Allegro con brio
Adagio affetuoso ed appassionato
Scherzo. Allegro molto
Allegro

Beethoven’s String Quartets Op.18 were written between 1798 and 1800 – his first exploration of the genre in which his teacher Haydn had excelled. Beethoven was commissioned to write the quartets by Prince Lobkowitz. The F major Quartet Op.18 No.1 was the second of the set to be composed, in January–March 1799. The first movement gave Beethoven a good deal of trouble. An early manuscript shows the state of the work before extensive revisions were made in the summer of 1800. In a letter to Carl Amenda dated 1 July 1801 (in which he also confides about his increasing deafness), he begs his friend not to show anyone the first version of the quartet as “it’s been reworked very thoroughly … I’ve only now learned how to write quartets properly”. The results of Beethoven’s revisions in the first movement were especially effective in increasing tension and momentum in the development section. A conversation reported between Amenda and Beethoven is revealing about the Adagio. Amenda said “it pictured for me the parting of two lovers”, to which Beethoven apparently replied: “Good! I thought of the scene in the burial vault in Romeo and Juliet.” After the emotional intensity of the slow movement, the Scherzo comes as a relief, before a swirling scale-like theme launches the finale.

Nigel Simeone 2013 ©