Convention metabolized

The integration of the fugue in the String Quartet Op. 131

 2

Table of Contents        Introduction .................................................................................................................. 3      Harmony, Form and Function .................................................................................... 5      

Renaissance disruptions and the Baroque reaction  ..............................................................  5    

Classical dynamism  ......................................................................................................................  7    

“In the distance, everything becomes (...) romantic”  ...........................................................  9          Großeste Fuge ............................................................................................................. 11      Concluding remarks .................................................................................................. 17      Bibliography ............................................................................................................... 20        

 3

Introduction

This work was written for the “Musikanalyse” seminar given by Prof. Dr.

Barbara Dobretsberger at the Mozarteum Universität Salzburg in the winter semester

of the academic year 2012/2013. Under the frame “Musik als ‘Spiegel’ im

Spannungsfeld von Norm und Erneuerung”, the professor presented us a set of

musical works which underlined the major shifts of thought in Western society and

how they came to be realized in musical terms. Abiding by this guideline, the lectures

were organized in the following manner: firstly, the aesthetic paradigm changes from

the 17th to the early 19th centuries were shown through the accomplishments of

Monteverdi’s Orfeo, Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No. 5, Mozart’s Clarinet

Concerto and Beethoven’s C-sharp minor String Quartet. Secondly, the shifts in

aesthetic occurred in 19th and early 20th centuries were extracted from Brahms’ Vier

Ernste Gesänge, Wagner’s Tristan-Vorspiel and Mahler’s Lied von der Erde. Finally,

Ligeti’s Aventures, Weill’s Die Dreigroschenoper and Nono’s Fragmente – Stille, an

Diotima (Streichquartett) served as a means to pinpoint the last shifts in the musical

thought beginning in the early steps of the Baroque.

Contemplating the shifts in the musical aesthetic, a question regarding

Beethoven’s C-Sharp minor String Quartet stroke me at once: “how dare he use a

fugue as a first movement?” I could not conceive the utilization of this device as

merely idiosyncratic, and I was convinced this had to have some profound reason.

Essentially, this question motivated me to make this work.

At first-sight, I was deeply unable to answer the question. Therefore, it seemed

appropriate to me to make a thorough study of all of Beethoven’s fugues - only then,

perhaps, would I fully convey the evolution of the composer’s thought and

compositional style. However, besides the problem of the gigantic implications of

such a megalomaniac task, that would create a false dilemma: “Beethoven and the

Fugue”, internalizing an obligation, as it were.

Beethoven had deliberately chosen to write a fugue as No. 11 of the C-Sharp

minor Quartet (the work was not commissioned by anyone), thus using a device that

was now so distant in time to the Classical period; he must had found a way to

incorporate it in his own thought. In that, the opening movement of Op. 131 stands

                                                                                                               1 Beethoven’s own terminology 2Jean Touchard, História das Ideias Políticas: do Renascimento ao Iluminismo Vol. II, p. 36: “Ao mesmo tempo

 4

unequalled, and it was at once obvious to me that this would be the work to analyze.

Thus, I made a choice to do a simplified, yet more concise, approach: I would analyze

the C-Sharp minor Fugue in the context of the evolution of the composer’s thought

and investigate its relationship to the remainder of the quartet. Within this framework,

I now hope to unveil (at least partially) the kernel of Beethoven’s modus operandi

without giving in to a statistical enumeration of the fugues in the composer’s opus.

This work has a threefold structure: the first chapter - of theoretical character -

explains the key-concepts that, in my opinion, are of utmost importance for a better

comprehension of this investigation: harmony and form as perceived by the Baroque,

Classical and Romantic composers; the second chapter, - of empirical character -

provides an analysis of the opening movement of the C-Sharp minor Quartet. It also

examines the consequences that the first movement has on the following six, giving a

possible insight at how Beethoven developed the ideas at work; the third chapter

synthetizes the ideas of the previous two. In this fashion, I hope the question “how

dare he use a fugue as a first movement?” will become “Why did Beethoven find the

fugue appropriate for a first movement?” Philosophy was evidently being

widergespiegelt in music.

 5

Harmony, Form and Function  

Renaissance disruptions and the Baroque reaction   With the advent of Renaissance, everything changed: Europe, being closed in

itself meditating about religion since the death of Christ had now fully established its

doctrines, eventually leading to the calcification of the Church. With the support of

the European kingdoms, the Vatican came to be more and more prominent, leading to

the creation of an institution with its own dogmas and prejudices. It was now ready

for further disintegration: Protestantism and humanism appeared as a manifest against

this artificially constructed Church, causing a degree of disruption unseen for some

five hundred years:

While accentuating and complicating political divisions in Europe, the Reform contributes

decisively to ruin the already worm-eaten building of the medieval political ideas, result that the

reformers never sought for and of which they were not always aware. In the collapse that

provokes religious renewal, the close contact between the spiritual and the timely, and the

ideological primacy of the religious over the politician continue influencing the spirits. No other

political doctrine would be able to rise, in the sixteenth-century, so much agitation and so many

political actions as the one created by the men of the Reform did.2

Henceforth, the human being measured by its dimensions not only space, but also time. In the

Middle Age, time belonged exclusively to God and the interest rate was usurious and forbidden

because, with it, the merchant sold that divine thing (...). For the Middle Age, the human being

was an imitation, a summary of the world, a microcosm. Henceforth the relationship is inverted.

L’uomo è modello dello mondo, says Leonardo da Vinci: “The human being is the world’s

model.” And he moved further to discover it.3

                                                                                                               2Jean Touchard, História das Ideias Políticas: do Renascimento ao Iluminismo Vol. II, p. 36: “Ao mesmo tempo que acentua e complica as divisões políticas da Europa, a Reforma contribui de maneira decisiva para arruinar o edifíco já carunchoso das ideias políticas medievais, resultado este que os reformadores não buscaram e do qual nem sempre se apereberam. No desmonoramento que provoca a renovação religiosa, o estreito contacto entre o espiritual e o temporal e a primazia ideológica do religioso sobre o político continuam a marcar os espíritos. Nenhuma doutrina política seria capaz de suscitar, no século XVI, tanta agitação, tantas acções políticas, como o fizeram os homens da Reforma.” Translations from portuguese-language literature are made by me, giving the original quotation as a footnote. 3 Jacques le Goff, A Civilização do Ocidente Medieval Vol. II, p. 133: “Doravante o homem media pelas suas dimensões não só o espaço, mas também o tempo. Na Idade Média, o tempo pertencia exclusivamente a Deus e o juro era usurário e interdito porque, com ele, o mercador vendia essa coisa divina (...). Para a Idade Média, o homem era uma imitação, um resumo do mundo, um microcosmos. Doravante a relação inverte-se. L’uomo è modello dello mondo, diz Leonardo da Vinci: “O homem é o modelo do mundo.” E partiu à descoberta dele.”

 6

Such problematic forces gave way to a strong reaction from the Catholics,

who, besides heightening the Inquisition, felt a strong need for rhetoric – if they were

to strive as the most important European institution, a renewal was definitely

mandatory. A great help was doubtless the culmination of the medieval feudal society

in the ancien régime – the king was God’s representative, and a profound theocracy

came to be installed: “It was in 1576 that for the first time a general league was

formed, under an aristocratic direction, with the purpose to defend the catholic

religion” 4 Set in contrast with Protestantism, this accounted for a tremendous

disparity in all areas – art notwithstanding. On one hand, the thrive for power in the

Counter-Reform/absolute monarchy lead the way to an extreme dramatization of even

their physical manifestations (take the representational nature of St. Peter’s Square5)

and on the other, the Lutheran/Calvinistic side continued to advocate austere

expression (take the flatness of every Protestant Church). Music, the art being

discussed at this investigation, came to represent this highly passionate conflict. As

Shakespeare once said, “All the world’s a stage” and the 17th century was highly

dramatic. This was at once brought to composition.

In this sense, when we look at the madrigals of Gabrielli or Carlo Gesualdo6,

we already see an extreme depiction of affections nowhere to be found in the works of

the early 16th century. Chromaticism was put to work, and so was the Baroque

aesthetic. Not that the representative nature of music was anything new - as Manfred

Bukofzer points out, “The Renaissance favored the affections of restraint and noble

simplicity, the Baroque the extreme affections, ranging from violent pain to exuberant

joy”7 - but within this new framework, musical theory had to be renewed: harmony

was consolidated, the works were given a greater tonal direction, and rhythm was

made regular. Conflicting forces within one movement are never seen, for this

dramatization is still static and stereotyped, (as in the Piéces de character by Rameau

or Couperin), and direction is accomplished not by a change in texture, but by a

perpetually moving harmonic rhythm, thus enhancing the figurative representation of

a sole affect within one piece8. Therefore, the Baroque aesthetic does not allow

extreme inter-tonal modulations, and the path is either one of tonic to dominant or, in

                                                                                                               4 Jean Touchard, Ibid., p. 50: “Foi em 1576 que pela primeira vez se formou uma liga geral, sob uma direcção aristocrática, com o objectivo de defender a religião católica” 5 See Flavio Conti, Como reconhecer a arte barroca, p. 24 6 See Manfred Bukofzer, Music in the Baroque era, p. 22 for Gabrieli and p. 34 for Carlo Gesualdo 7 Manfred Bukofzer, Ibid., p. 21 8 For a discussion of the Baroque theory of figures, see Manfred Bukofzer, Ibid., p. 388

 7

the minor mode, tonic to relative major. All the other movements are plagal and

relaxed.

So, due to the unifying paradigm of a single affection, the fugue, based on one

theme only, proved to be an excellent device for the Baroque composer. Since the

beginning, the fugue was regarded more as a free form than as a strict one. Words

such as fugeing came out of composers as relevant as Purcell, and Rameau would

define fugue as a harmonically oriented imitative manner, this being the only

regularity in a fugal composition: “It is true, that a perfect knowledge of harmony

discovers to us the roads we should take in this case; but the choice of those roads

depends upon our taste”9. One can see this in Bach’s works: his sole rule in writing a

fugue was that a set of polarizing entrances would be followed by a modulating

section – it is the existence of planning that is important and not in what the planning

consists per se. 10

Classical dynamism   Fugue, however, was not fit for Haydn, Mozart or early Beethoven. The most

they could do out of it was a loosely arranged finale, in which the tonic was

repeatedly reiterated (Charles Rosen says that “the simplest and most Haydnesque

device is the use of fugue for a development section” 11 ). In this period, the

tremendous investment in the arts was beginning to bring grave consequences to the

ancien régime – Descartes, the father of scientific thought was indeed Baroque, but

with his tour de force that everything should be subject to reasoning, he implemented

doubt in both public and intellectual spheres:

“The progress of capitalism, the class struggle, the wars, everything contributed to undermine

absolutism, which, in the meantime, was strengthened by those same phenomenon for a brief

period. But the danger that most threatens absolutism is of a different nature, apparently strange

to politics: we refer to the outbreak of the rationalism’s scientific thought.

                                                                                                               9 Jean-Philippe Rameau, Treatise of Music, p. 176. For a much deeper account of the historical evolution of the fugue, see Alfred Mann, The Study of Fugue, pp. 3-74 10 Manfred Bukofzer, Ibid., p. 362: “The one formal feature that all fugues had in common was continuous expansion, realized in a chain of fugal exposition. However, the number of departures and their tonal order varied (...). This is the reason why there is such infinity variety of fugue “forms”, and why none of the Bach fugues follows exactly the same pattern.” 11Charles Rosen, The Classical Style, p. 441

 8

The seventeenth-century stands as an age of scientific revolution. It is the century of Francis

Bacon, Kepler, Galilei, Descartes, Pascal, Torricelli, Harvey, Newton. The British Royal Society

is founded in 1660, the French Academy of Sciences in 1666; the wise men of the different

countries communicate among them”12

Thus appeared the dominant ideas of Musikalische Konversation and Unterhaltung:

even though entertainment was still crucial for the upper class, for it perpetuates the

dramatization of the King’s court, the exchange of opinions between classes was now

taking place (note how Barthélemy Ollivier depicts in “Thé à l’anglaise au Salon des

Quatre-Glaces au Temple”   numerous conversations in a noble salon while Mozart,

the Wunderkind, is playing). Society grew dynamic and drama is no longer static – we

are not seeing a painting from Caravaggio, but two moving forces at work at the same

time. When Figaro is taking measurements of the living room while Susanna is

putting on some make-up, we finally have sonata style.

In this regard, Mattheson, when speaking about contrapuntistic passages,

states that “eine Stimme die andere gleichsam gesprächsweise unterhalten soll”13 and

Goethe, in a later stage of Classical style, remarks: “(...) Diese Art Exhibitionen waren

mir von jeher von der Instrumentalmusik das Verständlichste: Man hört vier

vernünftige Leute sich untereinander unterhalten, glaubt ihren Diskursen etwas

abzugewinnen und die Eigentümlichkeiten der Instrumente kennen zu lernen.”14 This

accounted for a renewed tonic/dominant, first group/second group polarity.

Distinctive changes in texture, melody and harmony always outline important events:

in the exposition of the allegro-sonata form, the establishment of the dominant is one

of them. Subdominant still plays a very important role, but it always acts as the

counterweight to the dominant, and indeed, it may even appear at the recapitulation,

as a means of resolving high tensions created by the development:

This moment of dramatization and where it occurs makes an essential contrast with the Baroque

style. Modulation already exists in all dance-forms of the early eighteenth century; but in High

                                                                                                               12Jean Touchard, Ibid., p. 96: “O progresso do capitalismo, a luta de classes, as guerras, tudo contribuiu para minar o absolutismo, que, no entanto, esses mesmos fenómenos fortaleceram durante um breve período. Mas o perigo que mais ameaça o absolutismo é de uma natureza diversa, na aparência estranho à política: referimo-nos ao surto do pensamento científico do racionalismo. O século XVII afirma-se como uma época de revolução científica. É o século de Francisco Bacon, de Kepler, de Galileu, de Descartes, de Pascal, de Torricelli, de Harvey, de Newton. A British Royal Society é fundada em 1660, a Academia das Ciências Francesa em 1666; os sábios dos diversos países correspondem-se entre si” 13 Johann Mattheson, Vollkommener Capellmeister, p. 251 14 Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Brief an Zelter

 9

Baroque style a pause to mark the arrival at the dominant is hardly ever placed in the middle of

the first half but at the end of it; the music is a gradual flow to the dominant with a resolution at

the end of the section. Early in a sonata, however, there must be a moment, more or less

dramatic, of awareness of the new tonality: it may be a pause, a strong cadence, an explosion, a

new theme, or anything else that the composer wishes. This moment of dramatization is more

fundamental than any compositional device.15

“In the distance, everything becomes (...) romantic” 16   However, Beethoven would drastically change that: “The tonal language was

changing during Beethoven’s lifetime; above all, the subdominant lost its antithetical

function of opposition to the dominant, and became one another closely related key. If

Beethoven’s work remains intelligible only as a part and extension of the eighteenth-

century tradition of sonata style, it is largely because he observes that classical

distinction.”17 This is intimately connected with the next major event in the history of

Western civilization, the French Revolution. George Steiner describes this period as

follows “(...) we do have reliable evidence that those who lived through the 1790s

and the first decade and a half of the nineteenth century, and who could recall the

tenor of life under the old dispensation, felt that time itself and the whole enterprise of

consciousness had formidably accelerated (...). What followed was, of course, a long

spell of reaction and stasis.”18 M. Ribeiro-Pereira further elaborates the thought:

“Romantic sensibility affected more the soul-aspect of modern psyche than its mind, stressed

emotion rather than reason. Unlike the atomistic conception of the Enlightenment, the Romantic

was a holistic poetic perspective seeking the revelation of the sublime in the aesthetic

experience, and a unifying vision that reaches beyond the empirical limits of scientific truths.

Personal encounter with natural reality was met on the plane of the soul, not of the eye, against

the discrete entities of Cartesian science. Dichotomies such as subject/object or self/other were

actually perceived as interrelated, not autonomous. Ultimately, poetry and music alone seem

adequate to capture the universal language. New harmonic forces were thereby released, which

ought to be shaped and suitably framed by nineteenth-century composers, as they followed

original paths to express their musical intuitions.”19

                                                                                                               15 Charles Rosen, Ibid., p. 71 16 Novalis, Das allgemeine Brouillon, in Schriften: Die Werke Friedrich von Hardenbergs Vol. III, ed. Richard Samuel and Paul Kluckhohn, p. 302. 17 Charles Rosen, Sonata Forms, p. 354 18 George Steiner, In Bluebeard’s Castle: Some Notes Towards the Redefinition of Culture, pp. 12,16. 19 Miguel Ribeiro-Pereira, A Theory of Harmonic Modulation, p. 109

 10

Suddenly, A minor and E-flat Major become interrelated, and so do the

parallel keys: their binding tone is C, located in the middle, thus still obeying

Rameau’s postulate that chords must be built up in thirds. Chromatic tonality comes

as the center of a new thought, as it affords a static contemplation of the exotic. As

Novalis puts it, “In the distance everything becomes . . . romantic”. Yet, while we

must always keep in mind that Beethoven was a contemporary of the Jena circle and

suffered the aftermath of the French Revolution, it is rather striking that his ultimate

source was still sonata style. Everything he did was to understand the very core of it,

and to expand it:

“(...) it may be justly claimed, as Tovey did, that Beethoven’s innovations are largely a

conflation of Haydn’s and Mozart’s different methods, and that he is best comprehended within

their tradition; to Haydn’s dynamic sense of continuous motivic development he added Mozart’s

feeling for long-range movement and the massive treatment of subsidiary key areas. Moreover,

he attached the long-range movement more directly and more firmly to the motivic detail,

deriving the preparation of the large stable areas from the themes through his use of motifs based

on simple triads.”20

The Quartet Op. 131 represents one of his magnum opus in this regard21.

Recapturing the essence of fugue (it is indeed one of his most tightly organized

ones22) he also realized what this procedure had to offer – motivic continuity.

                                                                                                               20 Charles Rosen, Ibid., p. 356 21 Joseph Kerman, The Beethoven Quartets, p. 326: “The Quartet in C# minor is the most deeply integrated of all Beethoven’s compositions (...)” and p. 349: “So closes the quartet which, if Karl Holz is to be believed, Beethoven finally said was the greates of his last compositions” 22 Joseph Kerman, Ibid., p. 274: “To progress from one such plateau to the next, he sometimes strips gears with an almost Stravinskian effect (...). Otherwise Beethoven worked to blend in progressions and passages that are more in the sonata style. Sometimes these sound incongruous enough, though in the C#-minor Fugue, which is harmonically Beethoven’s most accomplished, I am not aware that anyone has found them so”

 11

Großeste Fuge   “So, do you want to write a fugue?” asked Glenn Gould, in his witty

composition for four-part chorus of mixed voices with piano accompaniment. I am

very confident that to this question Beethoven would have answered, “So muss es

sein”. Written between November 1825 and July 1826, the C-Sharp minor String

Quartet has had a very important place in musical writing: many authors have spoken

about it, including Wagner23, and Tovey24. It presents the boldest and most successful

attempts at the full integration of a work in Classical terms by Beethoven25, and

thereby deserves a special attention.

Let us then start by its very beginning:

From its very outset, the theme (bars 0-4) has a literally marked plagal tendency – the

painstaking authentic movement G# - B# - C# is soon engulfed by degree VI, with

sforzando and a directional crescendo, which soon resolves to an undulating

movement around G#. However, bars 3-4 should not be underrated: they underline the

tetrachord 6-5-4-3, which is then rounded up to end in the dominant G#. We can

therefore see that with the four opening notes, Beethoven managed to define C# by

means of its primary and secondary leading-tones, revealing at the same time, through

rhythm, its forceful gravitation to the subdominant side. The analysis could end right

here, for all I’ve said will be the thriving force in the whole quartet; let us demonstrate

this, however, with some one hundred bars further. With the answer in degree iv, C#

is treated as a dominant and it is further weakened. The flattening of the B# in the first                                                                                                                23 Richard Wagner, Prose Works Vol. V: Actors and Singers, p. 97 24 Donald Francis Tovey, Some Aspects of Beethoven’s Art Forms in: Music and Letters (1927) VIII (2), p. 131-155 25 Charles Rosen, Classical Style, p. 441: “Perhaps the most remarkable integrations of the fugue within a larger plan are in the Quartet in C sharp minor op. 131, and the Piano Sonata in C minor Op. 111”

 12

violin is a great contribution to this, and when the real answer reaches D, degree VI to

F#, its opening notes, E# and F# are, in the first violin subtly reinterpreted as the third

of D, the ♭II of the tonic. F# comes next with an ambiguous A bass, which could

account for either the dominant chord of D or F# itself. The tail of the theme provides

us now with its own 6-5-4-3 tetrachord, thus filling the whole A Major spectrum. The

first beat of bar 7 gives us the ♭II of F#, which is actually the subdominant of D: G#

is reinterpreted in the context of D and its third is set into relief with the octave leap in

the first violin. A linear approach might consider this the continuation of the initial

motif, as to effectively determine C# as the dominant of F# (G# - B# - C# - E# - F# in

rising motion), but I believe this is a melodic device used here to state the important

motif of E# - F# - E♮, which reduces the main theme in order to put in close

opposition the ambiguity of a tonic – the leading tone is at once flattened. The

harmonic construct of these first bars also justify the omission of degree iv in the

overall tonal scheme of the quartet – it is not needed, for it is already implied in C#. It

is actually the same key in this quartet, as one gives harmonic sense to the other. As

Joseph Kerman points out, “The subdominant key, F# minor, is constantly being

heard as a kind of double image on top of the tonic; cannot even the original subject

be heard in F# minor?”26 The third entry will now disguise A Major. With its fifth

hanging in the first violin, the chromatic inflexion to D# from bar 8 accounts for the

destruction of its previous function, the dominant degree. Together with a false entry

in the second violin which is generated by the octave leap and which flattens the

leading-tone at once, it becomes clear that degree i and its V will have no other choice

but to be attracted to the flat side. In the fourth entry the first violin is superseded by

the viola, which will, with the help of the swallowed violin, turn an important degree

of C# in something else – in this case, G# is pushed until B in the context of G Major.

The Neapolitan degree’s relative keys are being gradually unfolded, and up until bar

20 we will see quick modulations to A Major (dominant) and B minor (relative

minor), only to end on a half-cadence in C#. The exposition is laid, and so is the

entire quartet.

A massive section (b. 21-63) starts with an episode based on the head-motif

(which I will name as (1)). It moves in fifths progression (C#-F#-B-E). Stopping at E

is the regular procedure, as a minor tonality always gravitates to its more stable

                                                                                                               26 Joseph Kerman, Ibid., p. 296

 13

relative major. However, the stretto entrances in this key soon resolve to A Major: the

crushed entrance of the first violin together with the subdominant entrance of the cello

thus subsumes E# - B# - C# to the context of the VI degree poignantly. However,

such a rushed second exposition will quickly lead back to C# with the tail-motif

sequenced in fifths (episode (2)). An imitation of the cello in the first violin put one

half-note later (b. 31) will finally give way to the dominant, but this too will be

stopped in time through the decisive F# in the bass, which turns out to be a pedal

point. Unsurprisingly, the G# is not established, but turned into a suggestion of B, a

formal flattening of the whole key. Even though it will come to be affirmed with the

first perfect cadence in the whole work, G# will not be able to state itself conveniently

before exploiting its very own plagal side – D# is transformed into E♭. What should

be taken out of this? Most analysts continue interpreting this as D#27, and in fact it

brings the farthest region possible to the fugue (remember how Rameau dismissed the

pair C/d as a Major-minor model for its complete lack of common triads28). Putting it

together with A, though, reveals the idiosyncratic tritone, which brings about the two

leading-tones of E Major/(C-Sharp Minor). Writing it as E-flat has almost semiotic

meaning – not even the ♭II D Major avoids its very own Neapolitan degree. Episode

(1) leads us to D♭ (C#), point at which the maximum reinterpretation has occurred

and the fugue is ready to return to its path: the rising head motif brings us back to G#

by the tonic’s first tetrachord (Db – Eb – F – F#), where the roles are inverted – now

the theme is given in B Major, but the bass is G#. Due to the preceding extreme

digression to the flat side, the same tetrachord is given in descending motion by the

cello and, once again, as it reaches the tonic, it shifts back up in accelerating rhythm

to grandiosely state the VI degree. This is the biggest event in all of the fugue, and

further formal consequences will be put to light further on my analysis.

The two sections that follow (b. 63-67 and b. 67-90) pose a great challenge in

terms of form. The stretto entrances in bar 63, with the second violin and viola

outlining D Major (being that the viola actually reinterprets the original answer in this

context, as C# - E# - F# are all articulated inside the ♭II area) and with the previous

massive modulatory section give A Major a definitive voice. However, in the famous

                                                                                                               27 See Joseph Kerman, Ibid., pp. 298-299 and Richard Ormesher, Beethoven’s Instrumental Fugal Style: an Investigation of Tonal and Thematic Characteristics in the Late-Period Fugues Vol. I, p. 230 28 For a further discussion of how the major-minor pairs came to be established, see Miguel Ribeiro-Pereira, Ibid., Chapter 5, The Major-Minor Key System, pp. 83-89

 14

two-part canonic episode (b. 67-82), it is uncertain whether we are before a

development, a polarizing exposition or a transitional passage. In order to grasp its

sense, real-time processing will be rather helpful – with the F# minor subtle

inflections at the second violin in b. 67 and with much more visible C# statements in

b. 70-71 the competent listener is at once shifted back to the tonic. However, bar 72

will bring D Major, degree IV of A Major. This need not alarm us, for it has its very

own set of equivalent inflections. In bars 80-83, the tail-motif will not resist the tonic,

and D modulates directly to C#, then to A, then to G# and finally to the tonic (Note

how C# - A – G# is the inversion of the head-motif, and is therefore most useful as a

return to the central key). Bars 83-90 reestablish C# minor and with a quick change in

texture, the recapitulation starts its course.

The last section (b. 91-121) will, in an orderly fashion, definitely transform C#

in a dominant-function degree. An abrupt change of texture indicates traditionally that

the final stretti entrances will make a stop to the fugue, and that is exactly what is

done29. Now with a different order, the theme in the viola will, at the tail-motif,

outline 6-5-4-#3, thus directing it to the subdominant (or perhaps the third of the D

Major triad) and the second violin will stay longer at the Neapolitan degree with

anxious syncopations30. In a second wave of entrances, the reinterpretation of the

tonic goes further: in b. 99 the first violin and the cello, also in stretto, concentrate in

one chord the notes B# and D# which, in the aftermath of the altered first interval in

the cello (G# is now F#) makes for a decisive statement of C# as dominant. Until b.

107 the theme will be subject to duple augmentation in the cello, culminating in a

diminished chord at C#. In b. 110 both first violin and cello make an entrance at the

subdominant, positively turning the C# in a dominant-function degree – the sforzando

in a diminished seventh in D will resolve to C#, thus making it a dominant out of it. It

is the typical VI0 – V – (I) cadence, and only be an exasperating repetition of C#

Major is it reiterated as a tonic to the whole work.

Out of the previous analysis, the main point of which was to prove the

instability of C# at the smallest instance, the following form can be extracted:

                                                                                                               29 Richard Ormesher, Ibid., pp. 234-235: “As when a fugato occurs in an essentially homophonic movement, such a reduction of the texture serves as a departure for some new and significant event: here it is the final section of the fugue, introduced by a canonic figure based upon the second half of the fugue subject, which thereafter accompanies the subject, though with less rigour than would a regular countersubject.” 30 In Beethoven, the insistent affirmation of a chord gives way to its supremacy by mere repetition. See Charles Rosen, Ibid., p. 387-388 for an account of such a device in the 4th Piano Concerto.

 15

• Exposition (b. 1 – 20) – i/iv entrances

• Bridge section (b. 20 – 63) – III - v - VII

• Second exposition (b. 63 – 67) – VI

• Bridge section (b. 67 – 90) – VI - ♭II - i

• Recapitulation (91 – 121) – i/iv/ i (dominant-function)

Here I have not resisted the temptation of seeing this fugue in terms of sonata

style. However, I am convinced of its similarities with the so called cavatina-form, or

allegro-sonata without development – there are only three emphatic fugal expositions,

and the middle one is reached through the most dramatic devices, all others being kept

in transit: they do not suffice to constitute a section of their own.

Whatever the division might be, there is yet one thing that must be kept in

mind (and that is what the cavatina-form best illustrates) – the theme has a marked

tendency to its submediant, and in fact this is the tonality most dramatically reached.

It fails to have a big nominal role in the large form, but one cannot forget that A

Major and its related keys are always, without exception, the ones to which the

supposed close keys to C# succumb. In fact, this is crucial for the rest of the quartet:

Fugue Quartet

i – III – v – VII – VI –♭II – i i –♭II – vii – VI – III – v – i

Both fugue and quartet thus explore seven tonal centers, and it is noteworthy

that despite of its plagal tendency, the fugue moves authentically to degree VII, where

it does not resist to shift to the submediant and consequently to the Neapolitan degree.

All the quartet will do, as becomes obvious from the upper scheme, is to mirror that

movement, by which a plagal motion is set from the crucial ♭II, only to state the

tonic at the end. As said by most analysts, degree ♭II is indeed of the utmost

importance to this quartet31. However, one should note that it works as a shifting

point, directing the Quartet’s élan to a different world. In my opinion, its spiritual

                                                                                                               31 Only to quote a few references: Joseph Kerman, Ibid., p. 301: “The maintenance of the Allegro molto vivace in D Major was made possible by the Neapolitan thrust of the Fugue.”; Charles Rosen, Ibid., p. 441: “In Beethoven’s quartet [Op. 131], however, the D major movement movement is prepared at once by the opening theme of the initial fugue with its sforzando on A♮”; Richard Ormesher, Ibid., p. 213: “This factor affects our consideration of the IV and ♭II tendencies of the quartet and their relationship to the fugue exposition”.

 16

center is A Major (No. 4, variation-form), this being said from the very beginning –

the whole fugue works towards degree VI. This fact is indeed set in relief by

Ormesher’s insightful scheme (who regards No. 3 as a purely transitional movement):

32

Besides the clear evidence that the themes are totally interrelated, when

transposed, we can observe that the only two instances where the themes outline both

leading-tones of a key is 1) in the first and last movements and 2) at the middle ones.

This further sustains my theory – that the Quartet is indeed not based on C# and D#,

but on C# and A, both being given the biggest care in the fugue and in the whole

work. In order to make underline this fact, each movement will never deviate severely

from its center: take No. 2, Allegro molto vivace, the theme of which, besides being

based on the I and IV triads, never poignantly reaches the dominant, thus directing

our attention to the long-range motion itself. In the Finale, though, it is quite amusing

to see an allegro-sonata form doing the job that was assigned to the fugue in

Beethoven’s previous works. A closest reflection will, however, put this to terms:

after such an ambiguous large-scale motion, tonal centers being opposed but never

clearly so, the sonata form will put them in direct contrast, revealing the essence of

the quartet and resolving at last all the tensions into one tonality. It is the ultimate

Schwanengesang of a composer who strove for unity during all his life.                                                                                                                32 Richard Ormesher, Ibid. Vol. II, p. 61, ex. 6.2

 17

Concluding remarks  

As Friedrich Hayek brilliantly established, there are three orders of moral

values: those that are innate, the ones we have learned from experience, and the

impositions from society33. This fits perfectly into the Ancient Greeks’ concept of

modulation (metabole), which predicted a permanent and a changing element in

musical cognition34. Beethoven was the one composer to elevate these concepts to its

utmost height. At this point it is thus pertinent to present a brief depiction of the

evolution of his compositional process.

Following a classicizing period, Beethoven sought to test his limits: this is the

age of the Eroica Symphony and the Waldstein sonata, heroic works that represent the

most experimental years from the composer’s opus (and indeed most romantic, as one

can see by the song cycle An die Ferne Geliebte). Yet, from the Hammerklavier

Sonata on, there was no turning back. Beethoven had fully metabolized his very own

thought in Classical terms, and it is striking that his late works are indeed the most

Classical proportionate ones. As Charles Rosen says:

“By the end of his life Beethoven had succeeded in turning these last survivals of an earlier style

into fully classical forms, with a dramatic shape and an articulation of the larger proportions

analogous to the sonata, and that are, in fact, based on sonata style.

What becomes from the comparison, however, is that after the experimental Romanticism of the

cyclical works of the tears from 1812 to 1816, the Sonatas opp. 101 and 102, nos. 1 and 2, along

with an die Ferne Geliebte, Beethoven turned back, in his last phase, to the stylistic technique of

his earliest years to initiate an extraordinary expansion of the style beginning with op. 106”35

Kerman remembers that:

The Quartet in C# minor, composed between November 1825 and July 1826, is the one

Beethoven quartet discussed at any length by Sir Donald Tovey. In an essay written on no less

signal an occasion than the centennial of the composer’s death, “Some Aspects of Beethoven’s

                                                                                                               33 Friedrich Hayek, prominent Austrian philosopher, economist and Nobel-Prize winner, develops this idea in The Fatal Conceit, pp. 11-28 and in Law, Legislation and Liberty Vol. III, pp. 153-176 34 Miguel Ribeiro-Pereira, Ibid., p. 23 35 Charles Rosen, Ibid., pp. 435, 487

 18

Art Forms”, Tovey proposed to show (...) “the fundamental normality of his most unique work,

the Quartet in C sharp minor”36

Through the course of the investigation I have done I have found out that, in

the case of the analyzed quartet, the above-mentioned “normality” means essentially

sonata style. This is the ghost that Beethoven could never get rid off. The fugue works

here as a brilliant adaptation of a Baroque device into the Classical world with the

crucial underpinning of a Romantic philosophy, as the dramatization of the plagal

tendency of the theme proves. So, relating to Hayek’s thought, we can see that

Beethoven managed to incorporate his most innate value - the integration of the full

work - into the impositions of his context – the sonata style – learning from the

previous experiences – as can be seen through the evolution of his concept.

Nonetheless, when the fully Romantic composers arrived, these forces were

never more to be seen: “In fact, except for those of Chopin, most nineteenth-century

sonatas were written according to the orthodox recipe [Czerny’s definition of sonata

form], and mostly for the worse. The recipe was not only inflexible; it also did not

take account of the fact that by 1840 the proper ingredients were no longer being

produced”37. Sonata had crystallized and the porcupine-like Schlegelian Fragment

was the force moving music in a quite different direction38.

The only thing left to answer is thus the initial question: “Why did Beethoven

find the fugue appropriate for a first movement?” Even though I would be very happy

to provide the answer, I will submit myself to Webern’s words: “Aus einem

Hauptgedanken alles Weiteren entwicklen! – das ist der stärkeste Zusammenhang”39.

As diachronic a reference as this may be, it points to a fact hardly deniable:

Beethoven’s late style accomplishments remained deeply influential for the years to

come. To quote Rosen for a last time,

“With non-tonal sonata forms, of course, tonal polarization and resolution disappeared

completely; what remains is the thematic structure along with contrasting textures (...). The

purely textural aspect is now supreme: sonata form for Berg here is a texture characterized by

                                                                                                               36 Joseph Kerman, Ibid., p. 325 37 Charles Rosen, Ibid., p. 31 38 Friedrich Schlegel, Lucinde and Fragments, p. 189: “206. A fragment, like a miniature work of art, has to be entirely isolated from the surrounding world and be complete in itself like a porcupine.” 39 Anton Webern, Der Weg zur neuen Musik, p. 36

 19

thematic development, using the classical procedures of such development; and exposition and

return have necessarily a limited effect placed so far from each other”40

Beethoven’s ability to dissect the conventions of his time ended up being the

most influential for years to come. This attitude, of understanding the

Hauptgedanken, was eventually modulated in contemporary terms, and Webern, Berg

and Schönberg managed to embody the sonata style in their own thought, paving the

way to the “Convention Metabolized”. The Second Viennese School seems at last

deserving of its own name.

                                                                                                               40 Charles Rosen, Sonata Forms, p. 403

 20

Bibliography • Bukofzer, Manfred. Music in the Baroque Era. New York, W. W. Norton & Company, inc., 1947.

• Conti, Flavio, trans. Carmen de Carvalho. Como Reconhecer a Arte Barroca. Edições 70, 1991.

• Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Briefe an Zelter.

• Goff, Jacques Le, trans. Manuel Ruas. A Civilização do Ocidente Medieval, Vol. II. Editorial Estampa,

1995, 2nd edition. • Hayek, Friedrich. Law, Legislation and Liberty, Vol. III: The Political Order of a Free People, London,

Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1982. • Hayek, Friedrich, pub. W. W. Bartley III. The Fatal Conceit: The Errors of Socialism in The Collected

Works of F. A. Hayek Vol. I, London, Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1988. • Kerman, Joseph. The Beethoven Quartets, New York, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1976.

• Mann, Alfred. The Study of Fugue. New York, Dover Publications, inc., 1987.

• Mattheson, Johann. Vollkommener Cappelmeister, Hamburg, Christian Herold, 1739.

• Novalis, Das allgemeine Brouillon, in Schriften: Die Werke Friedrich von Hardenbergs, ed. Richard

Samuel and Paul Kluckhohn, 5 Vols., Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1977- 88, 3rd Edition. • Ormesher, Richard. Beethoven’s Instrumental Fugal Style: an Investigation of Tonal and Thematic

Characteristics in the Late-Period Fugues, submitted in fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of PhD, The University of Sheffield, Department of Music, September 1988.

• Rameau, Jean-Philippe, trans. anonym. A Treatise of Music, Containing the Principles of Composition.

London, J. French, ca. 1775. • Ribeiro-Pereira, J. Miguel, A Theory of Harmonic Modulation: The Plastic Model of Tonal Syntax and

Major-Minor Key System, Politema-IPP, 2005. • Rosen, Charles. Sonata Forms. Revised Edition. New York, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., 1988.

• Rosen, Charles. The Classical Style: Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven. New Edition. London, Faber and Faber,

1997. • Schlegel, Friedrich, pub. Peter Firchow. Friedrich Schlegel’s Lucinde and the Fragments, Minneapolis,

University of Minneapolis Press, 1971. • Steiner, George, In Bluebeard’s Castle: Some Notes Towards the Redefinition of Culture, New Haven,

Yale University Press, 1971. • Touchard, Jean, trans. Mário Braga. História das Ideias Políticas: Do Renascimento ao Iluminismo. Vol.

II. Publicações Europa-América, 2003. • Tovey, Donald Francis. Some Aspects of Beethoven’s Art Forms in: Music and Letters (1927) VIII (2),

London, Oxford University Press, 1927. • Wagner, Richard, trans. William Ashton Ellis. Wagner’s Prose Works. Volume 5: Actors and Singers,

London, Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., Ltd., 1895. • Webern, Anton, pub. Willi Reich. Zur Weg der neuen Musik, Wien, Universal Edition, 1960.

 21

Ich erkläre ehrenwörtlich, die vorliegende Seminararbeit ohne unerwänhte Hilfe und nur unter Verwendung der im Literaturverzeichnis angegeben Schriften verfasst zu haben. Wörtlich und sinngemäße Zitate sowie aus Publikationen anderer übernommene Informationen und Abbildungen sind durch vollständinge bibliographische Angaben ausgewiesen. Der Text ist noch in keiner anderen Lehrveranstaltung bzw. Abschlussarbeit vorgelegt worden.