Schubert - String Quintet In C Major D. 956

Schubert's String Quintet In C Major adds a second cello to a standard string quartet setting instead of a second viola as Mozart and Beethoven did in their string quintets. No one knows why Schubert chose an extra cello for his quintet, but the result is music that uses the added depth and sonority of the second cello to good advantage.

Schubert composed the quintet in 1828, and wrote to a publisher offering it along with other works. In the letter Schubert says that rehearsals for the quintet were to begin in a few days, but it isn't certain if this ever happened. The music publisher refused the quintet, and it lay forgotten until it was rediscovered and had its first known public performance in 1850. It was published three years later in 1853, and came to be regarded by Schumann and a young Brahms to be one of the finest chamber music work ever written.

The quintet is like the other handful of masterpieces Schubert wrote in his last months of life that expanded the form and content of music.  It is in 4 movements:

I. Allegro ma non troppo -  This is an example of Schubert's expanded first movement settings as it takes roughly a third of the playing time of the entire work. With a wealth of thematic material and a rich harmonic language, this movement alone takes about 19 minutes to play. It starts with a dynamic swell that begins on the chord of C major but at the crest of the swell the chord changes to what can be defined as a C diminished seventh, a minor chord.

A short section leads to a different tonally ambiguous chord exchange, and now the music  reveals that this is not an introduction, but a thematic group that continues in kaleidoscopic harmonies until a second theme in E-flat is stated by the cellos:

This theme moves to the higher strings and is repeated.  A section in G major brings the music back to the second theme and the exposition is repeated. The development section alternates between the serene and the dramatic as the music spotlights sections of themes in a dizzying array of major and minor keys. Schubert manages to segue from one to the other effortlessly until the recapitulation brings the music back to the beginning chords. Key changes continue as Schubert blends themes and keys as a painter blends colors and shadows. The coda gives a sense of continuing the themes even farther as the opening chords are heard again along with a modulation, but it is actually a summing up as Schubert winds down the movement and the music ends firmly in C major.

II. Adagio - The second movement is in E major, and begins with a tender theme played by second violin and viola. The first violin plays an accompanying figure as the one cello adds harmonic depth to the theme while the second cello plays a pizzicato accompaniment:

The instruments blend together as the music gently and slowly flows on its way, getting even more quiet as it goes, until a crescendo of trills leads to an agitated middle section in F minor. A quiet section coaxes the tender theme back for a replaying, but this time with a varied accompaniment which adds a slight nervous edge to it. Near the end, the trilled crescendo that lead to the agitated middle section makes a brief appearance in the first violin, but as quickly as it came it retreats as the music comes to an end in E major.

III. Scherzo: Presto – Trio: Andante sostenuto -  Schubert returns to the home key of C major as he increases the loudness and sonority of the five instruments by playing 9-note chords at fortissimo in this boisterous scherzo:

The trio section generally is in contrast to the scherzo itself, but Schubert makes an extreme contrast, first of all with the key change from C major to D-flat major, a key that is quite remote from the home key. The tempo also slows as the mysterious music of the trio quietly hesitates its way to a repeat of the scherzo.

IV. Allegretto - Schubert's first theme of this movement is reminiscent of the dance music he was fond of. The movement is in the form of a rondo with elements of sonata form as well, a hybrid of the two forms. The key has returned to C major (although the theme begins in shadows of C minor), and the violin plays the theme as the other instruments give an accompaniment:

 The second theme is a graceful tune in G major played by the first violin and first cello:

Schubert's melodic gifts were second to none, so along with these two themes there are other tunes and parts of tunes that appear. After Schubert has ran his course with these themes, he builds up excitement by increasing the tempo in the coda. With a triple forte passage, Schubert leads to the final notes, a D-flat grace note before the final unison C, thus ends a work that constantly moves from profound beauty to despair and back again with an intensity that was the beginning of the Romantic era in music.

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Tchaikovsky - Romeo And Juliet Overture - Fantasy

William Shakespeare's plays have inspired many composers, especially in the Romantic era. Over 20 operas

have been written based on the play, some ballets (most notably by Prokofiev), a dramatic symphony by Berlioz and the modern adaptation West Side Story with music by Leonard Bernstein.  Perhaps the most

well-known work based on a Shakespeare play is the Romeo And Juliet Overture-Fantasy by Tchaikovsky.

The piece was written by Tchaikovsky when he was 28 years old in 1869 while he was a professor at the Moscow Conservatory. It was written at the suggestion of Mily Balakirev, the leader of the group of Russian nationalistic composers called The Five. Tchaikovsky had already written his first symphony and a symphonic poem and complained that he was already burned out, but Balakirev pestered him until he began work on it. Balakirev gave him some advice on technical matters of form and critiqued the first version of the work. 

Balakirev

The second version of the work was not an immediate success. It was even hissed the first time it was played in Vienna. But The Five composers embraced the work, even though Tchaikovsky was not considered in their group. About ten years after the premiere of the second version Tchaikovsky revised it again, changed the ending and added Overture - Fantasy to the title. It is this third version that is played in concerts. 

Shakespeare based Romeo And Juliet on a story from Italy written in the middle of the 16th century, but the theme of tragic romance goes back way before the 16th century. Shakespeare fleshed out the story by adding characters and expanding the plot. A short synopsis:

The story is set in Verona, and revolves around the conflicts between two families that are sworn enemies, the Montagues and Capulets.  Romeo is the son of the patriarch of the Montagues, and he attends a ball given by the Capulets to try and meet a woman that he is attracted to, but he meets Juliet instead at the ball and falls in love with her. They meet after the ball (the famous balcony scene) and agree to marry despite their families' mutual hatred. With the help of Friar Laurence they are married the next day. Trouble brews and lives are taken after a fight between supporters of the families. Romeo is banished from Verona, and as Romeo and Juliet's marriage is a secret, Juliet is betrothed to another. Romeo steals away and spends the night with Juliet.  Juliet's family tries to force her to marry another, and Juliet goes to Friar Laurence for help. He gives her a potion that will make it appear as if she is dead and promises to send word to Romeo about the plan. Romeo returns to Juliet's chamber but he wasn't informed of the potion and thinks her dead. He gets poison and goes to the crypt where Juliet lays. The other to whom Juliet was betrothed is in the crypt mourning her death, Romeo kills him and drinks the poison. After Romeo dies Juliet awakens from her potion-induced sleep, sees that Romeo has killed himself, so she kills herself with Romeo's dagger. Members from the two families find all three of them dead in the crypt, and realizing the tragedy their family feud has caused, reconcile with one another. 

The play itself has many side plots and Shakespeare combines some comic scenes with the dramatic and

Shakespeare

tragic to keep a steady build-up to the climax of the play. Tchaikovsky uses dramatic and tragic elements of the play to construct his Romeo And Juliet Overture-Fantasy.

The work is a tone poem written in sonata form. The opening of the work is an introduction based on the character Friar Laurence.  Friar Laurence is a man of the church, in Verona no doubt it is the Catholic church, but Tchaikovsky, a Russian,  gives the introduction the solemn tones of a Russian orthodox chant! The next theme is one of agitation and drama as it represents the warring Montague and Capulet families, with cymbal clashes symbolizing the clanking together of swords. The next theme is one of soaring passion and beauty, the love theme of Romeo and Juliet. These three themes make up the exposition of the piece.

In the next section of the piece only the themes are developed. After the development, the themes return and move towards a representation by cymbal clashes of the suicides of the lovers. An epilogue with a steady pattern of timpani taps underscores a beautiful reminiscence of the lovers by the woodwinds, the love theme enters one last time and the work ends with a loud climax by the orchestra.

Franck - Piano Trio No. 4 In B Minor, Opus 2

 César Franck's first acknowledged compositions were 4 piano trios, written while he was still a student in 1840.  Originally, his opus 1 was three piano trios, but he was advised by Liszt to remove the final movement of the third one because of its length and make it a separate composition. This he did, and claimed the work as Piano Trio No. 4, Opus 2. 

Liszt had given the composer  encouragement as the result of these trios, with Liszt participating in performances of them. Franck showed much promise with these first works, but some other works were met with indifference by the public. He concentrated on his organ playing and became one of the most famous organ improvisers of his time, and worked directly with the French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, an innovator of the instrument. Franck demonstrated the organs of the maker and showed how they went beyond the traditional organ and were more orchestral.

Franck taught many composers and organists in his classes for many years, and it was later in his life when he composed the works he is more well known for. 

Allegro - Since this was originally the final movement of the Third trio, it is in but one movement. Violin and cello begin the movement with a slithering theme that covers over an octave and is quite chromatic. The two play an octave apart:

This theme recurs all through the movement in various guises. After the strings announce the theme, they immediately repeat it as the piano contributes a B minor chord in the right hand, and a G-sharp diminished chord in the left. These chords combine with the chromatic theme in the strings and creates even more ambiguity and feeling of menace. The volume of the theme increases until a forte is reached and the music modulates. The music goes back to piano, and the pattern of the opening is repeated, only now the music has shifted to E minor.  The piano enters for a repeat of the modulated theme with an E minor chord in the right hand, and a C-sharp diminished chord in the left, so the tension hasn't eased, only shifted to a different key. The 4th bar is again repeated, the theme modulates. The strings are silent as the piano repeats the partial theme three times. A change in tempo and mood begins:

Più lento - This section lasts but 12 bars. The violin is silent as the cello begins by stating a variant of the first bar of the theme, which in essence is the second theme of the exposition:

The cello reaches the D above the bass clef and holds it for half of the 6 measure section as the piano plays slow arpeggios in each hand and simple two-note chords. The music moves from G major to D major in a mood decidedly sweeter than the opening. But it immediately segues into a:

Più presto - This section is but 5 measures long, forte throughout, as the right hand holds an E minor chord as the left hand skitters along in a chromatic triplet pattern. The violin remains silent as the cello holds a B for the entire 5 bars plus 5 more in  the next section that is marked  più lento. The piano now plays E major arpeggios and simple chords and shifts to B major. Yet another modulation brings about the key of D-sharp minor, as the tempo changes to piu presto for two bars as the left hand plays triplets and the right hand holds a D-sharp minor diminished chord.  Another section marked più lento has the violin join with the cello in a held F-sharp as the piano plays arpeggios and chords in F-sharp minor. The music segues into a return of the opening tempo:

Tempo I -  The music gradually shifts tonality to B major as the first theme is heard in the piano, then the strings take it up in a section that repeats the theme as well as the secondary theme. What has gone on before can be considered as an introduction, or the first playing of the exposition that is in loose sonata form. This section can be considered as the actual beginning of the exposition, or a varied repeat of the exposition. The two themes and parts of them are used in either case until it leads to the next section, still in tempo 1, but the key has shifted back to B minor:

Gravement - The term means seriously. This section can be thought of as the development section, and does indeed begin in a quite serious mood stated by the piano and cello. The cello offers up a soaring motif in E minor as the piano plays large E minor chords as the music builds to the next section marked fortissimo.  The strings play long held notes while the piano returns to rapid triplets in both hands. The volume level reaches triple forte until it slows down and another section is reached:

Avec la plus grande expression -  With the greatest of expression. This section is short, and leads to a gradual slowing of the tempo and increase in volume. The music returns to tempo 1  as the strings make commentary over a restless piano accompaniment. The music shifts tonality and continues in drama that ebbs and flows in volume. The restlessness of the piano carries on as references to the first theme are heard in it and the strings. The theme returns with a complex figure in the piano and continues to build until it reaches a full and sudden stop. The next section begins with the strings playing pizzicato with the piano silent. It is a mysterious sounding section as it increases in volume slightly, but always falls back to quiet. This leads to the next section:

Triple piano -  Very softly the piano plays a D-flat low in the bass. This builds into a 2 bar motive akin to the opening theme. The D-flat motive transforms into a C-sharp, and a long and slow section of repeated motives in C-sharp minor are heard in the three instruments. The music shifts tonality to B major, and this section comes to a halt in G-sharp minor after high double stops are played in the strings and tremelos in the piano.  

A tempo - This section begins with a short fantasia-like piano solo on the theme that leads to an emphatic modulation to the key of B major that represents the recapitulation.  The themes are repeated and expanded again until a short coda that increases in tempo and volume ends the work with a part of the theme played in half notes and a solid end to the movement in B major.

This trio may be labeled by some as repetitious and episodic, but the imagination and creativity Franck uses in the choice of theme and how he uses it shows an already highly developed dramatic sense for a student of 18 years. The use of two themes based on a single theme was not new in music. Josef Haydn wrote examples of monothematic movements before in his works, but it is a foretaste of what Franck was to become as a mature composer later on in his use of cyclical form. 

Cesar Franck 

Bortkiewicz - Sonata for Violin and Piano In G Minor Op 26

Sergei Bortkiewicz was born in the town of Karkhov, Ukraine in 1877, and died in Vienna, his adopted home, in 1952. His music is an amalgamation of the compositional styles of Russian and German composers. He was no advocate of the tremendous changes going on in music of the first half of the 20th century, as he continued to compose in the musical traditions he grew up with. His music has been disparagingly compared to Rachmaninoff's as something akin, but inferior. But  Bortkiewicz was no imitator. He developed his own style which showed his imagination as well as a strong lyrical side to his music that sometimes also looked back with nostalgia on a musical world whose style was no longer on the cutting edge of modernity. 

He faced many depravations in his life, and combined with a meticulous method of composing resulted in but 74 opus numbers, with the vast majority of his compositions being for piano solo. He did write 3 piano concertos, a concerto for violin, and one for cello, two symphonies and a symphonic poem, lieder, and a handful of chamber works. 

He wrote 3 works for violin and piano, with the Sonata In G Minor being his only violin sonata. He composed it in Vienna, and premiered it at the Hague with himself on the piano and his countryman Frank Smit on the violin in 1923.  

I. Sostenuto - Allegro dramatico - The sonata begins with wistful music played by the solo piano.  

The violin enters gently, and continues in the same mood with the piano in an extended introduction, until the violin changes to allegro dramatico with a theme that emerges from the introduction. 

The music proceeds in dramatic fashion until it reaches another theme that is marked Un poco meno mosso, which means a little less movement, a slight slowing of the tempo. After this theme, the music becomes more powerful with another section that brings the exposition to an end. The violin tremolos segue to the first theme being developed as the tremolos move to the piano. The third section of the exposition contributes to the music leading back to the first theme and the recapitulation. The coda slowly begins after a climax by the piano, and the music winds down as the piano plays softly as the violin holds a low G, the lowest note of the violin.  

II. Andante - The second movement is in C minor and begins with a short, slow introduction by the piano. When the violin enters, it is accompanied by arpeggiated chords in the piano.

Then there is a section where the right hand in the piano plays a theme while the left hand and violin accompany. The violin and piano trade off playing a lyric theme. The violin builds the tension by playing octaves until a section marked agitato is played. The music slowly becomes quiet, and a solo for the violin appears. this leads to the first theme reappearing in a section that leads to a tempo designation of andante lacrimoso, which means tearful. The music slowly makes sits way to the end of the movement. And as in the ending of the 1st movement, the violin utters the low G while the piano ends the movement. 

III. Allegro vivace e con brio - The final movement is in G major. The piano plays the opening as the violin has a pizzicato accompaniment. 

The movement alternates from 5/4 to 4/4 for a few bars. There are other changes in meter as the music takes on the characteristics of folk music. The drama is pretty much gone as the music dances its way to the ending in G major.
Sergei Bortkiewicz

Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 8 In C Minor Opus 110

The String Quartet No. 8, Opus 110 was the only major work that Shostakovich composed outside of Russia.  He was in the East German town of Görlitz. It was shortly after he was forced to join the Communist Party in 1960, and he was there to ostensibly work on music for a film to be made jointly by East German film makers about the bombing of Dresden in World War II. Shostakovich was not inspired to write any film music, but he did write this quartet in three days. Shostakovich wrote a letter to a friend about the quartet:

"While there I was provided with ideal working conditions...The good working conditions were fruitful; while there I composed my Eighth Quartet. There was really no point in racking my brains trying to write film music. At the time I just couldn't bring myself to do it. Instead, I wrote this quartet which is ideologically suspect and of no use to anyone. I figured that no one would think of composing a work honoring me after I'm dead, so I'd better do it myself. The title page might read "Dedicated to  the composer himself'". 

The quartet is written in 5 movements without pause: 

I. Largo -  Shostakovich went on in the letter to describe the opening theme of the movement:

"The quartet's main theme is taken from my initials - D, S [E-flat in German notation], C, H [B-flat in German notation].

The movement begins with the solo cello, and in turn all the instruments play the theme, giving it a canonic treatment. The instruments continue to play slowly, and in the next few bars all twelve tones in the chromatic scale are played. The harmonic ambiguity is brought to a stop when the home key of C minor finally arrives, and a quote from his first symphony is played. This entire quartet is full of quotations of his own music, something Shostakovich did often in his later works. The movement suddenly shifts to the next:

II. Allegro molto - The start of this movement is in G-sharp minor, a key that sounds odd in relation to the first movement's delvings in C minor. G major, the dominant of C minor would be the classical progression, but Shostakovich opts for an increase in tension and insecurity. 

The 4-note theme makes its appearance in altered form as the music skids, skitters, and screeches, sometimes quite violently. The movement comes to seamless screeching halt as the music shifts tempo and key, and leads to:

III. Allegretto - This movement is in G minor and repurposes the initial 4-note theme into a grotesque dance. Tension is somewhat relieved, but it's still not music of calmness. The music winds down with a violin solo that leads to:

IV. Largo - One instrument plays a drone as the others play 3 sharply articulated notes in rapid succession. The music then enters into the key of C-sharp minor, with the drone and three notes repeated. The music settles into an uneasy calmness as the volume level is brought down, and the momentum slows to a drag. The feeling is of resigned calmness, a marked contrast to the previous three movements. The drone and 3 note motif reappears, and leads seamlessly to the final movement:

V. Largo - Shostakovich has peppered this quartet with many self-quotations, but there are none in this movement save for the 4-note theme that is now given a contrapuntal treatment as the music remains slow, mournful, and quietly ends in C minor. 

Surprisingly, this quartet is one of Shostakovich's most popular. It has been said that all 5 movements are in different shades of darkness and ambiguity. It was a very emotional work for the composer, as he went on in the letter quoted earlier:

The pseudo-tragedy of this quartet is such that, while I was composing it, the tears just kept streaming down like urine after a half-dozen beers. When I got back home, I tried playing it once or twice on the piano,  and each time I started weeping all over again. But this time, not so much from my pseudo-tragedy, but in amazement of its splendid formal structure. Of course, the self satisfaction implicit in that will no doubt soon be followed by my intoxication on feelings of self-criticism. 

Shostakovich

Ravel - Piano Trio In A Minor

 Maurice Ravel was a different breed of man and musician. He was a free thinker, a trait that was probably inherited from his mother who was not French, but Basque. His mother was raised in Spain, while his father was an engineer born near the French-Swiss border. Ravel was born in a Basque town, and shortly after his birth his family moved to paris. 

Ravel was a talented student, but not a prodigy. He was actually expelled from the Paris Conservatoire twice as he was a student that could only learn under his terms and not under reactionary methods of the school. But he continued to learn and grow in maturity, talent, and craft. 

Ravel's trio was begun in 1914, but he had planned to write eone for a long time before that. He had already written some of the pieces he is known for, such as the ballet Daphnis et Chloé, in versions for piano and orchestra, Pavane pour une infante défunte, also in version for piano and orchestra, as well as other works. 

Ravel was a master of orchestration, so he well understood that piano tone and string tone can be a problem to balance out. He mastered the problem splendidly in the piano trio, and went beyond the more traditional chamber music quality and made the three instruments blossom together orchestrally.    

I. Modéré -  The work begins with a theme stated by the piano, a theme that was inspired by the Basque songs and dances he heard his mother sing when he was a child. It follows the metrical outline of a Basque dance form, the zortziko. The theme has the unusual time signature of 8/8, which breaks down into the repeating pattern of beats 3+2+3 in the right hand with dotted rhythms while the left hand plays in steady quarter notes and rest and eighth notes. This gives a syncopated, just slightly off-kilter feeling to the theme. 

The theme repeats with the violin and cello playing high in their range, two octaves apart. The theme is repeated and the instruments develop the theme while the piano plays a rhapsodic accompaniment. The movement is in sonata form, but Ravel's veneration of the old forms did not deter him from using them in his own way. The second theme is in A minor in a different mood than the first theme. The development has the persistence of the rhythm of the opening theme playing under the second theme, and the themes weave in and out. Despite sounding so ethereal sometimes, the printed page sees Ravel use tremolo and harmonics in the strings and use of the deep bass notes of the piano. It all comes full circle, but the music fits so well together that the return for the recapitulation is not easy to detect in the orchestral fog of the three instruments. A coda brings the first movement to gentle close in the key of C major.

II. Pantoum. Assez vif - A pantoum is a type of poetic form used by French poets that was taken from Malaysian poetry. An oversimplification of it consists of a poem that consists of four line stanzas with specific rhyming schemes between alternating lines. The form was also used by some American poets. Ravel never explained his use of the term, but Debussy set to music a poem by Charles Baudelaire in the form of a pantoum. Perhaps it refers to how Ravel used alternating lines of music in imitation of the poem. Ravel's tempo indication means 'rather fast', and this movement serves as a scherzo in 3/4 meter.

The Strings pizzicato accompany the pianoasthe movement opens. The strings very their playing mode between bowed notes, pizzicato, left-handed pizzicato, and harmonics. The scherzo is followed by a short trio in F major. In the trio, the strings continue to play in 3/4 time, the piano changes its meter to 4/2. When the scherzo returns, it's 3/4 time for all as the music scurries to the end of the movement.

 III. Passacaille. Très large - The passacaglia is an old dance form from Spain that usually is based on an ostinato that opens the work written in triple meter. It is usually quite slow and serious in nature. Ravel's tempo indication in the score is quarter beat = 40, and that is indeed quite slow. The piano opens the movement with the ostinato theme in F-sharp minor that is derived from the first theme heard in the pantoum movement, and each instrument repeats it verbatim while the others comment. The theme is always present throughout the movement in one form or another, and the variations build in complexity, so much so that the piano is written in 3 staves. After a climax is reached, the music slowly goes back as before, and ends up with the piano having final word.

IV. Final. Animé - The last movement begins with the string instruments shimmering; the violin with arpeggios in harmonics, and the cello in double stopped tremolos at the top of its range:

The time signature is in 5/4, and changes to 7/4 off and on through the movement. The complexities and sonorities of the previous movements come to a pinnacle in the finale. Trills, tremolos, wide spaced arpeggios and upper extremes are exploited and lead to a piano trio sounding very orchestral.

 Maurice Ravel

Saint-Saëns - String Quartet No. 1 In E Minor, Opus 112

Camille Saint-Saëns was no stranger to chamber music. He wrote 26 pieces for different chamber ensembles between 1851 and 1898 that included works for violin and piano, cello and piano,  2 piano trios, 2 piano quartets, a piano quintet; even a septet for trumpet, 2 violins, viola, cello, double bass, and piano. Conspicuous by its absence is any works for string quartet.  Student, friend, and fellow composer Gabriel Fauré said that, "Saint-Saëns had a fear of it and only risked himself there towards the end of his life."

What could have caused Saint-Saëns,an accomplished composer of orchestral works, operas, and all of his previous chamber works, to shy away from  writing a string quartet? Fauré had his own similar fear of the form, as he didn't write but one string quartet himself, at the age of 79 in 1924, and thought the Beethoven string quartets should strike fear into any composer. And even Beethoven himself composed chamber music for other ensembles besides string quartet until he thought he was worthy to carry on the tradition set down by Haydn and Mozart. Perhaps it was the same with Saint-Saëns, as tradition can be a daunting thing. But the form itself is challenging.

There is no room for fluff, no room to hide any inferior music thought in a string quartet. It is music laid bare. Not to say that the string quartet is not capable of amazing color, verve, excitement, solemness, and emotion. But where a clever bit of orchestration can add flavor and color to music, the string quartet is limited. 

Saint-Saëns composed his first string quartet in 1899 when he was 64 years old, and dedicated it to the young Belgian violinist Eugène  , who perhaps encouraged the writing of it, and played in the premiere of the work. Saint-Saëns wrote a letter to his publisher about the quartet:

If I hadn’t written this quartet, the aestheticians would have drawn all kinds of conclusions from this omission, and they would have found what it was in my nature that had stopped me from writing one and why I was incapable of writing one! Have no doubt about it, I know what they’re like. And all the while I had not accomplished this necessary task, I was afraid of passing away too soon, I could not rest easy. Now I don’t care about any of it.

I. Allegro -  The strings all have their mutes on as the quartet begins with an F-sharp in the 1st violin, and the successive notes in the other three instruments of E, C, and A. Theoretically, this could be a F-sharp minor 7th flattened 5th chord (that's a mouthful!) , which for the home key of E minor of the quartet does not make a lot of harmonic sense. But by using enharmonic change the F-sharp to a G-flat, and the result is an A minor 6th chord. As A minor is the dominant chord in the key of E minor, it makes perfect sense. It would have been bad form for Saint-Saëns to use a G-flat as the time signature already states that all F's are sharp. There is a strong tendency for the dominant chord to lead to the tonic key, and so it does. After a few bars of the A minor introduction, the home key states a somewhat wistful theme that winds its way until the mutes come off and a more powerful section begins, skirts a few other keys in the process, and leads to a more mellow theme that is first stated by the cello and makes its way to the other instruments.  Themes eventually return in various guises, especially the more powerful one that leads to the end of the movement. 

II. Molto allegro quasi presto - Leave it to Saint-Saëns to call for music to be played molto allegro - very fast - quasi presto - sort of even faster. Perhaps he was concerned about excessive speed, and once the music begins it makes more sense. The movement is in 2/4 time, and has a metronome setting of quarter note = 184 beats per minute, a quite brisk tempo indeed, but taken any faster there would be the danger of the quirkiness of the syncopation being blurred. The first violin plays a simple theme that begins an eighth note before the accompaniment, and is tied across the bar line to the next bar. The other instruments play pizzicato.  After the first round of the theme, it is repeated in triplets. All 4 instruments join in the syncopation in a section that leads to the main theme once more, until a middle section in E major is reached. The tempo remains quick as a 4-voiced fugue comprises the middle section. The syncopation returns and plays until there is a slight slowing of the tempo and the key changes for a short section in E major. After that, the syncopation returns, with all instruments playing pianissimo. The 1st violin joins the others pizzicato as the movement quietly ends.

III. Molto adagio - The next movement in A Major gives contrast by its calm sweetness, but this movement also has a section marked appassionato. The 1st violin has the most to say, and the movement ends in harmonics high in the range of all 4 instruments.

IV.  Allegro non troppo - The music returns to E minor and restlessness, somewhat in the vein of the 2nd movement, but not nearly so relentless. There is plenty of tension as different rhythms are explored, as once again the 1st violin takes the lead in virtuosity as in the third movement and other parts of the quartet. Saint-Saëns probably had Ysaÿe the dedicatee in mind, for he was one of the premiere virtuoso violinists of the time, and he not only wanted to give him something to show his abilities with, but his own capabilities of violin writing as well. The movement builds to the final section marked Molto allegro as the quartet comes to a passionate close.

Saint-Saëns