was customary to dismiss these three Op. 41 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 perhaps true that these works cannot compete with those of either Beethoven or Brahms, their total lack of dependence on the dry clichés of the mid-nineteenth 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.

Last in the opus but second in order of composition, the Quartet in A major Op.41, No.3 is far and away the most structurally traditional work of the group. The very first gesture of the first movement's brief introduction is identical, harmonically and motivically, to the opening gesture of Beethoven's Op.31, No.3, and one must suspect a conscious or subconscious debt on Schumann's part. The falling fifth motive outlined by this gesture is soon built into the first measure of the primary theme proper (A major, three-four time as opposed to the four-four of the introduction), a tender idea in two halves: the first a graceful eight-bar melody, the second a quarter-note arpeggiation played out in imitation between the four instruments. In Op.41, No.3, at last, Schumann writes a true second theme, whose gentle offbeats and expressive cello melody provide fertile material for development (as, indeed, does the imitative strain of the first theme).

Assai agitato, in F sharp minor, is a roughly-hewn theme and variations (very free variations, to be sure) that presents a far more emotionally disturbed composer than do any of the other movements in the three quartets. A series of short, hurried, syncopated phrase groups collectively form the theme. The first of the variations (note that Schumann does not mark them as such, and one almost feels them to be more in the way of responses to one another than variations in the collective sense of the word) affords the cello and viola opportunity to give their thoughts on the main theme, while the second is a determined effort to make a fugue out of what would seem to be unpromising subject-material (the angry intensity of the imitation makes it clear that Schumann wishes to portray the players' valiant, but ultimately unsuccessful effort, to expunge their grief by logical exercise). The fragmented theme is sewn together into a single lyrical idea in the third variation, while the fourth and last is a furious onslaught determined to wipe away, by violence if necessary, the painful sentimentality of the previous section. A quiet epilogue, the calm after the storm, provides some comfort, and the music winds down into the warmth of F sharp major.

The third movement, Adagio molto, is a lush song without words, growing from quiet statement to heated exclamation before drawing to a comfortable, peaceful end. The finale, on the other hand, is a sprightly, rather free rondo whose dotted-eighth refrain theme lurches forward with good humor. Two subsidiary ideas appear, and each is repeated in the second half of the piece before the driving coda brings the work home.



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