Lenox — The Danish String Quartet at Ozawa Hall, August 3, 2022
- Franz Schubert, Quartet no. 14 in D minor (“Death and the Maiden”)
- Lotta Wennakoska, Pige
- Schubert, arr. Danish String Quartet, Death and the Maiden
- Encore: Five Sheep and Four Goats (folk song from Lolland, Denmark)
At the age of 26 (in 1823), Franz Schubert received a diagnosis of syphilis. He faced the terrifying prospect of a slow and painful death, for which there was no known cure. He had just begun to feel like he was gaining his stride as a composer; he had already composed hundreds of songs and numbers of piano pieces, chamber works, and symphonies, but he counted these as less significant (the songs) or as student exercises. He had also written several operas which failed to be performed, and his attempt at a large-scale symphony stalled out at two completed movements (that would be the “Unfinished” Symphony). His goal was still to match the achievements of two Viennese giants, Mozart (who died young) and Beethoven who was still alive, composing his final string quartets. That Schubert would succeed in his own way was not a foregone conclusion, but with the composition of his 13th and 14th string quartets, he was boldly throwing down the gauntlet. Here were two almost hour-long chamber works that could stand beside those of the older living master. He arranged for the first to be played in a public concert in 1824 by the same quartet that was so closely associated with Beethoven, led by violinist Ignaz Schuppanzigh. This was unusual for the shy Schubert who had yet to establish himself in musical Vienna as anything but a song composer. Two years later no. 14, later dubbed “Death and the Maiden,” was played in a private concert.
Seven years earlier, Schubert had written the song “Death and the Maiden,” one of his most popular then and now.
THE MAIDEN
Pass by, ah, pass by!
Away, cruel Death!
I am still young; leave me, dear one
and do not touch me.
DEATH
Give me your hand, you lovely, tender creature.
I am your friend, and come not to chastise.
Be of good courage. I am not cruel;
you shall sleep softly in my arms.
Early death was a common phenomenon in the early 19th century. In addition to portraying Death as a benevolent figure who offers an escape from the cares of life, the song had many complex resonances. Sexuality regularly bore the threat of disease; “maidens” were seen as vulnerable and the figure of the sexually active woman succumbing to death was a prevalent theme in drama and opera (think “Traviata,” “Manon”, “Carmen” or “La Bohème”). The despoiling of innocence by a supernatural (male) figure had also been the theme of Schubert’s most famous song, “Der Erlkönig.” Schubert’s song was a harbinger of the nineteenth-century’s fascination with female victimhood. We can speculate that Schubert’s choice to build a major work around this song was the product of two seemingly contradictory forces: despair at his own diagnosis and determination to persist in reaching his artistic goal.
The quartet follows the classical template of four movements, including a second movement structured as a theme and variations. The character of the quartet as a whole can be described as “demonic,” with all movements in minor and three characterized by highly energized, often obsessive rhythms. There are subtle thematic references to the song throughout, particularly in long-short-short pattern known as dactylic meter; this pervades the song’s music for Death which forms the theme for the variations. This rhythm pattern has rich associations: it was the basis for the Elizabethan dance the Pavane. Its stately march-like character was used by Beethoven in the Andante of his Seventh Symphony and later reused by romantic composers like Faure and Ravel (cf. “Pavane for a Dead Princess.”) It is particularly prominent throughout the variations movement, which is based on the music of Death (in the song) rather than that of the Maiden. Its use suggests inevitability, but the turn to major at the end of the movement (and the song) suggests that finally Death offers comfort and an end of suffering.
The Danish String Quartet is one of the world’s leading ensembles. It is composed of four young men whose playing styles are uncannily well matched, and represents what might be described as the best of the contemporary school of quartet playing: perfect intonation, wide command of string colors and extended playing techniques, intellectualism combined with passion at times bordering on fury, vast emotional range but excluding sentimentality. Their program is part of their larger project built around late Schubert as reflected by contemporary composers. In this concert, the response to “Death and the Maiden” was supplied by Finnish composer Lotta Wennakoska. Her work is entitled “Pige” which means “girl.” While Schubert’s quartet focused on the music of Death; “Pige” (Girl) shifts the attention to the “Maiden” but alters that sobriquet, associated with purity and vulnerability, in favor of one suggesting agency. “Pige” represents a woman taking the narrative into her own hands. Its three movements challenge the supremacy of Death in what, on first listening, sounds like an epic battle between fury both raging and icy, and fragility bordering on the edge of silence. The four instruments sometimes function as a single powerful voice, and at other times are blown apart in fragments flying away from any centralized consciousness. The range of string-playing techniques is enormous as are the colors drawn from the instruments, many unknown to traditional string literature: bowing on the “wrong side” of the bridge, many forms of plucking, notes of indeterminate pitch produced by lightly damping the strings, cross-string bowings diminishing to inaudibility (but not invisibility), flute-like sounds at the highest end of the violins range, and all sorts of slides, some combined with tremeloes. The third movement (“Pige’s Scrapbook”) reverts mostly to more traditional textues and techniques, perhaps as an hommage to Schubert and to the terms of the struggle for life and self-hood. I hope that there are more opportunities to hear this complex work again in order to discern the larger design behind the dazzling mosaic of its surface. The piece was commissioned by the Danish Quartet and they “own” it in every sense of the word. Given the audience’s response to them and to this concert, a return engagement should not be out of the question.
The concert concluded with a programmed encore followed by an unprogrammed one. The first was the Quartet’s own transcription of Schubert’s song. In the first part, the solo violin took the Maiden’s voice, the others the piano part. The second part was more highly arranged, with different instruments foregrounding sustained tones that form the background of the song’s harmonies. This seemed to be the performers’ own response to the drama of the original song. The spontaneous encore was the Quartet’s arrangement of a Danish folksong whose title translates to “Five sheep and four goats.” Two violins start playing in harmony in a style that resembles Swedish folk-fiddling; eventually the other instruments join in contributing to an infectious dance feel, mirrored by the performers’ swaying bodies and tapping feet. A slower, more meditative interlude provided the most romantic lyricism to be heard in the program, and the dancing returned with renewed energy and good humor for a final return to life and another standing ovation.
