VOL. 04 · Track 3 · 3 / 15
String Quartet No. 6 · Movement I
A movement that begins with the four instruments surging in trembling notes. The shock of Mendelssohn's loss of his sister bursts out in a rough sound.
VOL. 04
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The composer of this pieceFelix Mendelssohn1809–1847 · born in Hamburg, GermanyAbout this piece
The four instruments surge in at once in finely trembling notes. It is so rough that it is hard to believe it was written by Mendelssohn, famed for graceful, balanced music. This piece was written in the year he lost his beloved sister.
At a glance
- What it isthe first movement of String Quartet No. 6 in F minor, marked Allegro vivace assai, very fast and lively.
- Who, when, whywritten in the summer of 1847 by the thirty-eight-year-old Mendelssohn, resting in Switzerland after the death of his sister Fanny.
- What to listen forthe trembling notes at the start, and the breathless tension that lasts to the end of the movement.
Listen for
- Tremblingthe four instruments keep up finely trembling notes, and the first violin soars sharply above.
- A wavering songa soft melody appears briefly in between, but it is soon swept away by the trembling.
- The endnearing the close it grows faster still and ends fiercely, with no time to catch a breath.
When it was written
In May 1847, just after returning from a concert tour in England, Mendelssohn learned that his sister Fanny had died suddenly. It is said he collapsed from the shock. That summer, staying with his family near Interlaken in Switzerland, he painted mountains and lakes in watercolor and wrote this quartet.
Mendelssohn himself died in Leipzig that November, at thirty-eight. This quartet became the last large chamber work he completed. People sometimes call it a 'Requiem for Fanny'.
A question to think about
Mendelssohn could not put all his grief into words and poured it into music. That music was rough and sharp-edged, utterly unlike his usual graceful pieces.
What does it mean for someone who has suffered great sorrow to have a means of expressing it? What in our society's atmosphere might make it hard to show sorrow openly?