0:06
As composers of the Romantic era, Mendelssohn,
Schubert, Schumann and Brahms exhibited a
strong love for and ability to compose gorgeous
melodies. Nowhere is the melody more front-and-center
than in the slow movements of their string quartets.
Today, I'll be demonstrating the ideas and building blocks
found in the slow movement
of Schubert's String Quartet in D Minor, "Death and the Maiden."
In this theme and variations movement,
Schubert uses the melody from his previously-
written song by the same title
as the basis for a series of variations that wax and wane
in intensity. Since the melody
and/or the harmonic content of the theme remains the same
for the most part with each iteration of the theme,
Schubert uses other musical features to create a sense of
dynamic direction for the movement. He achieves
emotional intensification and relaxation
through the use of changing rhythms, dynamics
and mode. First let me play the dark
theme which is set in the key of G minor, but
ends in a sunnier G major. The first
half of the theme goes like this:
[MUSIC]
2:51
In the score, the theme and the variations repeat
both halves of this theme. Notice the plodding rhythms
which bring to mind a funeral procession. The rhythms are made up primarily of
half and quarter-notes. All subsequent variations
preserve this harmonic presentation and melodic content
with a few notable changes, which I'll get into in a moment.
In the first variation of this theme,
Schubert creates a sense of motion by introducing the
pulsating triplet eighth notes
in the inner voices of the quartet, and the violin's
melody also moves along with faster rhythmic values,
but the dynamic marking starts off
"pianissimo," or very quiet.
[MUSIC]
In the second variation,
the first and second violins play accompanimental figures
in sixteenth notes at a slightly
louder dynamic, that of "piano."
[MUSIC]
and in the third variation,
Schubert combines eighth and sixteenth notes
with all four voices playing "fortissimo,"
or very loud, right off the bat.
[MUSIC]
Up to this point, Schubert has been intensifying the texture
by using smaller and smaller
rhythmic subdivisions of the beat and increasing the dynamic
level of each succeeding variation.
I should mention, however, that even though the rhythmic
subdivisions of the beat
are getting smaller, the sense of the larger beat
has remained the same. Also,
Schubert ends this particular variation in G minor instead of G major
to make way for the contrast that follows.
Since Schubert has managed to work the intensity up to high point,
he proceeds by relaxing the pace in the fourth
variation. Here, in "pianissimo"
or in a very quiet dynamic, Schubert brings back the triplet
eighth notes in the first violin, and he changes the key
to a sunny G major,
which relaxes the feel of this variation.
[MUSIC]
Then, in the fifth and final variation,
Shubert restores the dark minor
mode, and the rhythmic intensity heard earlier on.
He combines triplet eighth notes in the cello,
with running sixteenth notes in the first
first violin, and in the second half of this variation,
16th-note rhythms take over in the top three
voices, and again, the dynamic marking
is "fortissimo." As the variation proceeds,
the relaxation process begins with the inverse
of what occurred in the rhythms of the opening
variations. Triplets return in the first
violin, but Schubert slows the supporting harmonies down considerably
to whole- and half- notes,
again, in a "pianissimo" dynamic to create a greater sense of calm.
Over the course of this final variation,
Schubert brings back the half- and quarter-note rhythms of
the opening theme while the accompanimental rhythms
slow again to duple eighth notes and eventually
quarter notes in the viola. Notice as well that the dynamic
level has dropped even lower
to "pianississimo." Finally,
in the closing restatement of the opening theme,
Schubert restores the original rhythms
and texture of the opening, except for a few exceptions--
Schubert ends the movement in G major
instead of minor, the dynamic level is quieter,
pianississimo, and he moves
the texture up an octave in register. Let me play this closing statement
for you.
[MUSIC]
Although the theme has remained the same
throughout this movement with its many variations,
Schubert has inventively taken us on a journey
that begins tragically and with alternating moments of intensification
and relaxation
reaches a moment of repose.
Arnold SteinhardtPerformance Faculty
Dr. Mia ChungInstructor of Interpretive Analysis
