Czech Chamber Music Society • Wihan Quartet

We can hardly imagine Giuseppe Verdi, the greatest Italian opera composer of the 19th century, as a chamber musician. The truth is that although he rarely devoted himself to genres other than spectacular music drama, there was such an exception in his production. Between the composition and performance of Aida (1871) and Otello (1887), there was more or less a hiatus period in Verdi’s career. At full artistic maturity, for many years he did not compose. Fortunately, he did commit himself to work on several occasions. He wrote a string quartet, and shortly afterwards, deeply shaken by the death of the poet and novelist Alessandro Manzoni, one of the most important representatives of the Risorgimento, whom he revered and admired, he offered the city of Milan to compose a funeral mass on the first anniversary of the poet’s death. The offer was gladly accepted, and Verdi’s magnificent Requiem was performed as promised on 22 May 1874 in the church of San Marco, conducted by Verdi himself. In the years 1879–1880, Verdi created only two small vocal pieces, Ave Maria and Pater noster.

Verdi’s String Quartet in E minor was composed in 1873 and later began to be frequently performed also in the arrangement for string orchestra. Why did Verdi, at the age of sixty, produce a chamber music work, the genre that he had not cultivated at all up to that point? Coincidence played a role, and suddenly it was as if the composer, after years of hectic work, missed a specific assignment. He wrote in a letter to a friend, “I’ve written a quartet in my leisure moments in Naples. I had it performed one evening in my house, without attaching the least importance to it and without inviting anyone in particular. Only the seven or eight persons who usually come to visit me were present. I don’t know whether the quartet is beautiful or ugly, but I do know that it’s a quartet!”

In his quartet, Verdi does not try to conceal – nor does he want to – that he is an opera composer. We can recognize the spirit of Aida in the first bars of the work and in the cello cantilena in the third movement. In addition to the intense lyricism, Verdi’s only quartet contains numerous fast allegro sections and staccato passages. In them, he seems to be getting ready for his masterful operatic epilogue, Falstaff. One can only bow in admiration at the subjectively profound content, processed with Verdi’s supreme compositional mastery. No less impressive to the listener is the fullness and inventiveness of the polyphonic work (the fugue in the final movement) and the expressive sophistication with which he achieves a balanced form throughout the work.

Maurice Ravel as well devoted himself to chamber music only sporadically. His compositional legacy in this genre includes just one string quartet; Introduction and Allegro septet for harp, flute, clarinet and string quartet; Piano Trio for piano, violin and cello; Sonate Posthume for violin and piano; and Sonata for Violin and Cello. We cannot, however, forget his unique contribution as a songwriter.

String Quartet in F major was written in the years 1902–1903, and yet it is rightly considered Ravel’s first masterpiece. Like his older colleague Claude Debussy, Ravel created an outstanding chamber work at the very beginning of his career. Usually, composers approached quartet writing later, equipped with years of life and compositional experience. Their quartets then had very deep content and philosophical gravity, and often represented an intimate artistic statement. Ravel, at the age of 28, did not want to proceed in this way. His intention was to come to terms with the classical legacy of the past. In his autobiography he writes: “My Quartet in F responds to a desire for musical construction, which undoubtedly is inadequately realized but which emerges much more clearly than in my preceding compositions.”

It is clear that Ravel was too modest in his views. In his quartet, he tackles purely musical issues, dealing with the beauty and colorfulness of the sonic possibilities of the string ensemble, and the result – even with the apparent one-sided approach –is impressive, outstanding and artistically autonomous. Ravel’s originality lies in the harmonic richness, refined sound and delicacy with which he grasps the classical form and makes it his own. The central position here is occupied by the main idea of the first movement and its transformations; the second movement is a three-part scherzo; and in the third, despite its apparent complexity, we recognize the song form. The final movement takes the form of a rondo. Ravel dedicated the piece “To my dear master Gabriel Fauré”, but Fauré was rather critical of it. On the other hand, Claude Debussy received it with much more understanding and enthusiasm. In his letter to the baffled and grieved composer we read: “In the name of all music’s gods and for my sake, do not touch a single note you have written in your quartet!” Fortunately, Ravel received important support from a respected older peer, which restored his lost self-confidence. Ravel’s only quartet, composed in the early 20th century, soon ranked among the top creative achievements of French and European chamber music.