Ravinia 2026 Issue 3

(A replacement nal movement for the String Quartet in B- at major, op. , was written a few months later, and its original Grosse Fuga was published as op. .) e F-major quartet shows no signs of the turbulence raging in Bee- thoven’s life. Rather, there is a mood of peaceful resignation. e formal complexity of his oth- er late-period quartets is not present, though the composer’s preoccupation with polyphonic textures is still obvious. At the end of his life, Beethoven seems to have come full circle to the structural clarity of the Classical period. He cop- ied the parts himself, since there was no copyist in Gneixendorf, and sent them to the publisher Moritz Schlesinger. e quartet was published a er his death in with a dedication to Jo- hann Nepomuk Wolfmayer, a wealthy cloth merchant in Vienna. In the sonata-form Allegretto , the viola repeats a short fragment before introducing the dotted rhythms and wide leaps of the rst theme. By contrast, the second theme unfolds as an as- cending broken chord supported by a triplet ac- companiment. e development section treats the dotted rhythms and leaps of the rst theme, while the triplet motion of the second theme receives further exploration. Both themes are restated in full, and a concise coda draws togeth- er their melodic motives. e Vivace second movement embodies the in- herent gaiety of the “scherzo”—an Italian word for “joke.” Its syncopated opening theme re ects Beethoven’s rustic humor. Its trio, by contrast, proceeds with more regular rhythm motion and traverses several keys before the syncopat- ed scherzo music returns. A tender, expressive melody serves as the theme for a set of varia- tions in the Lento assai, cantante e tranquillo . Intensity of expression builds throughout the rst variation. e second variation shi s to a slower tempo and the minor mode. Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven by Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller (1823) restores the original tempo and key in his two nal variations. A musical motto prefaces the nale, providing the movement’s overall title “Der schwer gefasste Entschluss” (“ e decision reached with di - culty”). is motto comprises two musical mo- tives accompanied by the text “Muss es sein? Es muss sein! Es muss sein!” (“Must it be? It must be! It must be!”). Beethoven frequently used this saying late in his life. On one occasion, an amateur musician and wealthy o cial at the im- perial court in Vienna named Ignaz Dembscher asked to borrow Beethoven’s parts for the String Quartet in B- at major, op. . When Beetho- ven informed him that it would cost gulden, Dembscher replied “ Wenn es sein muss! ” (“If it has to be!”). Immediately, Beethoven penned a canon with the words “ Es muss sein, ja, es muss sein. Heraus mit dem Beutel!” (“It must be, yes, it must be. Out with your purse!”). Other anec- dotes have suggested alternate interpretations of this musical motto. Perhaps the answer lies simply in Beethoven’s decision to allow Karl his independence, a solution that would have caused the composer no small amount of di - culty. Realizing the inevitability of the situation, he concluded: “It must be.” e viola and cello introduce the “Muss es sein?” motive in the slow introduction. When the tem- po changes to Allegro , the violins resolutely pro- claim the “Es muss sein!” motive, which func- tions as the rst theme. A er one measure of rest, Beethoven introduces a second theme. De- velopment intensi es the “Es muss sein!” motive with the slow, questioning “Muss es sein?” reap- pearing before the recapitulation. Both themes return somewhat varied, but it is the “Es muss sein!” motive that prevails in the end. –Program notes © Todd E. Sullivan DANISH STRINGQUARTET e Grammy-nominated Danish String Quar- tet continues to assert its preeminence among the world’s nest string quartets. With a grow- ing audience in North America, the Danish String Quartet appears at Tanglewood, Ravin- ia, Aspen, Colorado Music Festival, Maverick Concerts and Cape Cod Chamber Music Fes- tival in Summer . ey will embark on a monthlong tour in February to cities across the United States and Canada, performing at Carnegie Hall and Seattle Meany Center as well as on series by Houston’s DACAMERA, Cal Performances, UC Santa Barbara Arts & Lec- tures, Ladies’ Morning Musical Club of Montre- al, Friends of Chamber Music Denver. Outside the US, this season they perform in Denmark, Norway, the United Kingdom, Brazil, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Austria, Czechia and Estonia. Earlier this year, the quartet toured with the Danish National Girls’ Choir, giving the rst US performances of a co-commissioned work by David Lang, in wildness , as well as music by Caroline Shaw, Anna orvaldsdottir, Lotta Wennäkoski, and Danish electronic musician Astrid Sonne, interspersed with traditional Danish tunes. e quartet’s inventive program- ming and critically acclaimed original projects and commissions extend to their latest album, ’s Keel Road on ECM, featuring tracks of folk-inspired traditional and original tunes arranged by the DSQ that trace of musical path- ways across the North Sea, from Denmark and Norway to the Faroe Islands, England, and Ire- land. e release marked their th anniversa- ry of exploring Scandinavian folk traditions, from ’s Wood Works and including ’s Last Leaf , which like Keel Road was named a top classical album of the year by NPR and the New York Times . eir ve-disc PRISM series on ECM, completed in , explored relation- ships between Bach fugues, Beethoven string quartets, and works by Shostakovich, Schnit- tke, Bartók, Mendelssohn, and Webern. Musical America ’s Ensemble of the Year, the DSQ has also been awarded the Carl Nielsen Prize, the highest cultural honor in Denmark, and most recently the Léonie Sonning Music Prize. e Danish String Quartet made its Ravinia debut in and rst returned in . RAVINIA.ORG • RAVINIAMAGAZINE 73 CAROLINEBITTENCOURT(DANISHQUARTET)