Joachim Raff - String Quartet No. 1 (1855)

Joachim Raff

• May 27, 1822 – June 24 or June 25, 1882) 
•  German-Swiss composer, teacher and pianist.

 

String Quartet No. 1 (1855)  

[Painting Info - "Landscape Study" by Gollertoller]

I. Mässig schnell, ruhig, breit - 00:00
II. Sehr lustig, möhglichst rash - 12:58
III. Mässig langsam, getragen - 17:57
IV. Rasch - 27:44

The string quartet medium was one of the major compositional obstacles facing composers of Raff's generation and one with which he had a false start. His first quartet was composed in Weimar in 1849. It featured a fugal adagio but nothing else is known about it. The quartet seems to have been well received, was played several times by Josef Joachim and other members of Liszt's circle but was subsequently suppressed by Raff for reasons now unknown. His published String Quartet No.1 in d minor, Op. 77 was also written in Weimar, but in the autumn of 1855. Over the intervening five years Raff's relationship with Liszt had become increasingly strained for both artistic and personal reasons. According to his daughter Helene, the d minor quartet was the last composition which he completed in Weimar before the final breakdown between them, and Raff's departure for Wiesbaden in 1856.

The breach with Liszt precluded a Weimar performance for the new work but it soon received a prestigious premiere in Vienna in 1856 in a quartet led by the famous Josef Hellmesburger, who was a champion of "new music". Published by Schuberth of Leipzig in November 1860, the quartet went on to be a favourite amongst audiences - matched only by the much later String Quartet No.7. It was arranged by Raff for piano four hands in March 1877.

It has been described as an "astonishingly mature and individual work" for a 33 year old and this is no exaggeration. A passionate and highly dramatic piece, its rather dark and brooding first and third movements are balanced by a joyfully fleeting scherzo and a kaleidoscopically contrapuntal finale. In all, a persuasive testament to the technique, poetry and imagination of its composer.

The big, opening movement, Mässig schnell, ruhig, breit, immediately establishes the dark and brooding temperament that quickly leads to several highly dramatic episodes. Next comes a Mendelssohnian elves-dance, Sehr lustig, möglich rasch, the tempo marking literally telling the performers to play it as fast as possible. The very appealing trio section is quite lyrical and provides excellent contrast. This is followed by a long, slow movement, Mässig langsam, getragen, which begins as a simple and quiet melody that Schubert might have written. Gradually, however, Raff begins to explore a new world of tonality which no one would revisit for nearly 30 years until Hugo Wolf and the young Schönberg took up where Raff left off. In the powerful finale, Rasch, the music begins softly with echoes from the scherzo of Beethoven's 9th Symphony. The thematic material rushes onward with incredible drive.