1/23/2021 Beethoven String Quartet, op 18 no. 1

OP18 no.1 in F major by Beethoven is the first quartet I played with a group (of older ladies living in Menlo Park, CA.) in the late 1980s, and I have a lot of memories relating to the group and the music. Under the current "stay-at-home" circumstances, I play ensemble virtually on the internet with my music friends using open-source software called JAMULUS, and op 18 no.1 is one of pieces we play. The cellist and I, violinist, live in Silicon Valley, California,

and another violinist and violist live in North Carolina. I am afraid that I do not play any better now than almost 40 years ago, but I think playing the string quartet is one of the best musical forms amateur musicians can enjoy. Perhaps that is the reason why there are so many amateur string quartet groups of different levels all over the world. Therefore, if the repertoire is wide, we can play with amateur musicians world-wide and that is what I started to do in the last few years. There are total of 16 string quartets Beethoven composed; 1-6 are his early quartets (composed around 1794-1800 when he was around the age of 27-30), middle quartets from 7-11 (around 1800-1815 at around the age of 35-40), and late quartets from 12-16 (around 1816-1827 during the last three years of Beethoven's life). OP18 no.1 was composed around 1800 and published in 1801. In concerts and recordings, it has come to be conveniently called the early, middle, and late quartets, where each period expresses a unique musical personality. OP18 no.1 is labeled no.1, but it was not the first-string quartet composed by Beethoven but OP18 no.3 in D major is his first work. Beethoven is said to have brought this no.1 F major to the forefront at the time of publication at his friend’s recommendation, Viennese violinist Schuppanzigh’s. OP18 was dedicated to Prince Joseph Franz von Lobkowitz (1772-1816) in Bohemia and is said to have premiered around 1800. The early string quartet still follows the format established by Haydn, but it is a work of the time when Beethoven began to establish his unique musical personality as a composer in earnest. In 1800, Beethoven's first symphony No. 1 in C major was also composed. While there are so many string quartets performed and there were so many recordings of op 18 no.1, I chose the recording of the Budapest String Quartet (1952). According to the Wikipedia, “the Budapest String Quartet was formed by members of the Budapest Opera Orchestra in 1917 and was active until February 1967 while undergoing changes in membership. Although the group has been established in the United States since 1938 it acquired a solid position when the Russian Joseph Roisman became the first violine. The final members were all Russian and had no relation to Hungary and Budapest. The group avoided Romantic musical interpretation and its principled singing of the 19th century style, avoided the overwhelming dominance of the first violin, and took the equality of each voice. The group influenced on the style of modern string quartet performance.

As you can hear in the recording below, the Budapest String Quartet is noted for its pure sound and straight-forward musical interpretation. Budapest String Quartet (Recording 1952) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2SJq_MfN3lE&pbjreload=101