Quartetto serioso Beethoven expressly called his op. 95 quartet his "quartetto serioso". It dates from a period of severe personal crises which for several years nearly brought on a modern "writer's block". The private nature of the work is emphasized by its dedication not to a patron but to a close personal friend, Court Secretary Nikolaus Smeskall von Domanovec. Beethoven did not intend to publish the quartet, nor did it appear in print until 1816. In many ways the f minor quartet anticipates the late quartets, particularly in its plenitude of expository and transitional sections which are absent in the middle quartets. The work is severely concentrated, without extraneous elements; yet it makes the highest demands on the listener. It may have seemed even more difficult during Beethoven's time, giving him good reason for wishing to withhold it from the general public. In snatched, breathless melodic fragments, brusque motivic gestures and textural contrasts, and in the smallest possible space, the first movement expounds the tonal centers on which the entire work will revolve. Its biting opening, marked Allegro con brio, sets the tone of the quartet, serving as the emotional springboard for the movements which follow. The pain expressed in the first movement intensifies in the second as the juxtaposition of diverse keys raises the tension. Beethoven clearly shows his teeth in the unrelenting juxtaposition of ideas. Yet the lyrical second movement is also a complete contrast to the bite of the first. As it evolves, it resolves the tension forged before and gives Beethoven yet another springboard from which to introduce the frenetic energy of the third movement scherzo. Marked Allegro assai vivace ma serioso, the third movement reminds us of the struggles in the opening movement. Only a relaxed trio section calms the driving energy of the opening. There is a return to the opening idea before the final cadence. A short passage, Larghetto espressivo, of no more than seven bars introduces the final movement marked, Allegretto agitato. A marked sighing motive governs the melodic and thematic structure of the final movement. Although the movement lacks the bite of the first and third it is by no means banal. Its relentless, driving momentum propels the movement as if on horseback. The movement ends with a sudden and final passage in F major, resolving the massive tension built from the preceding movements in a blazing conclusion.
-- Kendall Briggs