A forgotten masterwork, Luigi Cherubini’s String Quartet No. 1 in E-flat

Though perhaps not widely remembered today, Italian composer Luigi Cherubini (1760-1842) was lauded by Beethoven as the greatest of all his contemporaries; he even preferred Cherubini’s Requiem to Mozart’s.

The respect was mutual. In 1825, when Cherubini was asked why he hadn’t composed any string quartets until then, he replied: “If Beethoven had never written a quartet, I would write quartets; as it is, I cannot.” Cherubini was being a bit dishonest: he had actually composed his first quartet more than a decade earlier, but had kept it to himself.

Cherubini went on to write six string quartets; his String Quartet No. 1 in E-flat was far and away the most popular. For most of the 19th century, it was a staple of the repertoire, then fell into near-oblivion. (The Guadagnini String Quartet, consisting of CSO musicians David Taylor and Cornelius Chiu (violins), Wei-Ting Kuo (viola) and Richard Hirschl (cello), will perform the work in a recital Nov. 2 at the Epiphany Center for the Arts, 201 S. Ashland Ave.)

Born in Florence, Cherubini studied at the conservatories in Bologna and Milan and remained in Italy until 1788, when he moved to Paris, where he lived out his life. He made his name as an opera composer; however, by 1805, tastes had changed, and the heavy, serious operas that he, Gluck and others had favored fell out of fashion. Cherubini then turned to sacred and instrumental music. He served as director of the Paris Conservatory from 1822 until his death and was regarded as one of France’s leading musicians. In 1817, Beethoven declared Cherubini to be “the greatest living composer.”

Although composed in 1814, Cherubini’s String Quartet No. 1 was not published until 1836. While it eventually became popular, that did not happen immediately. Reviewing it in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik, Robert Schumann remarked that the style of this quartet did not follow the traditional language of chamber music, as established by Haydn and Mozart and continued by Beethoven and Mendelssohn. Cherubini’s style owes nothing to the Vienna classics but was derived from the dramatic tradition of Paris opera and to a lesser degree, the quatuor brillant, a special form of string quartet developed in Paris around 1775 and designed to display a soloist’s skills.

According to the Iowa-based publisher Edition Silvertrust, this tendency definitely can be heard in the work’s first two movements. The first movement has a lengthy, almost symphonic Adagio introduction. The main part of the movement, Allegro, retains this style. Of this movement, Schumann said, “On first hearing, I found it disquieting, some parts operatic and overdone, others bare, trivial and tenacious. It took several hearings for me to appreciate it.”

The second movement, Larghetto sans lenteur, follows the form of a theme and variations. The theme, in the nature of a prayer, soft and hesitant, eventually leads to a strong dramatic outburst, much in the style as one found in the works for the Parisian Opera at that time. It was the Scherzo, with what Schumann called “its fanciful Spanish theme,” which convinced him that the quartet was something special. The cello, with its double-stops, creates a guitar-like background, over which the violin presents the dance-like melody. The exotic rhythm patterns do the rest.

Schumann called the finale, Allegro assai, “a glittering diamond that was resplendent from every angle.” Edition Silvertrust observes: "It begins with a brief muscular introduction before the theme with its bumptious, unorthodox rhythm is stated. The second theme is lyrical and dramatic with the first violin and cello trading lines as in an operatic duet. There is a strong symphonic element to this powerful music.

“This quartet is quite unlike anything from its period, and rhythmically resembles [nothing] else. Once readily available, it has, for many years now been very difficult, if not impossible to obtain, and Edition Silvertrust is pleased to make it available once again.”